Consumer expenditure on clothing in the United Kingdom (UK) 2005-2021

Consumer spending on clothing in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2005 to 2019 has continually increased year after year. In 2019, spending on clothing reached an all-time high at approximately 58.7 billion British pounds. However, consumer spending was reduced in 2020, most likely caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As of 2021, UK households spent approximately 57.3 billion British pounds on clothing.

Clothing and footwear share in total expenditure

In 2019, around five percent of British households’ total expenditure went into clothing and footwear. Most recently, in the first quarter of 2020, British consumers’ spending on clothing decreased considerably, due likely to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. In the previous two quarters, expenditure on clothing had seen its all-time highest figures.

UK as a clothing export nation

As of 2019, the UK is the seventh largest exporter of clothing in terms of export share. The UK has a clothing export share of approximately 1.8 percent, ahead of Indonesia and Cambodia by 0.1 percent. The large majority of the UK’s clothing exports go to neighboring European countries, but approximately 750 million British pounds was exported to the Asia and Oceania areas in 2019. However, in 2018 the UK imported approximately 5.2 billion US dollars of clothing from China specifically.