Russian fashion market 2025/26 — rising tension

The unbridled optimism of late 2022–2023 and the noticeable revival in the Russian fashion market had, by 2025, given way to nervousness and bleak forecasts. Already pessimistic expectations were further reinforced by government actions increasing the burden on small and medium-sized businesses, including the gradual phase-out of preferential tax regimes for individual entrepreneurs. For many business owners, this became the last straw, pushing them to shut down an already unprofitable operation.

At the same time, another trend has been developing over the past several years: marketplaces are rapidly taking over the market — in 2025, every second item sold is already sold through these channels. This puts additional pressure on traditional offline retail: stores that rent premises suffer, as do shopping malls themselves. At the same time, it would be wrong to say that marketplace sellers are “bathing in champagne” — most are merely making ends meet due to low margins, price dumping, penalties, and hidden costs.

Everyone agrees: 2026 does not promise an easy walk. Let’s take a closer look at the current situation and consider what strategy to choose in order to survive in such difficult conditions. Then again — when have conditions in the Russian market ever been simple?

Financial background and business expectations

According to the Union of Light Industry Manufacturers, about 30% of light-industry enterprises operate at a loss.

RBC Market Research, together with the CPM trade fair, surveyed 150 fashion-industry companies. Key findings:

• 39% of companies forecast a decline in revenue in 2025;

• only one in three retailers expects turnover growth, while 16% anticipate stable performance;

• 50% of respondents assess their companies’ development dynamics as negative;

• 63% report serious operational difficulties or being close to closure;

• only 16% forecast turnover growth above 15% in 2025.

The main difficulties named in the same survey: sales planning and forecasting (34%), problems with offline sales (30%), and a shortage of personnel (28%).

Brand closures and offline contraction

Based on materials from PROfashion, RBC, Kommersant, New Retail, and data from commercial real estate consultants (CORE.XP, NF Group), brand closures and/or retail chains exiting offline were recorded in January–September 2025 and beyond.

Women’s apparel:

• Incity — mass-market women’s retail brand of Modny Kontinent, on the market for 20+ years

• Just Clothes — Russian casual “wardrobe basics” brand by Lady & Gentleman City, an attempt to replicate the concept of the departed Uniqlo

• Loloclo — local women’s brand

• Yollo — a young Russian apparel brand by a non-core investor, on the market since 2023

• Mai Collection — Turkish women’s brand that entered Russia in 2024

• I AM Studio — Moscow middle-up women’s brand, founded in 2008

• Mellow — Russian minimalist women’s brand, launched in the 2010s

• Inspire Girls — women’s apparel for a younger audience, operated for about 14 years

• Melcloth — regional women’s brand (Saratov), founded in 2016

• Mollis — Russian women’s brand (Voronezh), a federal chain since the 2010s

• Oztrend — family/women’s casual apparel, regional project since 2016

• Mudo — Turkish fashion retailer (women’s/men’s lines), present in Russia since 2023

  
  

Men’s apparel / streetwear:

• Ready! Steady! Go! — youth format of Gloria Jeans, teenage/streetwear assortment

• Práv.da — niche Russian streetwear brand, operating since the mid-2010s

Children’s apparel:

• Orby — major Russian manufacturer and children’s apparel chain

• Pelican — children’s apparel and underwear, a federal brand with developed retail

Lingerie:

• Deseo — lingerie and homewear from Modny Kontinent’s portfolio

• Etam — French lingerie brand, operating in Russia since the mid-2000s

Footwear:

• Megatop — Belarusian footwear chain, operating in Russia since the 2010s

• Obuv (OBUV) — Russian footwear chain that expanded into spaces formerly occupied by international operators

• Urban Vibes — a Sportmaster concept focused on sneakers and streetwear; a chain of multibrand stores

Regarding shopping malls, CORE.XP reports that from July through September 2025, about half of all closures in Moscow malls were in apparel, footwear, and accessories; in Q2, the share of fashion closures was 12 percentage points lower. CORE.XP also records more than 320 store closures in malls nationwide from the beginning of the year through the end of July, as well as an acceleration of closures in Moscow. NF Group notes that in Q3 2025, the fashion segment accounted for 45% of all chain closures across Russia; differences versus CORE.XP are attributed to methodology (full offline exit vs. gradual contraction).

Some chains reduced their offline presence over the year: according to business media reports, Desport shrank its network by about 17% from 29 stores; 12 Storeez CEO Ivan Khokhlov publicly noted the company’s first year-over-year sales decline in its history based on October 2025 results. ELIS abandoned the development of its 20Line men’s stores, closing all retail locations of the brand.

These are far from all closures — the Instagram platform (banned in Russia) is filled with “We’re closing — liquidation sale” announcements from small local brands and stores.

Market dynamics and consumer behavior

Based on materials from RBC & VOYAH’s “Big Review” and RBC data:

• paradoxically, the fashion market grew by 7.6% to 4.4 trillion rubles over the year;

• the number of items purchased fell by 6.5%;

• the average price per item increased by 12%;

• 51% of shoppers increased spending on clothing due to price growth.

RBC’s forecast for the end of 2025: apparel sales in rubles may rise by 9% to 3.3 trillion rubles — 3 percentage points below 2024 growth rates — while the number of items sold may decline by 5–6%.

Consumer behavior parameters from the same sources:

• 69% of shoppers buy clothing on marketplaces (Ozon, Wildberries, Lamoda);

• 60% — the expected share of online purchases in fashion in 2025;

• 53% of the marketplace audience are millennials and Gen Z;

• one in five does not buy sale items on principle;

• 42% do not trust discounts;

• 61% name price as the key choice factor;

• 38% learn about new arrivals from social media, 33% rely on marketplace selections/curations.

According to Rosstat, Russians spend about 7% of the household budget on clothing; every fifth person prefers to save money.

Let’s summarize the picture

1. After the departure of Western brands (2022–2024), the market got a brief window of opportunity: niches opened up, and Russian companies tried to use the space.

2. However, expectations of endless growth were overstated. The market quickly filled with new players and formats — local brands, experimental labels, multibrand stores, niche marketplaces, and so on. Often without clear positioning, a financial plan, or the skills needed to run a business.

3. Economic realities changed quickly: income growth slowed, inflation hit wallets, purchasing power and confidence declined — limiting further sales expansion potential.

4. Prime retail space was taken, and by 2025 rent was no longer “preferential” — increasing the burden on offline operators.

5. Online channels — primarily marketplaces — increased their share. Price, convenience, and accessibility became more critical than beautiful shoots and catchy reels.

6. Business costs kept rising: production, logistics, taxes, rent, payroll, advertising, and more.

7. Foot traffic and the spike of interest in Russian brands that previously “fed” offline chains declined. For many retailers, maintaining stores stopped being justified.

8. As a result, the growth prerequisites that emerged in 2022–2024 were exhausted, and the market returned to a mode of stagnation and restructuring — with contractions, restructuring, and resource reallocation.

The eternal question: what should we do in the current conditions?

Against the backdrop of demand redistribution, stronger online channels, and declining efficiency of traditional retail, brands need to rethink priorities and rebuild their operating model.

1. Rethinking the role of offline.Stores stop being the primary sales channel and become brand touchpoints — a space for emotion, fitting, familiarity, and trust. Networks no longer need the previous scale: the image function matters more, as does careful location selection and the quality of the customer experience. Where it can be done without fatal consequences and serious penalties, offline should be reduced and optimized. It is not worth expecting this trend to reverse and shoppers to return to stores in former volumes.

2. Strengthening long-term relationships with the customer.Loyalty becomes a key factor of resilience. Personal recommendations, regular touchpoints, a unified service standard, and working with purchase history — all of this forms a sustainable bond with the brand and increases repeat purchase frequency.

3. Developing your own online channel.Companies with fully functioning e-commerce platforms are in a more stable position. Those who have not yet mastered the digital space need to do so. E-commerce is no longer a supplement to core sales as it once was — it is the foundation of sales and communications. Online must become an independent, strong pillar of the business. It is also worth keeping in mind that the moment is not far off when purchases will start being made via AI platforms.

4. Creating services that marketplaces cannot provide.Competition is not about delivery speed or reach — marketplaces have the advantage there. Brands can win via depth of service: consultations, styling support, capsules on request, individual recommendations, strong loyalty programs, and after-sales work.

5. Using offline to strengthen online.The store becomes an extension of the online experience: fitting, size clarification, outfit completion, order adjustments. This reduces returns and improves purchase quality.

6. Strengthening brand identity.Clear positioning, consistency in visual communication, a distinct aesthetic, and a service standard help you stand out when assortments across players are becoming less and less distinguishable. The concept of “being on trend” (read: like everyone else) has been working worse and worse lately — and now it is starting to bankrupt brands.

7. Optimizing the operating model.Focus on efficient locations, compact formats, smaller runs, more frequent drops, inventory control, and calculated logistics. Rationality becomes the basic principle. I’ve been consulting brands for a long time and rarely see such a critically necessary detail as properly built reports on inventory turnover, P&L, and other essential data that should be available within a couple of clicks — yet they often have to be assembled over weeks.

8. Personal experience as a competitive advantage.Individual attention, deep knowledge of the customer, and purchase сопровождение (end-to-end support) are difficult for marketplaces to scale. This is the foundation for growth that strengthens loyalty and increases customer LTV.

9. Adjusting communication budget. It is worth reducing the share of risky investments instead of trying to find new experimental paths to increase sales through trial and error. Reassess, for example, the feasibility of influencer integrations and expensive special projects, and prefer more predictable tools — brand (display) advertising, performance campaigns, retargeting, CRM mechanics, and direct marketing. Their results can be controlled and forecast. Soberly evaluate your ability to bring traffic back to retail locations.

Summary

This is not the first crisis and, most likely, not the last — since the market’s inception in the late 1990s, there have already been several, and each time the industry changed shape rather than disappearing. Just as the excessive optimism of 2022–2023 proved overstated, today’s defeatist “everything is lost” scenario looks equally incorrect.

Consumers are not going anywhere and will not stop buying clothes; channels and preferences change, and the cost of mistakes rises. The task for the next cycle is to rebuild the business model while preserving financial stability — not merely to get through a turbulent period, but to retain resources for growth.