India’s denim exports to grow to 45 per cent by 2020

Denim production in India has grown from 700 million metres in 2010 to 1.2 billion metres in 2015. Denim exports are expected to rise to 45 per cent of total exports by 2020. A two-day summit on Denims: A Democracy in Fashion, held at Ahmedabad recently revealed these statistics. The conference was organised by Diagonal Consulting and Confederation of Indian Textile industry.

Denim makes up 35 per cent of total textile exports from India and has been the fastest growing apparel fabric segments. The denim industry is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 13-15 per cent. Yet, J Berrye Worsham, President and CEO, Cotton Incorporated, says only 32 per cent of people in India like to wear denim. On the other hand, in Europe and Latin America 71 per cent people enjoy wearing denim, in the US it’s 70 per cent, in China it’s 58 per cent and in Japan, 57 per cent.

The trend of wearing denim became widespread thanks to Bollywood. The films made it popular among city residents as well as rural inhabitants. A lot of fabric goes to surrounding markets and there is a lot more export potential for denim with Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia taking a big leap into jeans production. In smaller cities, cotton denim mixed with polyester is becoming popular. A lot of polyester fiber has made inroads into denim in various forms, which leads to low priced products.

Internationally, by 2021. Latin America and Asia will take the lead in denim. In Asia the growth is expected to be 12 per cent, in Latin America it is 15 per cent, North America 10 per cent and Europe 4 per cent in next six years.