Without excessive demand: Russians began to save on clothes and shoes
The number of purchases of clothes and shoes in Russian stores in 2025 decreased by 11% compared to the previous year, while the average receipt increased by 5%, Izvestia learned. A slowdown in sales is also observed in the online segment, where demand partially flows. The reduction in spending has led to a decrease in revenue for some fashion retailers. In response, companies are optimizing their business: reducing retail space, closing inefficient stores, and developing high-margin areas in the hospitality industry (HoReCa) to attract customers. By the end of 2026, the retail market will barely grow, the Ministry of Economic Development predicts. Izvestia investigated why consumer activity is falling and whether to wait for a trend change.
How Russians' demand for clothes and shoes is changing
In 2025, Russians reduced purchases of clothes and shoes: the volume of sales in stores fell by 11% compared to 2024, the analytical service "Check Index" of the OFD Platform company (a large operator of fiscal data, takes into account information from 1.1 million online sales registers) calculated for Izvestia. The absolute data was not disclosed there. At the same time, the average check increased by 5%, to 2,988 rubles, according to the company's data.
The natural volume of the fashion market has decreased in 2025, confirmed Anna Lebsak-Kleimans, CEO of Fashion Consulting Group. According to her, the 4% increase in the money market is mainly due to the average annual increase in prices for clothing and footwear by 10-15%. There are fewer purchases, and the increase in turnover is due to inflation, rather than the expansion of real consumption, the expert stated.
The growth rate of the market as a whole has slowed down, admits Victoria Abdrashitova, Managing Commercial Director for Purchasing and Assortment Strategy at Lamoda. This is due to the fact that demand has become more restrained, and consumers are more selective, the top manager explained. At the same time, the company's sales for 2025 increased by 15%; the company did not specify the figures for the previous year.
How does the situation affect companies
The decrease in demand for clothing has affected the earnings of retailers. Thus, the retail revenue of the stores of the Italian clothing and footwear brand GEOX in Russia (Geox Rus) It amounted to 1.4 billion rubles, which is 20% less than in 2024, according to the company's RAS reports. Sales of shoe accessories decreased by 25% over the same period, to 1.9 million rubles.
Retail sales of the Turkish brand Colin's in Russia (United Trading LLC) decreased by 0.5% compared to 2024 to 13.9 billion rubles, revenue of Gloria Jeans fell by 15.4% to 24.4 billion, O'STIN (Austin LLC) — by 17.4% to 40.4 billion, Sportmaster — by 4%, to 143.1 billion rubles, Kari shoe chain (KARI LLC) — by 16%, to 62.4 billion rubles, follows from the company's reports. Izvestia sent them inquiries.
The situation has also affected more expensive brands. Thus, the revenue of the Russian representative office of Brunello Cucinelli decreased by 27% year-on-year, to 1.5 billion rubles, and the Russian division of Prada (Prada Rus LLC) It reduced sales by 2.36 times, to 424.2 million rubles. The Italian company has not operated in Russia since 2022, but its products are sold through agency offices and divisions in Kazakhstan and Turkey.
However, some retailers still managed to maintain revenue or even increase financial performance. Thus, the revenue of SK Trade (which operates the Snow Queen stores) in 2025 amounted to 39.8 billion rubles, slightly exceeding the figure of 2024 due to a reduction in the number of stores from 129 to 124, according to the company's message. And Henderson's revenue increased by 15% over the same period, to 23.9 billion rubles, his representative told Izvestia. The retailer has sold more than 6.6 million units (+9% by 2024), he said.
The accessories segment is also stagnating. Thus, sales of sunglasses in 2025 showed "negative growth," according to an explanatory note to the financial report of the Lensmaster optics salon chain. They attribute this dynamic to an increased trend towards rational consumption and a shortage of eyewear brands in the range. A representative of the retailer did not respond to questions from Izvestia.
The companies Econika, Baon and Rendezvous declined to comment.
How sales change
Sales of items are falling amid a reduction in the free budget for these purchases from consumers, says Anna Lebsak-Kleimans. According to her, customers update their wardrobe less often, wear things they have already bought for longer and choose more versatile models more often, and they have also become more cautious about optional purchases.
The reduction in their number in traditional retail is caused by the flow of consumers to marketplaces, says Olga Lebedinskaya, Associate Professor of Statistics at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. By the end of 2025, the volume of the e—commerce market amounted to 14.2 trillion rubles, and the share of marketplaces in it was 70% (10.2 trillion), estimated Ekaterina Nogai, head of the research and analytics department at IBC Real Estate. According to her, the popularity of these sites among the population is due to more favorable prices compared to physical brand stores, as well as a wide range of products, the speed of delivery of goods to the buyer, and so on.
Sales of clothing and footwear at Wildberries are showing steady organic growth, his representative said. Sales of polo shirts grew fastest (by 61% year-on-year), faux fur coats (+53%) and half-coats (+49%), he noted. At the same time, sales of sweatshirts remained almost at the same level (+3%), and the average check increased slightly. In the footwear category, sales of sneakers increased by 23% year—on—year, boots by 15% and shoes by 39%, the source said. At the same time, the average receipt for sneakers remained at the level of 2024, while for boots and shoes it decreased by 4 and 5%, respectively, the RWB representative added.
Izvestia also sent inquiries to Yandex Market and Ozon.
Retailers are forced to optimize amid declining demand, said Anna Lebsak-Kleimans. According to her, most companies are reducing the number of stores, moving out of "weak" shopping malls and focusing on maintaining efficiency, including through new projects. For example, Sela (part of the Melon Fashion Group) has launched a network of cafeterias in its flagship stores, a company representative said.
To optimize their business, players choose one of three strategies: complete closure of all stores and withdrawal from the Russian market (AC&Co, Mudo), closure of offline stores with a focus on online sales (22/11 Cosmetics, TECNO) or partial reduction of the network (for example, Club, DUB, Ecru, Maag), explained Yulia Kuznetsova, Director of the Nikoliers Retail Real Estate Department.
What can the market expect in 2026
The year 2026, like the previous one, promises to be difficult, says Victoria Abdrashitova from Lamoda. Retail trade turnover will grow by only 1.1%, the Ministry of Economic Development predicted.
The slowdown in demand has already affected clothing manufacturers. By the end of January, their total revenue amounted to 37.3 billion rubles, which is 12% less than in the same month a year earlier and almost 1.5 times less than in December 2025, according to Rosstat data. The production of men's suits and jackets decreased by 22%, to 2.7 million pieces, hosiery - by 16.7% (9.3 million pairs), knitwear — by 9.7%, to 15.6 million pieces.
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