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| Steve Stewart, Invista Apparel Global Director for Intimate Apparel and Swimwear |
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In today's fashion market, consumers' knowledge of elastic fiber is not confined to intimate apparel and swimwear. In fact, the application of elastic fiber can be seen in many apparel sectors such as denim, knitwear, shirts and socks, contributing to the improvement of garment's functionalities. Meanwhile, consumers' pursuit of comfort, trendiness and functionality in underwear is promoting the development of new fiber and fabric. Steve Stewart, Invista Apparel Global Director for Intimate Apparel and Swimwear, tells ATA about the development trends of the intimate apparel market, in addition to giving a brief introduction to its newly introduced fiber, Lycra T862W.
ATA: First of all, could you tell us more about the Lycra T862W fiber?
Mr Stewart: Lycra T862W fiber evolves specifically from Lycra T162B fiber to bring superior whiteness and more fashionable colors, and fabric uniformity and better washing fastness, so as to create more fashion space, on top of the strengths of our existing products.
ATA: What makes Lycra T862W fiber unique?
Mr Stewart: Lycra T862W fiber not only sets a new standard in fabric whiteness, but also achieves richer, more saturated colors when it is mixed with nylon. I have to say that Lycra T862W fiber has laid a solid foundation in critical characteristics including fabric whiteness, whiteness retention, color expressiveness and fabric uniformity.
ATA: As far as elastic fibers for intimate apparel and swimwear are concerned, what significant changes have you seen?
Mr Stewart: When it comes to intimate apparel, consumers are no longer choosing products based on prices only, instead they increasingly focus on product quality, design and functions. Therefore, future fabrics should be able to offer a good blend among comfort, bodyshaping function and fashionability. Similarly, the consumption market will be in need of intimate apparel fabric that matches fashion trends and color trends, allowing for more variety of exquisite products and providing more inspirations for fashion design. Our Lycra Beauty fabric has been successfully applied to lace, printed apparel, swimwear and seamless underwear.
ATA: What is the biggest trend for the development of intimate apparel and swimwear?
Mr Stewart: According to our statistics, the intimate apparel market is rapidly expanding. Chinese consumers' consumption on underwear has grown from 5% few years ago to 8% of their total apparel consumption. However, compared with the US and Europe markets, it still has big room for growth.
Within the entire underwear and swimwear sector, bodyshaping underwear is a fast growing sector, whether it is in terms of volume and consumers' preferences, and consumers have higher expectations for this kind of customized apparel - they want it to be more comfortable and better fitted, and have better bodyshaping effects. Even though we haven't got the figures related to the growth rates of elastic fiber demand in 2011, I'm sure that the market is continuously demanding more and more elastic fiber.
ATA: What do you make of the development of the Chinese intimate apparel market?
Mr Stewart: In 2010, China's total retail volume of bodyshaping underwear reached 37 million pieces, which made up about 3% of its consumption on brassiere, and it means that Chinese women aged 15-44 purchased a set of bras in the year. China has 152 million target customers and this denotes a huge potential market to be reckoned with. We anticipate that in the future, China's demand for brassiere and bodyshaping underwear will grow at the rates of 10% and 8% respectively.
In the intimate apparel sector, we have worked with almost all major fashion brands in China.
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