Winter Demand Boosts Jacket and Sweater Sales

“The lower GST on synthetic fibre gives meaningful cost support. Even if players adjust prices on winterwear above ₹2,500, the margin impact stays contained, and with demand firm, they don’t need to rely on heavy discounting this season.”

“For most apparel players, winter accounts for roughly a quarter of annual sales, typically in the 20-30% band depending on product mix and geography.”

“The early indications of winter and the start of the wedding season have clearly lifted early-season sales. This will be an important period to clear last year’s inventory and start next year with fresher styles.”

“The early season sales this year were largely driven by price drops supported by GST reduction, which was probably also used by many brands to clear out old inventories.”

“This early stocking was aimed at ensuring timely availability for festival and wholesale channels, where winterwear typically commands higher prices.”

“If winter had been stronger this time, we would have had even better growth, but this was a tepid winter.”

“Winterwear’s contribution has increased from around 40% last year to nearly 55% this season…the higher ASP (average selling price) gives us a delta of nearly 5% in sales.”

“We saw some chill factor coming in right after Diwali, and customers started shifting into winter product lines.”

“Discounting was deep, starting from 30-35% and rising to 50-60% in many cases, adding that volume growth was flat, with a decline in the value of goods sold.”

“Winterwear demand has begun on a very encouraging note, particularly across Delhi NCR, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.”