Italian fashion industry re-starts in hope and anxiety (Part 1)

The Italian fashion and textile industry generates at least 95.5 billion euros (the US $103.3 billion) in revenue for the economy and employs more than 580,000 people.

After nearly two months of closing to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of Italian fashion companies have started to restart in the past week, despite concerns about an uncertain future.

As one of the “jewels” in the field of production, both economically and symbolically, the Italian fashion and apparel industry still cannot avoid the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic.

However, after the restrictions on some manufacturing sectors (including manufacturing) were removed on 4/5, the mood of fashion giants seems quite optimistic.

Claudio Marenzi, president of the Italian Association of Textile and Fashion Companies Confindustria Moda, said: “We are approaching this stage with both enthusiasm and anxiety.”

Confindustria Moda currently represents about 66,000 companies operating in the fields of textiles, fashion and accessories (out of about 80,000 businesses nationwide), many of which are small and medium-sized.

Most companies are strong export- oriented, with sales abroad accounting for 66.3% of total sales in 2018.

However, according to Confindustria Moda leaders, the association’s companies are aware of the difficulties they will face. Some companies will make the right choice and others will make the wrong choice. This usually happens in every reboot and in an unprecedented context like this, the risk is even greater.

The Italian fashion and textile industry generates at least 95.5 billion euros (US $ 103.3 billion) in revenue for the economy and employs more than 580,000 people.

According to the survey results of Confindustria Moda, the average loss of fashion brands’ revenue in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter last year was more than 35%.