In March this year, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz suddenly changed, causing the crude oil transportation to be temporarily interrupted. The fluctuations in international oil prices then spread to the textile manufacturing industry. Over 60% of the global textile fibers are synthetic fibers. The raw materials for outdoor clothing such as windbreakers and yoga pants mostly come from petroleum. The prices of these raw materials have shown significant fluctuations along with the increase in oil prices.
A type of polyester finished filament widely used in the fabric of hiking clothes has seen a price increase of over 27% from December last year to the end of March this year. Currently, there is a queue for purchasing raw materials, and some suppliers can only provide valid quotations for the current day.
Despite the increase in upstream costs, currently domestic outdoor brands have not publicly announced any price hikes. Leading outdoor brands, relying on long-term price-fixing agreements and previous stock preparations, can temporarily absorb the cost pressure; small brands and online brands that rely on a single best-selling product have relatively weak supply chain weight. They are facing both upward cost pressure and concerns about the impact of price hikes on sales, and thus mostly choose to wait and see before making any price adjustments.
Consumers have become more sensitive to price increases for outdoor products. Previously, some brands' price adjustments led to negative market feedback, which further increased their concerns about making further price cuts. Additionally, the core raw material for yoga pants, high-quality nylon, has a high concentration of domestic supply. Coupled with the hoarding trend, price fluctuations have intensified. However, even the terminal brands did not rashly adjust prices. Instead, they mostly used internal cost reduction measures to mitigate the pressure of rising costs.
