Impact Of SARS Epidemic On China'S Fashion Industry In 2003

This year's new type of SARS virus reminds me of the SARS epidemic in 2003, when the impact of the epidemic on Chinese fashion industry was very significant.

In 2003, the SARS started in February and March, but the real time for people to be in danger like today is at the end of April. I remember the annual Beijing China International Clothing and accessories fair, which was held in April of that year. It was the most beautiful time of the Expo. People had not enough to fill all the pavilions of the whole Beijing Exhibition Center. The front square also served as a pavilion on the front of the Plaza.

About 20 April, the problem is serious and travel is blocked. The serious SARS epidemic brings a very serious problem to all Chinese garment enterprises. That is, at the end of April and the beginning of May, when the clothing brand enterprises sold the fabric orders for the autumn and winter clothing, did they have to place the order?

For clothing enterprises, the main selling season is autumn and winter each year. Autumn and winter fabrics are much more expensive than spring and summer fabrics, so they need to invest a lot of money, and their production is slow. Domestic fabrics need to be placed in order in April and May to receive fabrics in June and July and sell in August and September. In the face of the epidemic, it is a major decision whether to end the plan or not.

At that time, it can be said that the decision of the vast majority of enterprises is to choose to postpone the order of fabric, and the enterprise that is more daring is to first make some fabrics that are not too expensive, and dare not place orders for some expensive fur.

In this case, some enterprises are exceptions, that is, the use of a lot of European fabric brand enterprises. European fabrics are seen at the PV exhibition in Paris in February. In March that year, they had to place orders. These enterprises were basically ordered at the end of March. In the most intense May, the bosses of these enterprises are very nervous. The expensive European fabrics will arrive in June. The enterprises must pay. If the epidemic situation has not been alleviated, the fabric will be smashed in the hands. The enterprises are afraid to pick up the goods and dare not face the import fabric agent.

The SARS crisis began to ease in the early July of that year. Most garment enterprises began to order fabrics gradually. In August of that year, the purchasing personnel of garment enterprises rushed to the fabric factory every day, causing the autumn winter clothing to be seriously delayed. And the autumn and winter clothes of those enterprises that had ordered the European fabrics very early to catch up with the goods in time, catch up with the selling season of autumn and winter in 2003.

After a spring and summer season of extreme panic and plague, China's consumption power broke out rapidly. So in the autumn and winter of 2003, the clothes enterprises that had been anxious and eager to purchase European good fabrics had caught up with the good time and made a good foundation for brand development. Chinese enterprises also established confidence in the use of European fabrics from that time, and the pattern of high price positioning continued to this day.