The latest annual results from clothing maker Nameson Holdings Ltd. (1982.HK) are offering a complex patchwork of trends in the global apparel industry, from an economic slowdown dampening demand in China to the U.S.-China trade war that is pushing more manufacturing to Southeast Asia.
The bottom line for Nameson, both figuratively and literally, was an erosion of the company’s business, resulting in tumbling profits in the second half of its fiscal year that runs through March 2025. The business declines were most notable in Japan and China, the company’s top two markets, where sales during its latest fiscal year fell 19% and 7%, respectively, from the previous year.
Nameson’s finances are also coming under pressure as it races to build up a production base in Vietnam, which it believes will be less affected than China by U.S. tariffs in Donald Trump’s trade wars with the rest of the world. The company is also offering a lesson in some of the perils of geographic diversification, as it shifts production away from a facility in Myanmar due to customer requests and political instability in the Southeast Asian nation.