长沙U币兑换平台汇率|【唯一TG:@heimifeng8】|Telegram账号盗号云控破解技术✨谷歌搜索留痕排名,史上最强SEO技术,20年谷歌SEO经验大佬✨UK inflation falls further, clothing price rises ease
Sandra Halliday Published
March 20, 2025
UK inflation has wreaked havoc among consumers and businesses over the past two years, but on Wednesday the Office for National Statistics said that it eased further in February.
The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) rose by 3.8% year on year, down from 4.2% in January. Compared to January, CPIH rose by 0.6%. It had risen 1% in February 2025.
And the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) excluding housing rose by 3.4% on the year and also by 0.6% month on month.
That was good news given the unexpected uptick in the previous month and was a further sign that inflation is getting back under control after rises reaching into double digits in the past couple of years.
The largest downward contributions to the monthly change in both CPIH and CPI annual rates came from food, and restaurants and cafes. But clothing and footwear had an impact too. The CPI rate for fashion year on year was only a rise of 5% compared to 5.6% in January, and the month-on-month rise was just 2.1%.
It's likely to bring some much-needed stability to aspects of the UK economy with consumers potentially more confident about spending given that they won't be expecting any massive inflation shocks along the lines of those that they've seen in recent years.
But challenges will remain for the fashion sector with costs still high in some areas and a less obvious excuse to pass price increases on to consumers meaning that some tough profit- or sales-denting decisions may have to be taken.
And it's clear that the fashion sector is continuing to struggle. Recent administration filings for big names such as Matches and the owner of Ted Baker highlight just how tough the market is at the moment.
Big names such as M&S may be shrugging off the bleak backdrop, but the industry at large is still faced with consumers who have other priorities than buying more new clothes. It will be interesting to see the results statement from Next on Thursday and whether the increased guidance on sales that it issued back in January was justified.