Fabrics are no longer “top-notch”.
Four-way elastic fabrics, which have dominated the fabric market for a long time, are experiencing a decline in their popularity.
“When the market was good in the past, the weekly shipment volume of four-way elastic fabrics produced by several peer companies was basically 600,000 meters to 800,000 meters, but now the most is less than 300,000 meters, and the purchasing enthusiasm in the downstream market is not as good as Before.” Qiao Yan, marketing specialist of the marketing department of Wujiang Baocheng Textile Co., Ltd., told reporters that four-way stretch fabric has been a hot-selling fabric product on the market in recent years, but sales are now declining.
Has four-way stretch fabric “fallen out of favor”? Who will become the new favorite in the elastic fabric market?
Four-way elastic fabric “falls out of favor”
Four-way stretch fabric, as the name suggests, is a fabric that is stretchable from top to bottom, left and right. Due to the addition of spandex elastic yarn into the fabric, it can adapt to the activities of the human body and expand and contract with it. The fabric is wear-resistant and does not easily leave wrinkles. It is widely used in women’s clothing and casual wear.
Especially in recent years, more and more women have fallen in love with yoga. With the rise of the “yoga economy”, four-way stretch fabrics were in short supply for a while.
“The total output of the company’s elastic fabric workshop in one day is 100,000 meters, which is close to 40% of the company’s total production. In 2020, the delivery time of other fabrics is only half a month, while the delivery time of four-way stretch fabrics is basically one month More than a month.” said Duan Zhicong, sales manager of Zhejiang Kangfa Weaving Co., Ltd.
“Four-way stretch fabrics have been very popular in the past few years. The peak production seasons are mainly concentrated in March and April and September and October every year. At that time, factories usually adjust their production proportions. A special situation occurred in the first half of that year the year before. There are not many orders, but the orders in the second half of the year far exceed expectations, and there are many customers who directly place orders for 100,000 meters and 200,000 meters,” Qiao Yan said.
This time, that time.
Since the beginning of this year, the sales situation of four-way stretch fabrics has been different from previous years. Especially in the current traditional off-season, the market is even more deserted.
Market monitoring released by China Textile City on July 15 showed that the varieties of four-way stretch fabrics on the market were partially insufficient, and the styles on the spot market were insufficient. The spot market volume was relatively limited. The prices were basically stable, with some parts stable and slightly falling, and transactions were completed in consecutive days. The volume has decreased compared with the previous period.
Among them, 250D (DTY+FDY) composite yarn has 40D spandex with four-way stretch, 250D DTY has 40D spandex with four-way stretch, 200D (DTY+FDY) composite yarn has 40D spandex with four-way stretch, 200D DTY has 40D spandex with four-way stretch, and 150D Stretch fabrics such as DTY+150D (DTY+FDY) composite yarn with 40D spandex four-way stretch, 150D DTY+150DDTY with 40D spandex four-way stretch, 300D DTY with 40D spandex four-way stretch are still marketable in some large-scale operating stores, but The transaction volume of some small and medium-sized business households has dropped significantly, and the sales trend has clearly diverged.
According to Jiang Jianren, market information officer of China Textile City, during interviews, most companies said that if there are no new orders in the near future, they will partially reduce production. In order to stabilize the workforce, some companies have implemented a rotation system for employees.
“Four-way stretch fabrics are already considered the ‘general’ among the ‘dwarves’, but the shortage level cannot be compared with the past.” Duan Zhicong said frankly that the order situation of the company’s four-way stretch fabrics is not bad now, and the orders can basically be arranged. October to November. But in July last year, orders were already scheduled until the end of the year.
Dragged down by decline in spandex market
Why did four-way stretch fabric fall out of favor?
“About 70% of the surrounding companies are not as good as before.” Qiao Yan revealed that this year, one of the most obvious changes is that long-term and large foreign trade orders have gradually decreased, and customers are ordering more short-term and small orders. “In fact, almost all categories of fabric orders have been affected to some extent. Four-way stretch fabrics have been too popular in the past few years, so they are relatively obvious.”
Zeng Yingjia, head of the business department of Lanxi Tongyi Textile Co., Ltd., said that this year, it can be clearly felt that the market’s consumer demand has decreased. “Sales of four-way stretch fabrics have maintained rapid growth for many years, which has largely overdrawn market demand in advance.”
In addition, since this year, the domestic spandex market has continued to decline. According to the price monitoring of SunSirs, the current domestic spandex market price is on a downward trend. As of July 21, the average market price of 40D spandex was 38,000 yuan/ton, down 9.95% from the beginning of the month and down 51.41% year-on-year.
As the “spokesperson” of spandex in the fabric market, four-way stretch fabrics are also deeply troubled. “Now that the price of spandex has fallen, the profit of four-way elastic fabric has improved on the surface, but the shipment volume has been negatively affected.” Qiao Yan said frankly, “Everyone predicts that the price of spandex will continue to decline in the second half of the year. Therefore, clothing brands and buyers are now more cautious in purchasing goods.”
Zeng Yingjia also pointed out that with the price correction of spandex, the mentality of clothing brands has also changed accordingly. Buyers are mainly following up on four-way stretch fabrics, and their enthusiasm for stocking has dropped significantly. “There are also some brands that are digesting a large amount of four-way stretch fabrics purchased in the early stage, which has led to poor market liquidity and slow delivery of four-way stretch fabrics.”�”
She added: “In the past two years, due to the frequent fluctuations in the prices of textile raw materials, conventional fabrics including four-way stretch fabrics have been affected to varying degrees. However, as an evergreen tree in the market, stretch fabrics still have great market demand. . Many fabric companies have also taken this as an opportunity to develop new elastic fabrics, upgrade towards technological functionality and green environmental protection, and increase the added value of their products, hoping to obtain higher profits while continuing the market popularity.”
The market needs resilient “new stars”
Although the market popularity of four-way elastic fabrics has gradually subsided in the short term, the elastic fabric market still contains unlimited business opportunities.
Zeng Yingjia said that non-spandex elastic fabric T800 has been the company’s main product in the past two years. The fabric is made of T800 elastic fiber with 50D matte low elasticity in the warp and 50D in the weft. It is favored by customers because of its good dimensional stability, high resilience and high color fastness. “Compared with four-way elastic fabrics, T800 avoids the shortcomings of spandex that is easy to age and has unstable prices. The product has a unique luster and a full hand feel. It ensures elasticity while avoiding wrinkles.”
As a high-tech enterprise specializing in outdoor sports and urban sports fabrics, Jiangsu Sanfeng Special Materials Technology Co., Ltd. always adheres to the leadership of scientific and technological innovation. It is understood that the ice-feel Vita fabric launched by the company this year has been widely recognized by the market.
Wu Wanyu, manager of the company, said that the fabric is made of nylon-coated spandex, which has its own cooling gene. It is light, silky, feels good, and has ultra-high elasticity. It recovers efficiently after stretching, improving stretchability during exercise. This fabric also combines the titanium muscle foam bionic technology independently developed by Mitutoyo, which allows moisture to be directly eliminated through the spiral channel during human movement, allowing movement to “breathe”. It can be used for skin clothing, jackets, light down jackets, etc. , to achieve comfortable and sustainable sports.
Jinan Yuanshou Knitting Co., Ltd. is actively grasping the fashion trend of knitted fabrics and accelerating its development in the direction of functionality, fashion and innovation. This year, the company launched graphene modal silver-plated spandex jersey. This fabric not only has good elasticity, but also has fine texture, smooth feel, comfortable and skin-friendly, high moisture absorption and breathability, and is antibacterial, anti-ultraviolet, and anti-static. A relevant person in charge of the company said: “High value-added fabrics can not only meet the higher-level needs of clothing brands, but also help us obtain higher returns.”
Shaoxing Ruicai Textile Co., Ltd. focuses on plain, interwoven, high-quality, and high-density fabrics for shirts, windbreakers, and dresses. The company has a professional fabric development team and works closely with Donghua University and domestic and foreign textile institutions to continue to launch fashionable and textured fabrics. This season, the company’s first product is cotton brocade stretch satin fabric. This fabric is made of satin interwoven with 80-count combed long-staple cotton and nylon. The surface of the fabric has an elegant and high-grade luster, soft to the touch and delicate texture. The addition of spandex brings good elasticity and is suitable for elegant urban-style high-end shirts, dresses, etc.
“In the current market, fabric companies should focus on solving consumers’ pain points in product development, embody the care of consumers in every detail, focus on segmented areas, and enhance competitiveness.” Yang Jingxiang, general manager of the company, believes that, The elastic fabric market is still promising, and fabric companies need to continue to innovate and design the color, material, style, and function of fabrics according to scene applications to better meet the individual needs of consumers.
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