Dear BoF Community,
In 2024, fashion businesses across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America navigated a web of opportunities and challenges, adapting strategies to both seismic and subtle shifts in the global market.
In China, where luxury has been hit hard by the ongoing slowdown, brands had to reassess this once-reliable customer base. Fewer Chinese shoppers travelled to Europe's fashion capitals though some did splash out in Japan, helping to fuel a boom there. India, meanwhile, cemented its position as a future growth engine for the sector, prompting brands to boost investment in one of the world's most dynamic markets.
Fashion brands at the more affordable end of the spectrum also faced new challenges in China, where local high-street and fast fashion players have upped their game against global rivals. Elsewhere in Asia, Thailand emerged as a luxury retail powerhouse thanks to its appeal among high-spending tourists and the role its vibrant entertainment industry plays in celebrity marketing across the region.
The humanitarian crises in both the Middle East and Ukraine worsened during the year, making it harder to predict how the escalating wars in these regions might disrupt the global economy or trigger volatility elsewhere. Nevertheless, industry leaders in key Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia powered through the uncertainty even as global brands took their eye off the ball in neighbouring Dubai where executives were slow to respond to changes in the retail landscape.
From the Baltics to the Balkans, innovators were in the spotlight in Eastern Europe as that region emerged as a hotbed for fashion-tech firms with global ambitions, ranging from AI-powered virtual try-on start-ups to online resale players. Despite unremitting western sanctions, some savvy Russian companies kept themselves buoyant by forging new relationships in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
It was a remarkable year on the African continent. While resourceful fashion entrepreneurs in South Africa turned to contingency plans in the face of economic stagnation, their counterparts across the region spotted new opportunities in Angola's secretive luxury market and the ability of street style stars to attract retail investment to new frontiers like the DR Congo.
Apparel and footwear manufacturers helped redraw the global sourcing map, with some focusing on Vietnam in a bid to diversify away from China and others navigating their way through crises in Bangladesh. Nearshoring became an even higher priority for many in 2024. Just as US clothing retailers looked toward Korean-owned factories in Guatemala, European chains leaned on powerful Turkish factories and their Egyptian partners to harness vertical integration and speed-to-market closer to home.
In Latin America, Argentina's troubled textile industry faced yet another turning point and Brazil's colossal fashion merger caused an investment ripple effect. But the real star of the region this year was Mercado Libre, the $90 billion e-commerce powerhouse that is pulling out all the stops to battle China-founded ultra-fast fashion incomers like Shein and Temu.
As we approach 2025, these and other developments over the past twelve months remind us of the resilience, imagination and adaptability required to thrive in an ever-changing global market.
Robb Young, Global Markets Editor
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