How Worried Should the World’s Apparel Industry Be About Germany’s Slowdown?

The most recent figures on German growth do not make for cheerful reading. The country has gone from an engine of economic growth for the whole of the European Union to a problematic market barely avoiding recession. Last week, as part of its official spring 2019 forecast for the EU, the European Commission predicted only 0.5 percent growth for Germany. That is why the German market is so worrying, Claudio Marenzi, head of Italy’s Confindustria Moda, admitted at a press conference in Florence last week. Marenzi’s federation represents around 67,000 Italian companies and he was there to introduce the next edition of Pitti Uomo, although he also presented Italian sector results for 2018. In Germany, there was a 0.7 percent fall, he said. Given that Germany is one of Italy’s biggest trading partners when it comes to textiles and apparel, with around 10 percent of related Italian exports going there, there is ongoing concern about that market, Marenzi said. He is right to be concerned, François-Marie Grau, the managing director of the French Federation of Women’s Ready-to-Wear, told WWD. The French are worried, too, Grau added. “Germany is our third-largest customer in clothing products after Italy and Spain, and the fourth largest in

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