European clothing brands cut orders from Noida, Tirupur amid global uncertainty

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
May 13, 2022

Numerous European apparel brands have drastically reduced their orders in manufacturing hubs Noida and Tirupur due to the regional uncertainty caused by the Russia-Ukraine war and this is affecting Indian businesses. 

Many large scale fashion brands have shuttered their stores in Russia in response to the conflict and so their order volumes from India have dwindled. Garment exporters in Tirupur fear that, if this trend should continue, their exports could drop by between 20% and 25% year-on-year this fiscal, ET Bureau reported. 
 
“It is not that the European buyers are not placing orders, but the volumes have come down,” said the Tirupur Exporters Association’s president Raja Shanmugam, the Economic Times reported. “Also, yarn prices have gone up by 110% since 2020. The buyers have already absorbed the increase in prices by two to three times.”

As many of the garment manufacturing businesses are micro, small, and medium enterprises, they lack large amounts of capital to sustain them through these financial challenges. “Since the yarn prices have gone up, delivering goods on time is becoming difficult,” said Shanmugam. “But the foreign buyers rely on India because of the stability in country.”
 
Garment manufacturers in Noida are also facing challenges, according to the Noida Apparel Export Cluster’s president Lalit Thukral. Noida specialises in more high-value items and is struggling as European shoppers and businesses alike have increasingly less funds to spend on non-essential clothing.