Garment Industry in Canada

According to estimates, the men's wear market accounts for more than one third of the total apparel industry in Canada. The contribution of men's wear as a percentage of the total garment industry is also increasing.

Salient Features of Garment Industry
The country has low barriers-to-entry industry. The manufacturers lay great stress on quality of fabric, comfort, functionality, value and service. There has been a phenomenal increase of purchase of garments on the Internet. Teenagers have responded most favorably to Internet marketing promotions, thereby creating lucrative business opportunities for suppliers with e-commerce capability.

There has been an ongoing trend of Canadian garment manufacturers continuing to lose market share to foreign suppliers.

Key Drivers
The Canadian apparel industry for men is driven by factors including :

• Quality of the garment
• Style of the garment
• Price of the garment and
• Service provided by manufacturers

Major Imports
The industry imports a lot of garments from the USA, followed by Asian countries China, India and South Korea. These countries supply high quality men's clothing items to Canada at lower costs.

Manufacturing Regions
Men's apparels or garments are manufactured in all provinces and territories. Some of the major manufacturing centers are:

• Quebec: Accounting for more than accounting for 55 percent of the total manufacturing.
• Ontario
• Manitoba
• British Columbia

The Canadian garment industry manufactures large volumes of standardized products like men's underwear, jeans etc. Most of the firms make use of computer based technology for garment manufacturing. Some of techniques being used are:

• Computer-aided designing
• Computer-aided pattern making
• Computer- aided grading
• Computer-aided marking
• Automated cutting
• Automated spreading