Every day in Italy they close 18 Fashion and Clothing shops: This is the data that is certainly not exciting for the country, highlighted by the Italian-Confcommercio Federation Federation at the end of its council gathered in Courmayeur to examine the challenges for the sector. The number of synthesis extrapolated by the Association marks a clear worsening for Italy.
The same indicator in the last 5 years had in fact stopped at 13 stores closed per day. For a total of over 23,322 shutters lowered and another 35 thousand jobs lost in the last year. The fault of this crisis They are manifold, from the increasingly clear advance of e-commerce to the general decline in consumption.
The negative balance of fashion stores
The data examined by the Italian-Confcommercio Federation Federation inevitably suffer fromAnnus horribilis which was 2024 for the fashion sector. The closure highlighted a -4.2% compared to 2023with the 2025 winter sales that confirmed the negative trend of consumption (-5.5%). Furthermore, 6 out of 10 companies in 2024 recorded a Floor of turnover and sales.
The result is that more and more entrepreneurial realities struggle to remain with the shutters raised. In the absence of perspectives and certainty, they are forced to close. The balance-a deadline very misunderstanding in this case-among the shops in the fashion-clothing sector born and disappeared in 2024 is strongly negative (less 6,459).
The data highlighted represent a serious problem for the whole National economic inducedgiven that fashion still continues to maintain the role of pillar fundamental of the economy and national GDP. This with 164,369 active sales points that give employment to 299,793 workers.
Because they close the fashion stores in Italy
At the base of the shop crisis in fashion and clothing in Italy there are different causeseach capable of chaining the others and creating the effect of mass closure described.
First of all the new ones Innovation challengesthat fashion retailers are called to face, with the only physical presence of a shop that today hardly guarantees survival. Furthermore, fashion retail must also be able to ride the phenomenon of “shopping tourism”, taking advantage of the lowering of the threshold of the free shopping threshold from 154.96 euros to 70 euros. Those who have been able to do so, underline the data, had an increase of 54% of the transactions and 12% of the expenditure.
Finally, certainly not least, to influence the closings of the fashion shops is the general contraction of the consumption Which, in the case of fashion, has been 10% in Italy, over the past 5 years. He also affected aggressive commercial policies (often outside the logics of the market itself) also implemented by clothing suppliers.
The request to the Government of major protections
The examination exposed so far has pushed the president of the Italian fashion Federation, Giulio Felloni, to ask Giorgia Meloni’s government for an intervention to protect the fashion retail sector. A specific one is proposed Ethical chain pact with suppliers and the introduction of concrete deduction measures, from the tax deduction for the purchase of sustainable products to a facilitated VAT rate for fashion stores.
