What: French textile and apparel sales dropped 15% year on year in September 2026, with every distribution channel posting a double-digit decline during the second-hottest September on record.

Why it is important: Department stores were the most resilient channel in a market where online offered no refuge, showing that format matters as much as weather when demand collapses.

According to provisional data from the Institut Français de la Mode, French textile and apparel sales fell 15% in value in September 2026 compared with the same month last year. Weather weighed heavily on trading, as Météo-France ranked the month the second-hottest since measurements began in 1900. The longer-term picture is equally weak, with turnover 16.5% below September 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

No channel escaped the downturn. Sales in physical stores dropped 16.8%, led by a 20.4% fall at mass-market chains such as Kiabi and Gémo. Specialist chains declined 14.6% and multi-brand independents 14.1%, while department stores and variety stores such as Monoprix limited their decline to 11.3%. Online sales, excluding distance-selling pure players, also fell 11.9%.

September caps a quarter of accelerating losses, following declines of 0.7% in July and 2.9% in August. The year is therefore firmly in negative territory, with cumulative sales for the first nine months provisionally down 3.1% in value compared with the same period of 2025.

IADS Notes: September's slump extends a pattern of weather-driven volatility in French apparel. In February 2026, storms and flooding pushed sales down 4.4% and left turnover 14.4% below 2019 levels, with department stores and mass-market chains hit hardest while digital channels posted marginal growth (Fashion Network, March 2026). September's figures reverse that pattern: department stores were the most resilient channel, and online offered no relief. That resilience comes amid upheaval in the French department store sector, where Galeries Lafayette is investing €260 million in its flagship and international expansion while Printemps cuts jobs and BHV Marais faces a reputational crisis over its Shein partnership (Modaes, April 2026). In the UK, heat produced a different channel response: online non-food sales rose 5.1% in June as shoppers avoided high streets (Retail Week, July 2026), before overall growth slowed to 0.7% in August with both in-store and online non-food declining (Retail Week, September 2026). Extreme weather is increasingly treated as a regular operating condition, prompting retailers to reassess seasonal ranges, supply chains and channel strategies (Retail Week, August 2026).

French textile and apparel sales fell 15% in September