Brexit boom for British clothes as High Street expert issues warning for High Street names
BUSINESS expert Catherine Shuttleworth has said it could be a tough time for the clothing industry but shoppers will be buying British again.
Business expert: High street clothing brands could be lost
Ms Shuttleworth said with rising prices in the UK economy, clothing was set to be hit hard but online retailers would be the most “resilient”.
Clothing and footwear has seen month-on-month inflation for the first time in nearly two years.
Ms Shuttleworth, who famously once clashed with Ed Miliband in the build-up to the 2015 General Election, said there were particular clothing businesses at risk and warned major High Street names could be at risk.
Catherine Shuttleworth said High Street names would be lost
I think you’ll see people changing back into British buying
Speaking on the BBC, she said: “There are some of the clothing businesses who particularly depend on external investments and they also look for clothes that come from abroad, so I think you’ll see people changing back into British buying actually.
“Some of the retailers have done very well. The online retailers make a lot of their clothes in the UK.
"I think they’ll be a bit more resilient, but we can expect to see clothing retailers really struggle and I think we’ll see some big names probably move off the High Street for good.”
Overall, shop prices were down 1.4 per cent in December on the same time last year, an easing from 1.7 per cent in the previous two months, according to the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index.
But deflation across non-food prices slowed to 1.9 per cent, down from 2.3 per cent in the previous month - the weakest rate since June 2015.
Helen Dickinson, British Retail Consortium chief executive, said she expected the general trend in inflation to be upwards over 2017.
Speaking on overall shop prices, she said: "The magnitude of the exchange rate movement and commodity price rises combined with the increasing costs of doing business means that retailers will have little choice other than to pass on some of these rising costs into prices but effect will be lessened by the intensity of competition."
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The pound’s value recovered “like a rocket” as Theresa May set out her plan for leaving the European Union.
Commentators suggested that market meltdown over the Prime Minister’s confirmation that Britain would be leaving the single market had also been averted.
A weaker pound is of benefit to exporters as it enables foreign buyers to purchase their goods cheaper. The highs experienced by the FTSE 100 is also partly attributed to the fall in sterling.