The clothing and textile trade in Germany closed the last financial year with a small increase in sales.
According to the first projections published on Wednesday by the BTE Textile Shoes Leather Goods Trade Association, retail sales of clothing as well as household and home textiles will have risen to 67.4 billion euros in 2023. Compared to the previous year, this represented an increase of one percent. However, sales are only 0.3 percent above the pre-Corona level of 2019, according to BTE managing director Axel Augustin.
The comparison with the pre-Corona level continues, because even if the stationary clothing trade, especially boutiques, fashion houses and textile chain stores, according to BTE estimates, were able to increase their sales by three to four percent last year, these are still around five percent under 2019. In addition, there are currently major differences in retail success, depending on location and business concept, as reflected by the wave of insolvencies in the clothing and shoe trade.
“The range extends from record sales to business closures or bankruptcies due to the sharp increase in costs and large losses of assets during the forced Corona closures,” said the BTE boss.
Mail order and online trading has already lost sales last year. Nevertheless, thanks in particular to the Corona-related upswing in 2020 and 2021, according to BTE estimates, this is still around 30 percent above the pre-Corona level of 2019. Overall, the BTE assumes that the entire mail order business with clothing as well as home and Home textiles has a market share of almost 28 percent.
Cautious expectations for 2024
Rising costs will continue to cause problems for textile and fashion retailers in 2024. The sales expectations for the current year are very cautious, only three out of ten participants in a BTE survey expect a “notable increase in sales” in 2024. A third see themselves at around the same level as in 2023, while four out of ten fear losses at least one percent.
“If the costs continue to rise and the state demands back the bridging aid that has been paid out, numerous specialist retailers will soon have to close their businesses,” said Augustin, who previously warned of a possible wave of insolvencies triggered by the repayment of Corona aid.