Young Russian Designers Limited by Franchising.
With an average volume of some $12 to 13 billion, the sale of clothes,
shoes and accessories is not only the largest segment of the Russian retail market, on par with economic heavyweights such as real estate, but also the fastest growing.
While the European clothing market gains a mere 5% annually, the Russian market grows by 10 to 15%, allowing its leading players to nearly double turnover each year.
Such stunning growth is due in part to an increasing number of stand-alone boutiques, malls and other shopping complexes replacing traditional Russian markets, but the most significant contributing factor is the highly active middle-class consumer.
With garments turning from functional items into status symbols, middle class families are now spending some 13 to 17% of their budget on clothes.
The increasing prosperity of Russian citizens in large cities resulted in a significant growth of the middle class, yet defining ‘middle class’ remains a difficult task. Ekspert magazine defines the middle class as families earning between $150 and $1,000 dollars per month per person, but experts in fashion disagree. ‘Families with an income of $2,000 per person can be considered middle class,’ said Natalya Vinogradova, the president of the Russian Association of Fashion Houses. So what do these people actually buy? Read on…
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