Apparel sales in France start growing again in February

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Apr 3, 2017

After tumbling by 6.7% in January, in February apparel sales in France rose 4.4% compared to February 2016, when they had been relatively stable on a yearly basis (-0.8%), according to figures published by the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM, the French Fashion Institute).

Good news for the industry, though the increase is not enough to avoid a sales shortfall of 3.2% for the first two months of the year combined. In particular, department and variety stores enjoyed the best performance in February, growing 7.5%, while hypermarkets and supermarkets slumped by 1.6%.

In 2016, apparel sales in France fell by 1.2%, despite a strong rally towards the end of the year, which was enough to upstage the IFM's early December forecast of a yearly loss in the region of 1.8%. Nothing to cheer about though, since industry sales in the 2007-2015 period lost 12%.