With COVID-19 cases surging in the UK again, there’s a fear of lockdown looming large over the country. Whether it happens or not is to be seen!
However, the continuous surge in the demand for the leisurewear – in particular track pants and stretchy leggings – is now making it difficult for retailers and brands to keep pace with the demand.
All through spring and summer, the online demand for leisurewear has been huge and it seems to be surging even as it is now autumn in the country.
With work from home being the ‘new normal’, people have given up formalwear for leisurewear.
Many retailers have said that buying supplies in time for autumn had been tough as several garment factories in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Thailand were shut for several months owing to the pandemic.
Consequently, there is already a shortage of track pants, leggings and even sports shoes in the UK.
In fact, according to a fashion analysis firm Edited, there’s been an impressive jump of 17 per cent in sportswear items bought online in last 1 month.
And if a lockdown happens again, the numbers could go up further.
Asos had recently raised concerns of having less stock owing to global shortage of lot of sportswear items including jogging bottoms and hoodies.
Though JD Sports has said of having enough stock to meet the demand, it did agree that quite a few brands were running short of stock as they didn’t anticipate the level of demand.
Presently, there’s a rush to get what’s available, but it will be interesting to see how the retailers handle the crisis in the day to come.
