Year 2016 turned out to be a struggling one for the apparel sector as it managed to grab just 3 per cent growth to reach US $ 218.7 billion. This has been stated in a report published by NPD Group, a market research company.
The growth rate for the apparel sector has been the same since 2013. With 11 per cent growth in 2016, athleisure emerged as the top selling segment worth US $ 45.9 billion.
2016 also went good for jeans, dresses and tailored clothing, added the report. And the shift to online sales persisted, with e-commerce sales rising to 19 per cent of all US men’s, women’s and children’s apparel sales.
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Brick and mortar stores have paid a cost to witness growth in their online segment. “The growth that occurred in online, off-price, and mass channels came from a consumer focus on convenience, value and price”. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 4.7 per cent for the past year, while the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.29 per cent is up 19.2 per cent for the same period.
