Britons outspend French on fashion says Eurostat

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 8, 2018

British fashion shoppers rank eighth on a list of heavy spending consumers in Europe with £1,000 spent annually on clothing and shoes on average, figures from EU statistics agency Eurostat have shown.

While the UK’s shoppers are behind those in Estonia, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia and Luxembourg, eighth position puts them in the top third of a list of 26 countries. 

It also puts them on a higher spend than French shoppers who are traditionally seen as being more fashion-focused. They spend £600 a year but rank 23rd on the list, above only Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

Of course, we don’t know whether higher spend adds up to better dressed with consumers in lower-spending countries potentially targeting their fashion purchases more carefully.

The gap between neighbouring British and France has widened in the past decade with Britons spending 5.6% of their household budgets on fashion in 2016, which was 0.5% higher than in 2006. The French at the same time spent 3.8% of their household budgets, a fall of 0.8% over the same 10-year period.

Of course, a lot of what Britons buy goes unworn. A survey by Weight Watchers late last week showed that UK women and men have around £10 billion of unworn clothing in their drawers and wardrobes, or around £200 per adult.