Sportswear sales increased by 13.5 percent in quantity but grew only 0.5 percent in value. Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva
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Finnish consumers bought more clothing items during early 2025, but spent less overall, according to figures released by the Finnish Fashion and Sports Commerce Association.
Between January and July, the number of clothing purchases rose by 1.2 percent, while total sales value declined by 1 percent. Fashion clothing sales dropped by 1.6 percent in value. Footwear sales saw a sharper fall of 5.1 percent.
The sports retail sector followed a similar trend. Sportswear sales increased by 13.5 percent in quantity but grew only 0.5 percent in value. Sports footwear sales rose by 16 percent in quantity and 7.4 percent in value.
Despite the increase in volumes, total revenue in the sports trade declined, mainly due to the sharp drop in bicycle sales.
In March, the Finnish government announced the end of the tax benefit for employer-provided bicycles from January 2026. The announcement triggered an immediate fall in demand. By the end of July, electric bicycle sales had dropped by 34.5 percent.
“The crash in bicycle sales after March pulled the entire equipment trade into negative territory. Many retailers are now offloading stock, and the effects will be felt well into next year,” Veli-Matti Kankaanpää, Managing Director of the Finnish Fashion and Sports Commerce Association, said.
Online purchases from outside the EU also showed diverging trends. While the value of clothing bought from non-EU platforms fell by 1 percent during the first half of the year, the number of items purchased still rose by 1 percent. In footwear, both value and volume increased, by 5 percent and 14 percent respectively.
Chinese online retailers now dominate the market segment. Imports from China accounted for 98 percent of clothing purchases by volume and 91 percent by value. Between January and June, Finnish consumers bought 3.1 million clothing items from Chinese webshops. This equalled 10.4 percent of all clothing purchases in Finland during that period.
“This is no longer a marginal trend. The volumes are so high that online purchases from within the EU are lagging far behind. It’s reasonable to expect Chinese online retailers to meet the same product and waste management standards as local companies,” Kankaanpää said.
Second-hand clothing sales declined in both value and quantity. Compared to January–August 2024, the value of used clothing sales fell by 2 percent, while the number of items sold dropped by 15 percent.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
