It’s all about the growing costs of manufacturers
In the outgoing year, prices for clothing and footwear increased by 10-15%, and next year they may add another 15-25%, the Fashion Consulting Group agency predicts. According to analysts, the situation is related to the rise in prices for fabrics and accessories, as well as logistics. In other words, this market lives exactly according to the same laws as other spheres of economic activity, which today face rapidly growing costs.
The cost of fabric in 2021 increased by an average of 15%, transport services – by 20%. According to the expectations of retail representatives, in 2022, premium segment goods will rise in price by 30-40%, medium – by 20-25%, mass – by 10-20%. The latest figures are due to the limited purchasing power of the bulk of the population of Russia: due to the fall in income (against the background of the coronavirus crisis), people began to save on clothes and shoes.
“Their retail prices include factors of logistics, workers’ wages, a weakened ruble, higher prices for warehouse services, fuel, imported components – fabric (flax, cotton, viscose), buttons, zippers,” says Anna Bodrova, senior analyst at IAC Alpari. – In any case, it can be assumed that clothing and footwear will rise in price at least by the amount of official inflation, that is, by 7-10%. Also worth mentioning are the seasonal reasons for price increases, for example, when autumn changes to winter or a new global trend appears. All costs are instantly reflected in the price of the finished product. The clothing and footwear market is not autonomous, not isolated, it lives by exactly the same rules as the entire economy. “
The pandemic dealt a devastating blow to the domestic clothing market, which by the end of 2020 decreased by 25% (to 1.7 trillion rubles). Since January 2021, the demand for the purchase of inexpensive clothing on the Internet has increased by 30% compared to the first half of the previous year.
As noted in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the main imports come from China and the countries of Southeast Asia, and the cost of sea freight, compared to last year, has grown almost five times. This is due to the breakdown of supply chains during the global lockdown.
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