Outerwear. - Business Location Switzerland

The consequence of the low birth-rate is not only that less children's
wear is sold, but major changes are required on the production
side. Since clothing production in Italy has a tradition of small
family owned companies, there are negative effects due to smaller
family sizes. The owners are no longer able to run the company
with fewer family members.
Figure 4: Age structure of Italian population by gender, 2008
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base
54
l Outerwear 2010
10 0 +
9 5 - 9 9
9 0 - 9 4
8 5 - 9 0
8 0 - 8 5
75 -79
70 -74
6 5 - 6 9
6 0 - 6 4
5 5 - 59
50 - 5 4
4 5 - 49
4 0 - 4 4
3 5 - 3 9
3 0 - 3 4
25 -29
20 -24
15 -19
10 -14
5 - 9
0 - 4
Population in millions
Another possible consequence is that parents often cannot find
a successor for their clothing business. Since these small family
companies are flexible, highly service oriented and dominating
the independent shops, the whole clothing distribution in Italy is
affected.
male female
2,5 2,0 1,5 1,0 0,5 0,0 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5
4.2.4 Retail sales by product category
The shares of the different apparel segments (styles) of formal
and casual clothing, leisurewear and active sportswear in Italy are
similarly structured to the more traditional oriented British clothing
market. Table 36 shows the dominant role in sales of formal
clothing: 40% of men's wear sold in Italy is formal wear as is 38%
of women's wear. Compared to other European countries, the
share of formal wear is very high.
Casual wear has a market share of 34% for men's wear and 37%
for women's wear and is a preferred product category of the Italian
consumer, as in all other Western European countries. However,
casual wear as the Italians understand it has a very sophisticated
touch with high quality fabrics and basic but elegant designs in
comparison to the Northern European markets.
Basic leisure wear is less important in Italy and only represents
18% (men's wear) and 18% (women's wear) of the total clothing
market.
Table 36: Share of outerwear by gender, 2004 and 2008
Women Men Children
2004 2008 2004 2008 2004 2008
Formal 40% 38% 41% 40% 17% 16%
Casual 35% 37% 33% 34% 70% 71%
Leisure 19% 18% 19% 18% n.a. n.a.
Active
sports
6% 7% 7% 8% 13% 13%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Source: Analysis based on Eurostat and Euromonitor