Scottish cashmere companies are on a mission to Moscow that could net millions of pounds of new business, with sales of exclusive, top-of-the-range knitwear to wealthy, style-conscious Russians on the look-out for designer labels.

Leading cashmere producers will showcase their collections in the Russian capital next year in a bold venture being set up by Scottish Textiles, part of Scottish Enterprise.

The former Communist country has been identified by the industry as the market most companies want to target in their efforts to increase annual turnover of £113 million.

But Scottish firms will have to combat stiff competition from other Western European countries who have made a telling impact in the burgeoning Russian luxury clothing sector.

Arthur Rennie, the managing director of Simply Cashmere and chairman of the Scottish Textiles knitwear group, said: "I think we have to be very optimistic that this initiative can succeed. Russian society has changed dramatically over the last ten years, and now the infrastructure is in place to handle exported luxury goods like ours."

He said cashmere businesses believed the three emerging markets for their products were Russia, China and South America. "We will have stands, sales people and samples in Moscow for the visit in March 2005, and so far six companies have decided to become part of our delegation. Results will depend on how successful the representatives at the Russian end are in getting the right people to see Scotland¡¯s products," he said.

If the mission does give Scottish companies a foothold in Russia, then China and South America could be targeted in future, Mr Rennie added.

According to the latest export figures, Italy has 56 per cent of the Russian clothing market, with Germany accounting for 20 per cent of the trade. Lagging well behind are France and Finland, followed by the United Kingdom with a dismal 2 per cent.

A recently commissioned report on opportunities for UK textile companies in Russia concluded: "The market clearly has a great deal of potential but it is a challenging one."

In Moscow and St Petersburg, where most of the wealthy consumers live and most of the fashion buyers are based, between 13 and 15 per cent of the combined population of 17 million are categorised as high-income class. A further 15 to 20 per cent are labelled as upper middle class.

The report says: "That is a lot of wealthy people. Since the collapse of the rouble in 1998, the economy has greatly improved. GDP [gross domestic product] has grown 38 per cent in the past five years and growth of 12-16 per cent is expected in the consumer sector in 2004."

The textiles report adds: "They are very fashion conscious and are heavily influenced by leading Western European brands.

"The consumers are adapting very quickly away from classic and conservative taste. Womenswear in particular has to be new, different and fashionable. But menswear tends to be more conservative, but still with design interest."

Russians are said to be very aware of international fashion and style, and are increasingly travelling abroad. Nowadays style magazines such as Elle, Cosmopolitan and Vogue are published in Russian. 
 

 
Source: fibre2fashion.com