The Size of the Global Fashion Retail Market

The apparel market today is worth around $1.3 trillion in retail sales globally per year¹. The fashion retail sector alone – just clothes, not footwear or jewellery – is just a bit bigger than the Russian economy, or roughly equivalent to the combined GDP of the world’s 126 poorest countries².

Womenswear makes up more than half (53%) of global retail spending – or roughly $689 billion. By comparison, spending on men’s clothes and children’s clothes is relatively modest – 31% or $403 billion an…