Finns spend 920 euros a year on clothes, household textiles and footwear

In 2021, Finns spent more money on clothes, footwear and household textiles than in 2020, but the pre-pandemic level was reached only in the sales of household textiles. The average Finn spent approximately 820 euros on clothes and footwear in 2021. An average of 100 euros was spent on household textiles during the year.

Finns spent a total of 3.9 billion euros on clothes in the year 2021. Women’s clothes accounted for the largest share of the market, as their total sales amounted to nearly two billion euros. That means approximately 340 euros per person. As for men’s clothes, the sales per person amounted to 184 euros, and the average sales of children’s clothes per person were 94 euros. In 2021, the amount of money spent on children’s clothes reached its highest level in two decades. The amount of money spent on washing, repairing and renting clothes remains relatively low in Finland.

In total, Finns spend more than 500 million euros on household textiles each year. Most of this money is spent on bed linen, with sales amounting to 278 million euros. This is the highest annual sum spent on bed linen in the past 10 years.

“In terms of money expenditure, the consumer market for textile and fashion has not recovered from the downward trend caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This directly affects the operational preconditions of the companies in the industry. We are hoping that the changes in the use of money would be directed towards sustainable purchases in the future,” says Marja-Liisa Niinikoski, CEO of Finnish Textile & Fashion.

670 million euros was spent on footwear. Most of the money was spent on women’s footwear, with total sales of 321 million euros in 2021. Up until the corona pandemic in 2020, the sales had remained constant, but afterwards, the sum spent on women’s and men’s shoes has decreased. On the other hand, the amount of money spent on children’s shoes has remained at the same level for the past ten years, at about 100 million euros.

Finland reaches 8th place in the list of European countries with highest clothes expenditure

Germany, Italy and France have the largest consumer markets for clothes, footwear and household textiles in Europe. In 2021, Germans spent 56.3 billion euros on clothes, Italians spent 46.6 billion euros, and the French spent 32.3 billion euros.

In 2021, per capita spending on clothing was highest in Iceland (€900), Austria (€880), and Denmark (€820). Finns’ expenditure on clothes is 8th highest among all Europeans. Bulgarians and Serbians use the least money on clothing. The amount of money spent is not only an indication of how much clothes people buy, but it also reflects the general price level and the consumption possibilities in each country.

The development of consumption

In more than half of all European countries, consumer expenditure on clothes and footwear has either remained fairly constant or grown in the past decade. In less than half of the countries, expenditure on these product groups has decreased, with the corona pandemic of 2020 further reducing the consumption. Among the Nordic countries, only Iceland and Denmark have seen increased consumption. In Finland, Norway and Sweden, consumers have reduced their spending.

In relation to overall consumption, the share of money spent on clothes and footwear in Europe in 2021 varies between 7% (Turkey) and 3.2% (France). In Finland, these product groups account for 3.7% of the overall consumption

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