After a horrible year, luxury fashion brands pin hopes on the return of Chinese consumers in 2017

The global fashion industry can look forward to better days in 2017 amid signs of a rebound in the consumer markets in mainland China and Hong Kong, according to analysts.

In recent years, the likes of Prada, Burberry and Richemont have been struggling as mainland Chinese consumers scaled back spending on luxury goods amid Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign and cooling economic growth.

In fact, 2016 added up to one of the most difficult years on record for the luxury goods industry, as fluctuating currencies, a wave of terrorist attacks across Europe and the Brexit shock led to a new era of volatility.

“Indeed, this has been one of the toughest years ever for the global fashion industry,” analysts at McKinsey and news portal Business of Fashion said in a recent 92-page report.

The industry was on track for its worst operating profit result since the financial crisis in 2009, according to the study.

Luxury fashion companies were likely to see annual revenue growth of just 0.5 per cent, the report said, noting that it had surveyed responses from 400 companies.