Families cut 40% off clothes spend in 5 yrs

Over the past five years, claimed Acotex, the figure in this area of household spending has receded by some 40 percent. It apparently stood at 1'881 euros in 2006.

Clothes shops throughout the country have reported that last year they registered 17'189 million euros worth of business, but this, said Acotex, is nearly 25 percent less than the 22'460 million euros clocked up five years ago.

Since that year, 12'912 clothes retailers have completely shut up shop, (some 650 last year alone). Nearly 30'000 jobs have gone by the board, over 4'000 in 2011. Acotex's study “Commercial Textiles in Figures” showed that 60'248 establishments were operating last year employing 194'554 workers.

Borja Oria, the President of Acotex yesterday described the downturn in clothes sales during the early months of 2012 as “worrying”. The pace of loss, he confirmed, quickened to 6.4 percent in the first quarter, suggesting that decline over the whole year may vary between 2 and 5 percent. Oria predicted there would be closures similar to the past five years. “Unemployment levels, and people struggling to make ends meet from one month to the next means that the level of consumer confidence is pretty poor at the moment,” said Oria.

Meanwhile the textile industry looks on with horror at the possible hike in the rate of Value Added Tax (IVA). Oria said it would have the worst possible effect on commerce and would discourage custom even further. Referring to the last time when IVA was increased in 2010, Oria said that the hike had a serious psychological effect on consumers even though the increase didn't seriously impact on the final purchase price of clothes and household textiles.

Oria said that 35% of income in the textile industry comes from seasonal sales (as opposed to 25% a few years ago). He warned that the increase in the number of out of town “outlets” was threatening retail trade.