Sales of apparel, both in department stores and in retail chain stores, across Japan decreased in the month of January 2018, for the second consecutive month. The snow and cold wave that hit Japan in the second half of the month was the main reason for drop in sales. In the first half, sales were favourable due to New Year sales and sale of winter clothing.

According to the Japan Department Stores Association, its 80 member firms that together own 226 stores recorded same-store apparel sales of 184,956 million yen in January 2018. This is a decrease of 0.4 per cent compared to the same month of 2017.

Category-wise, menswear sales fell 2.3 per cent to 41,586 million yen, womenswear declined 4.3 per cent to 119,358 million yen while children’s wear was down 6.3 per cent to 12,553 million yen, the department stores association data showed.

Meanwhile, apparel sales decreased by 0.2 per cent to 94,373 million yen at 9,954 stores owned by 56 member firms of the Japan Chain Stores Association during the month. Of this, sales of menswear fell 0.2 per cent to 20,452 million yen, womenswear by 3.3 per cent to 26,642 million yen, while other garments were up by 1.7 per cent to 47,279 million yen. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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