Global expenditure on clothing and footwear is expected to decline by 1.5 per cent in 2015.

The decline will be due largely to depreciations of the currencies in a number of major supplying countries against the dollar. Such depreciations have made exports from these countries cheaper in dollar terms and this has enabled suppliers in these countries to remain competitive as sourcing locations.

In China, for instance, the value of the currency fell against the dollar by four per cent between October 2014 and October 2015 after a sustained appreciation between July 2005 and October 2014.

As a result buyers who source from China hope to be able to negotiate reduced prices. Chinese producers may also have to reduce their prices in order to remain competitive with their counterparts in Vietnam, given that Vietnam is set to gain from preferential access to the US market under the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.

In India, the rupee depreciated by 13 per cent against the dollar between 2012 and 2014. And during the first nine months of 2015, it was down by four per cent compared with the corresponding period a year earlier to its weakest level on record. The depreciation of the rupee has made Indian products cheaper in dollar terms and therefore more attractive to foreign buyers.