August Boom: UK Fashion Sales Hit Record 6% Increase

Summer boosts fashion sales in the UK. In the eighth month of the year, sales of textile, clothing and footwear products have accelerated in the country to a year-on-year increase of 6%, without correcting for seasonal and calendar effects, according to data released today by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS).

You have to go back to June 2023, when fashion sales were up by as much as 9.4%, to find a higher increase than that recorded by the sector last month. The figure also continues the upward trend that began earlier this summer, in June this year, when sales rose by 3.3%. A month later, in July, the value of sales almost doubled to a 5.7% year-on-year rise, after revised data for the period were published.

Fashion sales performance has been patchy since the start of the year. In January, the UK fashion trade started the year on a downward trend, with sales falling by 2.8%, which was reversed over the following three months: in February, the sector’s turnover rose by 0.5%, in March by 2.3% and in April by 6.5%. May was once again a black month for the sector, with a year-on-year fall of 0.8%, before the summer recovery.

Apparel sales have boosted the good performance of fashion sales

Fashion retailing was driven mainly by clothing sales, which were up 7.8% year-on-year at the end of August. As in previous months, footwear and textile products were down 3.1% and 21.1%, respectively.

The increase in fashion sales also outstripped the performance of the UK retail trade as a whole. According to the same ONS data, sales of all types of products in the country rose by 2% year-on-year in August, and by 3% if fuels are excluded.

The good evolution of retail consumption in terms of value of products purchased, but also by volume. At the end of the eighth month of the year, ONS data show that sales by volume rose in parallel with value, with a year-on-year increase of 6.1%. The figure represents a month-on-month rise of up to one point on July’s figure.