Poverty leads Albanians to "Gabi", imports of new clothes fall

With the high inflation of the last two years, there is a shift in the purchases of Albanian consumers, who have stopped buying new clothes, moving to used ones.

Data from foreign trade show that in the 8th month of 2024, textile and footwear imports in value decreased by 8.6% and on the other hand, imports of used clothing increased by 4.7%.

During January-August 2024, imports of used clothing reached 2.47 billion ALL from 2.3 billion ALL in the same period of 2023.

While textiles and new clothing marked 56 billion ALL imports, from 61.4 billion last year in the 8-month period.

Clothing imports account for the largest part of imports, reaching 47.3 billion ALL in January-August 2024, with an annual decrease of 8.47%. Footwear imports marked a value of 8.8 billion ALL in the same period from 9.7 billion ALL that were imported in the same period of 2023 with an annual decrease of 9.3%.

The decline in clothing and footwear imports continues for the second year in a row, as in 2023 they were also 4.2% lower than in 2022.

On the other hand, the used clothing market is growing year by year. Import value exceeded 24 million euros in 8 months with annual growth of 4.7%.

Even on a global level, sales of used clothing are seeing much stronger growth than new clothing, as a result of the awareness to preserve the environment, but also as a way to dress with quality against a low price.

The decline in clothing consumption in Albania is due to several factors related to the shrinking and aging of the population and the strong increase in the prices of basket goods.

The Balkan Barometer, a survey by the Regional Cooperation Council that measures citizens' perception of the economic situation, found that in 2024 the biggest concern of Albanians was high inflation.

After the war in Ukraine, basket prices in Albania increased at double-digit rates. Just like in Europe, citizens cut spending on clothes and shoes.

Even in Europe and beyond, new clothing sales are facing a decline this year, even though inflation is stabilizing, breaking all forecasts for sales growth at the beginning of the year./ MONITOR