Australia's Apparel Industry Analysis Research Paper

Australia's Apparel Industry Analysis - Research Paper Example The Australian apparel industry can be classified into menswear and womenswear market. In the menswear segment the total revenues in 2008 was $3524.4 million. The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) during the period 2004-2008 was 3.9%. The total revenue generated by the apparel retail industry of Australia in 2008 was $12.8 billion with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4% during the period 2004 to 2008 (researchandmarkets, n.d.). The total number of apparel retailers in 2001 was 10,673 and they were distributed across Australia unequally depending on population density. The apparel retailers were mainly located in key cities like Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. Victoria and New South Wales account for more than 80% turnover in in the textile, clothing and footwear segment (Ahern, 2004). Designer Wears: Australian designers are very well updated of the latest fashion trends in Europe, US and the local trends in Australia. They produce quality fashion products at competitive prices and some of them are also able to compete with international players. Designer wear particularly from Italy are highly respected and accepted by the Australians. Products from Italy usually cater to the premium segment since they are priced high and mainly include high end leather wears. The Australian apparel market like other western markets is highly fragmented or segmented. The segmentation is not only based on income but also on gender, body type, age and aesthetic preference. This result in the market being broken up into small national markets based on lifestyle. Moreover compared to other western countries Australians spend less on apparel because of the moderate climate and their casual lifestyle. Australians spend a large portion of their income on housing, communication equipment and transportation. The price reductions prompted by trade liberalization has reduced the share of apparels in household expenditure considerably in the past ten