Fashion

ONS delivers good news on February retail, fashion has stronger month

Published

4 days ago

March 28, 2025

UK retail sales volumes are estimated to have risen by 1% month-on-month in February 2025, the Office for National Statistics said Friday.

Reuters

That was a surprise (but a pleasant one) and came after they’d risen 1.4% in January, although that was revised down from a rise of 1.7% in its last bulletin so the February figures aren’t yet set in stone.

Even more encouraging, non-food store sales volumes “grew strongly” in February, with rises across all four store type sub-sectors (department, other non-food, clothing, and household goods stores), while supermarket sales volumes fell back following a strong rise in January.

More broadly, sales volumes rose by 0.3% in the three months to February 2025, compared with the three months to November 2024, and by 2% when compared with the three months to February 2024.

Looking more closely at non-food stores, they rose by 3.1% over the month. This put their monthly sales volumes at their highest level since March 2022. Household goods stores rose by 6.8%, their largest monthly rise since April 2021, with hardware stores having the largest upward contribution.

Within other non-food stores, watches and jewellery stores grew strongly over the month. Retailers in this industry reported increased demand for gold because of wider economic uncertainty.

Clothing stores also rose in February 2025, but didn’t fully recover from their 2.7% fall in January 2025. Increased discounting and falling clothing prices may have contributed to the increase in sales volumes.

Meanwhile, online sales (by value rather than volume) rose by 3.3% over the month and by 3.9% year on year. However, they fell by 3.1% when comparing the three months to February 2025 with the three months to November 2024.

Expert views

What did analysts and insiders think of the numbers? Jacqueline Windsor, head of retail at PwC UK, said the figures continued the bounceback seen in January and highlighted how fashion in particular responded to the widespread discounting reported by ONS in its inflation figures earlier in the week.

She also noted how online sales penetration increased to 26.5%, underscoring the slow and steady trend toward e-shopping that was boosted by store closures during the pandemic but then had looked at risk at some points after the pandemic.

Oliver Vernon-Harcourt, head of retail at Deloitte, added: “A second consecutive month of retail sales growth, particularly the better-than-expected results for February, should be reassuring for many retailers. Despite the cold weather, consumers still looked to upgrade their wardrobes… There are still headwinds for both consumers and retailers. However, spring is well and truly around the corner.”

And Jacqui Baker, head of retail at RSM UK and chair of ICAEW’s Retail Group, was upbeat, saying: “Resilient retailers have dusted themselves off after a challenging December and seen incremental growth at the start of the year. Consumer confidence is improving and widespread discounting has tempted consumers to spend.

“Good news for jewellers in February, which had a strong month with a 20% annual jump in sales, which could be linked to a gold rush due to rising inflation and economic uncertainty.

“This week’s Spring Statement didn’t fundamentally change anything for retailers, but it did confirm that disposable incomes look set to continue to increase. If this feeds through into consumer spending, then the upward trend in sales could help to mitigate the imminent post-Budget headwinds that are due to hit in April.”

Meanwhile, from within retail, Shopify’s Deann Evans, the firm’s EMEA MD said that Valentine’s Day shopping “will no doubt have helped to drive this growth, with our data revealing perfume, make-up and houseplants to be among the most popular choices. Interestingly, classic gifts like flowers and chocolates took a backseat this year. There has also been a consumer focus on outdoor spending, perhaps indicative of spring’s arrival and warmer weather. Consumers are clearly keen to shake off the winter blues and get out to enjoy the warmer weather, or at least prepare for it.”

And Jim Rudall, head of EMEA at marketing and email platform, Intuit Mailchimp, made a good point that while February may not be a major shopping month for some categories, it’s a “key month for marketers, bringing the first calendar commerce moment of the year in the form of Valentine’s Day. The industry will therefore be pleased to see encouraging positive sales figures recorded last month.

“If our 2024 data is anything to go by, Valentine’s Day can often set the tone for the month as a whole. Indeed, the first significant uptick in campaigns identified as Valentine’s Day-themed was on 1 February, as marketers started the month in earnest.”

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Fashion

Moschino opens pop-up installation in Dover Street Market Paris

Published

3 hours ago

April 1, 2025

Maxwell Hart

The house of Moschino has unveiled an uncanny new special installation inside Dover Street Market in Paris. Its name: “Piece of Sheet.”

Moschino’s “Piece of Sheet” installation is on view at Dover Street Market Parisuntil April 22. – Courtesy of Moschino

In effect, it’s a unique visual setting dedicated to Moschino’s Spring/Summer 2025 women’s collection bearing the same name. It features fashion and accessories from the collection, including white dresses made of cotton sheets.

Moschino at Dover Street Market Paris – Courtesy of Moschino

The Milanese brand’s creative director, Adrian Appiolaza, is “a great admirer of everything related to Dover Street Market,” so he wanted to create a unique visual moment dedicated to the collection in the boutique.

The installation features bed sheets and laundry hanging on lines, along with light wood panels on the walls—mirroring the setup of the show. Unveiled last September, the collection was the third by Argentine-born Appiolaza for the house and contained many plays on elements taken directly from the Moschino archives: polka dots, ruffled or multi-fringed dresses, pearl necklaces, slogan suits, or black leather biker jackets.

Appiolaza succeeded American-born Jeremy Scott in December 2023, arriving with an impressive CV that included stints at JW Anderson, Miu Miu, and Chloé.

His new installation will stay live until Tuesday, April 22. During Milan Fashion Week in February, Moschino built a similar installation inside Rinascente Duomo, Milan’s key department store.

Moschino is also available in Paris in its flagship boutique at 255 Rue Saint-Honoré.

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Fashion

Clothing deflation has big impact on UK shop prices in March

Published

5 hours ago

April 1, 2025

Maxwell Hart

UK shop price inflation continued to be UK shop price deflation in March, which is good news for consumers at least in the month before many of their must-pay bills (such as energy, council tax and more) rise sharply.

Photo: Pixabay

And as well as overall deflation, the latest figures from the BRC-NIQ Shop Price Index showed the clothing and footwear category in double-digit deflation “as a result of weak consumer demand”.

Overall shop price deflation was 0.4% year on year in March, although prices weren’t falling as sharply as they did in February (0.7%) or across the first three months of the year combined (0.6%).

Looking specifically at non-food, deflation was 1.9%, compared to 2.1% in February.

The price declines in non-food — and fashion specifically — helped to counter price rises in food, which grew 2.4%, higher than the 2.1% in February.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said retailers were continuing “to do all they can to protect customers from the cost pressures bearing down on the industry. Prices fell for most non-food categories, which kept year-on-year overall shop prices in deflation, but at a reduced rate compared to February.

“With retailers bracing for significant extra costs which kick in later this week as a result of the Budget, inflation will likely accelerate in the coming months.”

And Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, added: “There is competition on the high street as retailers look to pull in reluctant shoppers with seasonal promotions. However, with upwards pressure on prices, retailers may also need some focused price cuts to help footfall in the run up to the late Easter.”

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Fashion

Danish menswear brand Les Deux sees double-digit sales rise as global growth accelerates

Published

5 hours ago

April 1, 2025

Maxwell Hart

Les Deux, the Copenhagen-based menswear brand, has released its 2024 results and they show the 13th consecutive year of growth.

Co-founders Andreas von der Heide and Kristoffer Haapanen – Les Deux

Revenue jumped in double digits, despite the challenging market backdrop that saw many companies large and small across all price points struggling to deliver meaningful growth.

It didn’t provide a specific revenue figure beyond the double-digit information, nor a number of other comparisons figures for 2023. But it said EBITDA saw “another year of growth” to €8.265 million (DKK 61.67 million) and pre-tax profit rose to €7.879 million (DKK58.792 million). Gross profit was €13.887 million (DKK103.613 million).

Its target for this year is further double-digit revenue expansion and EBITDA of €9.5 million-€10.5 million (DKK70 million-DKK80million). It said it has identified major growth opportunities in DACH, France, Benelux, the UK, and North America.

The company added that the 2024 figures “highlight Les Deux’s position as a growing force on the global scene”, with strong international expansion last year that included 25 new permanent shop-in-shops in premium department stores like De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, Galeries Lafayette in France, and Nordstrom in the US.

Founded in 2011 by Andreas von der Heide, Kristoffer Haapanen, and a friend, Les Deux combines “minimalist Scandinavian design with fresh international influences” and offers a mix of preppy and streetwear pieces.

As well as the strong results, last year was a record done as far as investment in the brand is concerned. It put in place a new ERP system “to future-proof the brand’s operations, along with advanced analytics tools enhance decision making”.

And staff numbers rose by a double-digit percentage, while it also opened two new international offices to expand its reach across Europe, with new spaces in Düsseldorf and Paris, plus an expansion of showrooms in the Copenhagen HQ.

The year also saw it taking direct control in key markets including France and the UK, transitioning from agents to in-house operations “to foster closer client relationships”.

Plus there was a “successful” collab release with Yale University and it set up US distribution, which has seen the market become its sixth-largest.

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