Cold rain, winter fashion market in Nghe An is bustling

Preparing for this winter, since August, Mr. Nguyen Duc Giang, owner of a men's clothing shop on Hermann Gmeiner Street (Vinh City) has imported a large amount of autumn and winter clothes to serve customers. However, this year, the hot weather has lasted for a long time, until mid-November the weather is still hot, the winter clothes are hung on the shelves but no one asks to buy them.

“Imported nearly 100 million worth of goods, for the past 3 months we have only sold them “drop by drop” to customers who buy warm clothes to go to work in Korea, Japan, Taiwan… I thought I would have to accept having inventory until next year, but this week, it was cold and rainy, so many customers came to buy,” said Mr. Giang.

With nearly 20 years of experience in the fashion business, Ms. Nguyen Thi Xoan, owner of a clothing stall at Vinh market, has experience in monitoring weather forecasts to source suitable items. According to Ms. Xoan, this year, winter comes late but there will be long periods of cold.

Therefore, we mainly import thermal products and thick down jackets. In addition, consumer tastes change, clothes must be "fashionable", so we do not import overly expensive products but instead choose eye-catching designs and affordable prices.

The products are mainly from Guangzhou, China with affordable prices and eye-catching designs, helping consumers have many comparisons and choices such as: jackets made of down, wool, felt, and fur with prices ranging from 300,000 - 800,000 VND/piece; long-sleeved sweaters with prices ranging from 250,000 - 400,000 VND/piece; thermal shirts 80,000 - 200,000 VND/piece; velvet pants priced at 300,000 - 350,000 VND/piece.

“The economy is difficult, now is not the time to “eat safe, wear durable” but change frequently by season, by year, so warm clothes are also affordable, modern designs to meet customers' needs,” said Ms. Xoan.

With the current income level, fashion stores also import items with average prices to serve the majority of tastes. There are not many branded clothes, mainly serving a small number of customers with a high standard of living and most of them are pre-ordered goods.

“Designed shirts and branded items costing from several million to tens of millions of dong only make up a small number on the shelves, most of which are pre-ordered items. The shop does not dare to stock up on items like before. Nowadays, most customers are tightening their spending, so branded clothes are also very difficult to sell,” said Ms. Tra Giang, owner of a branded shop on Nguyen Van Cu Street.

According to a survey, in the winter fashion market this year, mainly imported goods from border gates with affordable prices. In general, warm clothes are even cheaper than last year, customers have more choices because new designs are constantly appearing on the market.

In addition, many domestic fashion brands such as Savani, Torano, Yody... also dominate with many models of down jackets, wool coats, sweaters and windbreakers. Commonly used materials are felt, khaki, cotton, thin wool... rich colors, affordable prices, meeting the tastes of a large number of customers.

In addition, some indispensable accessories in winter such as: long tights, woolen socks, scarves and hats are also products that attract many customers. The price of tights products ranges from 30,000 - 120,000 VND/piece; cloth scarves, woolen scarves cost from 40,000 VND or more...

At this time, children's fashion items are also very popular. At noon and late afternoon, customers gather to shop at children's clothing stores. While choosing warm clothes for her child at a store on Hong Bang Street (Vinh City), Ms. Nguyen Huong Giang shared: "Children grow up every year, so "each season has its own clothes", they have to buy new ones, replace them because they are too short and too tight. Warm clothes for children are generally quite expensive, not much different from those for adults. A family of 2 children, buying 2 coats, 2 sweaters, 2 thermal shirts for each child, along with shoes and socks, costs nearly 2-3 million VND".

In order to stimulate shopping, this time also coincides with the biggest promotion program of the year, Black Friday, so fashion shops, clothing brands... all launch deep discount programs, from 30-50%, even 70%.

Some stores believe that this is an opportunity to clear inventory, so in addition to discounts, there are also buy 1 get 1 free programs, buy combo get gift, give away vouchers, lucky draws, thus attracting a lot of buyers. However, consumers should consider carefully when shopping, do not buy in bulk because of discounts, buy poor quality goods, defective goods... causing waste.

Thanh Phuc