Report by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP), which will be published on 28 September, announces that in 2022, the fashion and innovative textiles industry comprised more than 36,000 entities. In the same year, the revenue of the clothing market in Poland alone amounted to PLN 53.3 billion with 78.3% being revenue from the sale of clothing in regular stores. The largest segment of that market in Poland is women’s clothing. The market value of this segment in 2023 is expected to be over PLN 36bn.

The survey carried out by PARP, included in the report, shows that both now and in the perspective of the next three years, the biggest problem is adjusting production to appropriate ecological standards due to legal requirements and customer preferences. The second most frequently cited challenge by entrepreneurs is the need to find local material suppliers in order to shorten supply chains.

One in three employers admits that it will be problematic to recruit new trade workers (in particular the professions of tailor, cutter, seamstress, clothing technologist, clothing designer) due to the shortage of such people on the labour market. Aspects related to the introduction of digitalisation were also mentioned among future challenges.

More than half (58%) of entrepreneurs are planning to increase the price of services in the next three years, while 43% are planning to launch new services or products. This is a result of the increasing popularity of product circularity and the development of the second-circuit market. Currently, there is a growing interest in the slow-fashion trend, which is based on the abandonment of low-quality clothing usually originating from Asian production. This is causing a gradual increase in the number of customers looking for alternatives to cheap and fast-destroying clothes.

Adrian Andrzejewski