Fashion pulse: Italy - August 2026

Consumer prices (August)

Italian headline inflation on the consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) rose to 3.3 percent year-on-year in August 2026 from 2.9 percent in July, according to Italy's national statistics institute ISTAT. ISTAT attributed the acceleration mainly to energy, with non-regulated energy prices up 17.0 percent and regulated energy prices up 18.6 percent YoY, while core inflation eased to 1.5 percent from 1.6 percent. On the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP), inflation rose to 3.2 percent from 2.9 percent.

Clothing and footwear prices rose 0.8 percent YoY on the NIC in August, after 0.9 percent in July, according to ISTAT. Clothing prices rose 0.9 percent and footwear prices 0.5 percent. Menswear rose 1.0 percent, womenswear 0.9 percent and children's clothing 0.2 percent.

On the HICP, which ISTAT says includes the summer sales that the NIC does not consider, clothing and footwear prices rose 0.1 percent YoY in August, down from 0.9 percent in July. On a month-on-month basis, the HICP clothing and footwear index fell 6.5 percent in August, compared with a fall of 5.8 percent in August 2025, according to ISTAT.

Retail sales (August, preliminary)

Italian retail sales rose 0.5 percent YoY in value in August but fell 1.0 percent in volume, according to preliminary ISTAT data. In value terms, clothing sales fell 2.4 percent YoY and sales of shoes, leather goods and travel items fell 4.1 percent, the sharpest decline among non-food product groups, according to ISTAT.

Across all product categories, preliminary ISTAT data show sales by online-only retailers up 5.4 percent YoY in value, while sales at large-scale retailers rose 1.1 percent and sales at small-scale retailers fell 0.7 percent.

Macro context (August)

ISTAT's consumer confidence index rose to 94.5 in August from 94.2 in July, while confidence in the retail trade sector edged up to 106.6 from 106.5. Italy's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent in August from 6.0 percent in July, according to the European Union statistics office Eurostat.

Monetary policy and currency (August)

The European Central Bank (ECB) left the deposit facility rate unchanged at 2.25 percent in August. The euro strengthened 1.54 percent against the dollar in August, to a monthly mean of 1.1593 dollars from 1.1417 dollars in July, according to the ECB. Compared with August 2025, the euro was 0.33 percent weaker, a marginal change in the euro cost of dollar-invoiced goods.

The bottom line

Italian clothing and footwear prices rose 0.8 percent YoY on the NIC in August, against headline inflation of 3.3 percent. Preliminary ISTAT data show clothing sales down 2.4 percent and sales of shoes, leather goods and travel items down 4.1 percent in value YoY, while total retail sales rose 0.5 percent in value. Consumer confidence edged up to 94.5.

Note: this article combines the most recent official data available at the time of writing. Reporting lags differ by indicator and country, so not all figures refer to the same month. Each data point is labelled with its reference period.