Indonesian people's consumption of clothing and footwear shot up in the second quarter of 2023. Ironically, the textile, clothing, and footwear industries are sinking and experiencing contractions. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), consumption of clothing, footwear and care services shot up 7.02% (year on year/yoy) in the second quarter of 2023. BPS has never recorded such high growth, at least since 2010 or the last 14 years.

The surge in growth in clothing, footwear and care services in April-June this year was predictable. The reason is, there are two Eid moments in that quarter, namely Eid al-Fitr (end of April) and Eid al-Adha (end of June).

However, growth as high as 7.02% was clearly unexpected considering that it had never been recorded in the previous period.

Growth in footwear, clothing and care services in the second quarter of 2023 was even higher in the early commodity period (2011-2013) or the pre-pandemic period.

In the 2011-2013 period, the growth of footwear, clothing and care services was in the range of 5.68%. Meanwhile, the textile and apparel industry was still at 6.37%.

The leather, leather goods and stiff base industries grew 3.58%.

The growth rate for the apparel and textile industry which is higher than its consumption can reflect that most of the domestic consumption can be met from the domestic industry.

Changes have begun to be felt since 2014 when the textile, apparel and footwear industries are in free fall. The textile and apparel industry only grew by an average of 3.54% in the 2014-2019 period or before the pandemic.

The leather, leather goods and footwear industries grew by an average of 4.55%. Consumption of clothing, footwear and care services grew 4.05%.

The data shows that there is still balanced growth between consumption and production.

Drastic changes are very visible after the Covid-19 pandemic era. Both consumption and production both fell during the pandemic because Indonesia's economy had corrected in 2020-2021.

Consumption of clothing and footwear grows by an average of 1.29% in 2020-2022. The leather, leather goods and footwear industries grew by an average of 2.98%. However, the apparel and textile industries contracted 1.05%.

The apparel, textile and footwear industries grew by double digits in the second and third quarters of 2022. However, the growth was more due to a very deep contraction in the previous year.

The apparel and textile industry underwent double digit correction in the second quarter of 2020, fourth quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021. the leather, leather goods and footwear industries contracted very deeply, namely 19.75% in the second quarter of 2020.

In contrast, consumption of clothing and footwear only contracted below 6%.

When the economy has moved to the new normal, people's consumption improves rapidly. On the other hand, the clothing and footwear industry is still struggling.

In the first quarter of 2023 and II-2023, consumption of apparel and footwear has grown 3.98% and 7.02%.

In contrast, the textile and clothing and footwear industries have contracted in the last two quarters.

In fact, the increase in domestic consumption should be accompanied by increased growth in the supporting industrial sector.

This inconsistent movement of consumption and the clothing and footwear industry can be caused by large imports and the inability of the domestic industry to meet domestic demand.