I-style in the US: January/February 2005 trend

Ice has published data from the American Department of Commerce on the January/February 2005 export results for some of the major I-Style sectors in the United States.

Still being penalized compared to the same period 2004 are exports of knitwear (-10.9%), footwear (-7.9%) and jewelry (-4.8%). Apparel was to a large extent stable at the end of the eleven months (around -1%), with only the necktie segment (+5.2%) recording good performance. Good results for leather goods (+4.8%) against the same period 2004.

Once again, the perfumery/cosmetics sector was the most dynamic compared to January/November 2004 and showed an increase in exports to the United States of almost 19 percentage points (+18.9%). Eyewear in the US also confirmed the positive trend begun in the second half of 2004, supported entirely by the sunglasses segment. With over 327 million dollars in exports, the growth in sunglasses was 19.2% compared to January/February 2004, while frames, with exports of little more than 188 million dollars, fell by almost 4 percentage points.

Italian eyewear's share of the US market, which has always been the sector's first reference market, stands at just below 34% (33.7%) for sunglasses, over 2 percentage points up on the same period 2004; frames have dropped slightly below the 30% (29.9%) mark, around one point lower than January/February 2004 levels.