The curtain falls on an extremely complex 2023 for made in Italy textiles. Having recovered from the pandemic crisis and left behind a 2022 of post-Covid euphoria, which saw the emergence of a scenario of overproduction and an enthusiastic increase in demand, the wind of the new normal has swept through the entire fashion supply chain, from upstream to downstream.
A fluctuating but generally declining trend emerges from the analysis conducted by Pambianco on the 2023 turnovers of 16 Italian companies, among the main ones in the fabrics and yarns segment. The revenues of the sample examined by the study stood at 2.4 billion, below the 2.5 of 2022. This is a single digit decline of almost 2% in the last archived fiscal year, which from on the one hand it seals the definitive overcoming of the Covid era and the gap with the watershed year that 2019 represented but, at the same time, it immortalizes a situation characterized by critical issues and settling movements for the entire fashion industry and in particular for the mountain of its supply chain.
The trend of normalization, prophesied at the end of an ‘over the top’ 2022, seems to have materialized in particular for the companies that occupy the podium of fabrics and yarns, with the Group Marzotto which confirms itself as the leader, recording growth of 7.6% in 2023, totaling revenues of 398 million euros, compared to 370 in 2022. Preceded by a negative sign, and with a double digit decline, the performance of the Group Carvico (Finanziaria Il Belvedere Spaholding company that controls Carvico Spa, Eurojersey And Jersey Lomellina), slowed by 21.7% and stopped in 2023 at 291 million, compared to almost 370 last year. The valance also confirms its third position Fulgar, with its 184 million euros, compared to 242 a year earlier and also down by double digits (-24 percent). The slowdown of the Carvico and Fulgar Group, respectively specialized in the production of warp-knitted fabrics and in the processing of nylon, inevitably leads to a reflection on the boom in technical fabrics that emerged at its peak in 2022, in the wake of post-Covid trends, and now scaled down, as made evident by the downward trend of sportswear.
That the Made in Italy textile sector had experienced, in 2023 but also throughout the first part of the current 2024, a moment of adjustment and remodulation of resources and rhythms had emerged at the beginning of the year, in particular on the occasion of the 38th edition of Milano Unica. In 2023, textile turnover stood at 7.7 billion euros, a single digit decline of 2.5% on 2022, albeit growing by 2.2% on 2019 and with a decline also on the export front ( -2.7 percent). To weigh on the performance of the past year, after a first half that still lived on the glories of 2022, above all a second half in chiaroscuro.
And as regards 2024, forecasts and sentiment require caution and hope for a new phase of relaunch in the second half of the year, the signs of which, however, are still difficult to grasp, while 2025 appears indecipherable. The tip of the balance will be the recovery in consumption, which affects the performance of the entire supply chain, inevitably also having repercussions upstream, the side that struggles the most in the supply chain. “The economic dynamics backwards in the supply chain are very serious – explained a Pambianco Magazine Sergio Tamborinipresident of Italian Fashion System (Smi) – and then there is the issue of stocks and unsold items. Everything will depend on the timing and intensity of the recovery in downstream consumption: if they are slow to restart, do so downwards or even find a place in other countries, the mountain remains in difficulty”.
Only the resumption of the usual market rhythms, physiologically slowed down after the post-pandemic surge, will allow us to get out of the impasse of full warehouses and stocks still to be disposed of. In general, looking at textile-fashion as a whole, 2024 “is not shaping up to be a good year for the entire fashion industry – underlines Tamborini -. The first part is bringing out the same results as in 2023, of which it still represents the continuation, despite some companies growing by double digits”. Adding that “consumption has now changed, it remains to be understood how profound these changes are”.
The complete article dedicated to the analysis of the trend of fabrics and yarns in 2023 is available on the latest issue Of Pambianco Magazine.
