Russians turn to secondhand clothes as new fashion prices out of reach
Russian shoppers bought 9% more secondhand clothing in the first half of 2026 than a year earlier, as squeezed household budgets push consumers away from new fashion, retail analytics firm Check Index has found.
The average secondhand purchase rose 10% year-on-year to 1,245 rubles (approx. €13.86), according to Check Index data cited by The Moscow Times. New-clothing purchases fell 10% in volume over the same period, even as the average receipt for new items climbed 9% to 3,129 rubles (€34.84), Forbes reported.
"For a significant share of consumers, new clothing has become less affordable, while secondhand stores offer a more attractive balance of price, quality and originality," said Tatiana Belkevich, president of the Russian Association of Fashion Industry Participants (RAFI).
Mikhail Burmistrov, general director of retail consultancy INFOLine, estimates Russia's secondhand market reached between 950 billion and 1 trillion rubles (approx. €10.58 billion to €11.13 billion) by the end of 2025. He expects a further 12-15% expansion this year, driven by weakening purchasing power.
Official Rosstat data show real household incomes are still rising, but far more slowly: up 1.5% in the first quarter of 2026, against 7.4% growth in the same period of 2025 — a nearly fivefold slowdown.
Consumer sentiment has soured sharply alongside that slowdown. Gallup found that 56% of Russians said their living standards worsened in 2026, the highest share in two decades, while 60% believe the economy is still deteriorating — the most pessimistic reading since 2006, The Moscow Times reported.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
