Luxury Menswear Growing Twice as Fast as Womenswear

The demand for luxury menswear has exceeded that for womenswear, possibly due to increased sales in the male-dominated market in China, according to an analysis.

A report by the consulting firm Bain & Co. said the boost in demand has almost doubled as compared to womenswear. While growth in demand for women's clothing is only 8 percent, menswear occupies 40 percent of the entire market and is currently worth at around $240 billion.

Furthermore, this demand for men's clothing is increasing at almost 14 percent per year.

Bain also points out that most of the new sales comes from China, contributing around 75 percent to the current growth rate. This value has also risen at a rate of about 20 to 25 percent per year.

According to Reuters, analysts from CLSA Asia Pacific estimate that Greater China, which includes Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, will make up 44 percent of the global clothing market by 2020 against 17 percent today.

Apart from this, high-end luxury clothing brands for men like Hermès account for around 30 percent of the total growth in sales in New York.

To tap this growing market, luxury conglomerate LVMH has already announced ambitious plans for its Berluti menswear brand to give tough competition to PPR's Brioni label. However, it has been reported that both brands have a long way to go to catch up with key players like Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Hugo Boss, Dunhill and Ermenegildo Zegna.