The latest consumer spending figures have shown UK consumers continued to spend on clothing and footwear products and services in q1 2016. Both the chained and current price indices rose to record levels for a single quarter with growth in spending in all segments apart from repair and hire and dry-cleaning of clothing and footwear.
These figures do correlate with the better economic and employment news that had fed into q1 although how the Eu referendum may have affected consumer spending in q2 will be an interesting marker.
Figure 1: Clothing and Footwear Household Final Consumption by Chained Volume and Current Price measures (£m)
Source: Office for National Statistics