Ever since the fashion and apparel world was hit by the deadly pandemic 6 months ago, the entire retail sector has been plagued by uncertainty and unpredictability arising out of store closures, debts and constant lockdowns.
With cases surging in different countries at different times, every country is today on the verge of going into lockdown any time. There isn’t anything more unpredictable and scary than being in such a situation. Retailers are reassessing where to source from.
Peek & Cloppenburg (P&C), one of the leading clothing retailers in Germany, is also assessing the market carefully and is looking at different countries for sourcing.
Further corroborating on the same, Miriam Anlauf, Buying Director for women’s items and boutique clothes at P&C Düsseldorf, said that in many sourcing nations despite the availability of products, shipping doesn’t happen due to non-availability of port employees. That’s hit the business badly!
While some ports were not even sailed into, in some cases goods were ready but were never picked up. Stressing on the same further, Miriam clearly stated that these difficulties with supplies could continue into next year as well.
“There are many countries where factories are operating functionally with reduced workforce and therefore the delays will continue for another 6 to 8 months,” substantiated Miriam.
Though situation is improving in China, not all factories are doing well there too. Many are looking at Turkey or North Africa, but then China still accounts for 40 per cent of global production and so cannot be ignored by any standards.
P&C, which buys textiles for its own brands from China, Bangladesh and Turkey, is carefully watching every development in all the mentioned countries. “For the SS’21 season, we are now checking where to place which orders, so that we get some goods in case there’s another lockdown in any of the countries.
P&C is responsible for the buying and strategy of its own brands like Review (young fashion for men and women), McNeal (men’s fashion) and Christian Berg. It has 67 stores in Germany in addition to having stores in Austria, Hungary, Poland and Romania, among others.
