Footwear and accessories at a rise

Thursdays Index was 1041.02, down by 21.52 from the previous days 1062.54 points.

Japanese textile and garment firms are showing a growing interest in relocating their production bases to Thailand as a result of a rise in industrial unrest in factories in China. As published in local press, Akikazu Shimomura, president of the Japan Textile Federation (JTF), said Thailand has a greater competitive edge over Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh because of its superior production and design skills.

According to a recently released report by StockCall, as the traditional markets of Europe, Japan, and the United States struggle, the sector is increasingly looking towards the emerging middle classes of China, India, and Brazil as viable markets for their non-essential products.

This seek for new markets has a double edged effect on the footwear and accessories industry as while the disposable income of the middle class is a valuable target, much of their low cost labor required to produce many of the textiles will become more expensive and decrease industry margins, concludes this study, that compares companies such as Coach –with a registered drop of 0.77% and Nike, with a humble gain of 0.05%. Neither Puma is alien to this fight for virgin markets as it was seen in the last session, which left the athletic firm with 6.2 points less than the previous day.

Ted Baker was another punished value, losing 14.5 points, while Warnaco Group closed at 3.3% down and the American PVH Corporation, which gathers Calvin Klein and Arrow among other brands, fell 2.03%.

The best performances were those offered by JD Sports Fashion, which hiked 6.5 points after reporting losses for more than five consecutive days; ASOS, with two more points than the day before; and NEXT, scoring one point.