Fashion pulse Japan - April 2026

Consumer prices

Japanese national headline CPI eased to +1.4 percent year-on-year in April 2026 per Japan's Statistics Bureau, down from +1.5 percent in March — a third straight monthly print in the +1.3 to +1.5 percent range. Fashion inflation cooled materially: clothing and footwear fell to +1.5 percent year-on-year in April from +2.1 percent in March, a 60 basis-point deceleration. The cooling was broad across the fashion basket — clothing slowed to +1.8 percent from +2.4 percent, women's clothing to +2.6 percent from +3.1 percent, footwear to +0.5 percent from +1.4 percent, and children's clothing deepened back into deflation at minus 1.0 percent from minus 0.6 percent.