At present, elastic fabrics on the market are mainly divided into spandex fabrics and non-spandex fabrics. Spandex fabrics refer to adding a certain amount of spandex yarn during the weaving process to make the fabric elastic (such as four-way stretch), while non-spandex fabrics It is produced with silk that has a certain elasticity (such as T400, mechanical elasticity, false twisted silk elasticity, etc.).
In recent years, as people have higher and higher requirements for the comfort of clothing, the market demand for elastic fabrics is also growing. This year, under the influence of the new coronavirus epidemic, the market for stretch fabrics seems to have undergone different changes.
From last year’s glory to this year’s slow sales
Last year, the textile market was affected by overcapacity caused by the transfer of water-jet looms. Traditional polyester taffeta, pongee, imitation silk, nylon and other products all experienced large-scale “throwing away”. goods, dump goods” phenomenon. On the other hand, elastic fabrics, mainly T400 and four-way elastic, have suddenly emerged and caused a stir in the market:
A pearl-point T400 fabric has become popular in the market and has been dubbed The name “King of Glory”;
The emergence of T8 cool silk cotton fabric caused a sensation in the market, and the raw materials for the production of this fabric were robbed for a while, and even For a period of time, there was a situation where “there were orders but silk could not be bought”;
Conventional mechanical stretch fabrics also occupied a hot spot in the market at some time and became a trend for a period of time. The best-selling fabrics of the time…
But this year the situation has undergone a huge change:
Manager Bao, the person in charge of a weaving company mainly engaged in the production of linings and elastic fabrics, said that so far this year, there have been basically not many actual orders for elastic fabrics. On the contrary, they are regular orders. There are occasional small orders for some lining fabrics, which is exactly the opposite of last year.
Mr. Weng, the person in charge of another elastic fabric manufacturer, also said that due to the epidemic, the order volume of all varieties has decreased this year! When business was good last year, I didn’t have time to do it, so I went to outside factories for processing. But this year, until now, there have been no good-selling products.
Of course, not all manufacturers say that elastic fabrics are not easy to sell this year. Mr. Shen, the person in charge of a weaving company that specializes in four-way elastic, said that the orders so far this year are still relatively low. It is stable. Compared with last year, sales have not shrunk significantly. Now, in addition to the conventional four-way stretch polyester and four-way stretch nylon, they are also easy to sell. They are mainly used for casual wear in the second half of the year.
Overall, the market for elastic fabrics this year has shown huge signs of decline compared with last year.
From “synonymous with high-end” to “anyone can do it”
The primary reason for the decline in the market is of course the new crown epidemic. As of 16:00 on July 3, the number of confirmed cases of the new crown epidemic worldwide has exceeded 10.91 million, and as Europe and the United States gradually resume work and production, the epidemic situation There is a tendency for a second outbreak.
Therefore, during the visit, almost all companies said that the export sales of elastic fabrics have been greatly affected this year, but the domestic trade market has recovered slightly recently. This is also the case for some companies. There are reasons why the market has improved.
In addition to unexpected situations such as the new crown epidemic, there are deeper internal reasons for the decline in the market of elastic fabrics.
As early as four or five years ago, the editor had heard of the name of stretch fabrics. I remember that at that time, T400 and four-way stretch fabrics had just emerged in the market, and they were still “high-end and elegant”. , synonymous with “high-end”.
Because profits are high and demand is growing, it is like a “blue ocean”. Therefore, more and more textile companies are beginning to focus on the production of elastic fabrics, and their production capacity is becoming more and more. Come higher and higher.
The biggest turning point occurred in 2019. Due to the transfer of water-jet looms, there was a large amount of overcapacity in conventional products, and there was a serious polarization situation with elastic fabrics, and the elastic fabrics With the passage of time in recent years, the technical threshold for production has become very low.
In the environment where a large number of new water-jet looms have been put into use in recent years, conventional fabrics and elastic fabrics are actually only left with a layer of window paper. The market comparison between conventional fabrics and elastic fabrics in 2019 has led a large number of companies to choose to pierce this layer of window paper, which has inevitably led to overcapacity.
There is excess production capacity, but the inventory is not high. What’s going on?
The editor originally thought that there was overcapacity, and the inventory of elastic fabrics on the market would also skyrocket like pongee, polyester taffeta, and imitation silk. However, after research, I found that ,But in fact, it’s not.
Cloth bosses generally say that although companies have millions of meters of gray fabric inventory, stretch fabrics account for a small proportion of it:
On the one hand, it is because the raw materials of elastic fabrics are expensive and the cost is higher;
On the other hand, because of the spandex yarn, it is difficult to store elastic fabrics for a long time. More than two years, unlike most conventional fabrics that can be stored for decades.
However, although the inventory is not high, profits have declined very significantly. When production capacity is sufficient but market demand cannot keep up, weaving companies generally choose to “exchange price for volume” Based on this strategy, the average profit fell by more than 70% compared with the same period last year.
One fabric boss even said that in order to ensure the startup rate, some orders this year were made at a loss, and “selling fabrics at a loss” has even changed in this year’s elastic fabric market. It has become a relatively common phenomenon.
In the old days, the king Xietang Qianyan flew into the homes of ordinary people
The lack of demand may only be temporary.
In June, Manager Bao conducted research on the textile markets in Guangzhou and Shenzhen and found that the demand for elastic fabrics in the local market is still very strong, and has gradually replaced pongee, The trend of conventional fabrics such as polyester taffeta has become a very popular clothing fabric.
At present, there are more factories on the market that can produce both conventional fabrics and elastic fabrics. There are not many weaving companies that “specialize” in elastic fabrics. Nowadays, the market demand is insufficient, and gray fabrics become inventory after production. Due to the high cost and difficulty of preserving elastic fabrics, most weaving companies will choose to invest more production capacity in the production of conventional products during this period. Therefore, although the production capacity There is a surplus, but stretch fabrics are not suffering from serious inventory problems.
The editor judges that once the epidemic is under control, the demand for elastic fabrics will not rebound as fast as pongee, polyester taffeta and other conventional fabrics, and it has low prices that these fabrics do not have. Inventory advantage; but on the other hand, the current production capacity of elastic fabrics in the market is very sufficient. If the company fully converts production, the demand will be easily met.
Once demand picks up in the future, there may be a wave of market demand for stretch fabrics due to low inventory, but this wave of market demand may soon be absorbed by the overwhelming production capacity.
“In the old days, the swallows in front of Wang Xietang flew into the homes of ordinary people.” We can even say that today’s elastic fabrics have It has become a new conventional fabric variety. </p
