Demand for fashion, partly driven by escape from lockdowns, defies expected slowdown in non-essential purchases
As the cost of living crisis builds up UK shoppers are slashing their budgets in almost all areas. But there is a notable exception – the money spent on clothing is above pre-pandemic levels, the return of weddings, holidays and socialising fuelling a boom in “revenge spending” or buying those treats missed over months of pandemic lockdowns.
Shoppers are forking out almost a fifth more on clothing than last year, research from Kantar for the Guardian has found, taking the value 1% ahead of the 2019 figure.
