Fashion pulse Spain - April 2026

Consumer prices

Spanish headline CPI eased to +3.2 percent year-on-year in April 2026 per Spain's national statistics office INE, down two tenths from +3.4 percent in March. Core inflation excluding unprocessed food and energy decelerated to +2.8 percent from +2.9 percent in March, indicating the disinflation is broad-based rather than purely energy-driven. The harmonised HICP, however, accelerated one tenth to +3.5 percent in April from +3.4 percent in March — the highest reading since June 2024 per the European Union statistics office Eurostat HICP back-series.

The headline drivers diverged sharply across categories. Transport prices accelerated more than a point to +6.5 percent year-on-year on higher fuel and lubricant costs, while housing/energy decelerated to +1.9 percent from +3.7 percent on electricity prices falling more sharply than a year ago. Recreational activities slowed to +0.7 percent from +2.4 percent.

Fashion-specific CPI decelerated sharply in April. Clothing and footwear ran at +1.4 percent year-on-year, down from +2.6 percent in March — a 120 basis-point single-month cooling. Within the basket, clothing slowed to +1.0 percent from +2.2 percent and footwear to +2.5 percent from +3.3 percent.

Retail sector

Spanish retail sales grew +3.7 percent year-on-year in real terms (constant prices) in March 2026 per INE — the publisher of record for Spanish retail. The fashion-relevant category, "retail sale of other goods in specialised stores" (which aggregates clothing, footwear, jewellery and pharmacies in the Spanish NACE classification), accelerated to +5.6 percent in real terms from +3.6 percent in February and +2.9 percent in January — a clear strengthening trend.

Channel detail underlines the momentum: mail order and internet sales rose +12.8 percent in real terms in March, retail trade not in stores or stalls +13.0 percent, and stalls and markets recovered sharply to +1.2 percent from minus 5.9 percent in February. Eurostat's calendar-adjusted volume series shows a higher +4.2 percent year-on-year for Spain in March — above Italy +1.5, France +1.8, the Netherlands +1.3 and Germany minus 0.8 in the same release. The two series differ on seasonal-adjustment methodology; the article uses INE.

The fashion-specific picture per Spanish fashion trade association Acotex aligns with the broader retail strengthening. Acotex's monthly barometer reported fashion, textile and footwear retail sales at +3.6 percent year-on-year in April 2026, the second consecutive positive monthly print after +5.7 percent in March. The combined March-April reading covering Semana Santa was +4.65 percent, with Acotex acknowledging a low comparison base (March-April 2025 fell minus 5.1 percent). Year-to-date 2026 fashion retail sales are +1.78 percent on the Acotex measure, against a full-year 2025 decline of minus 1.1 percent — a clear inflection.

Tourism

Inbound tourist arrivals reached 6,810,629 in March 2026, up +3.27 percent year-on-year per INE, accelerating from +2.82 percent in February. Year-to-date arrivals through March stood at 17.5 million, +2.51 percent ahead of the first quarter of 2025. Tourism remains a structural demand driver for fashion retail in Madrid, Barcelona and the Mediterranean coast.

Monetary policy and currency

The European Central Bank (ECB) left the deposit facility rate unchanged at 2.00 percent in April. The euro strengthened 1.28 percent against the US dollar in April (monthly mean 1.1706 versus March's 1.1558 per ECB reference rates) — a modest landed-cost tailwind for Spanish fashion importers, particularly relevant given Inditex's substantial Asian sourcing footprint.

What it means for fashion

Spain's April story is a headline cool-down at the household-budget level (CPI 3.2 percent, fashion CPI 1.4 percent) running alongside genuine retail momentum (INE +3.7 percent, specialised stores +5.6 percent, online +12.8 percent). For Inditex (Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti, Oysho), Mango, Tendam (Cortefiel, Springfield) and the broader Spanish fashion ecosystem, the cooling fashion CPI is constructive — clothing prices easing to +1.0 percent year-on-year while the broader specialised-stores retail category accelerates suggests consumers are spending on volume rather than just paying through price increases.

The Acotex fashion-specific barometer corroborates the picture: April +3.6 percent and March +5.7 percent give two consecutive positive months in fashion-only retail, a clear inflection from the full-year 2025 decline of minus 1.1 percent — though the Semana Santa base effect (March-April 2025 fell minus 5.1 percent) inflates the comparison. The HICP at +3.5 percent remains the highest reading since June 2024, meaning Spain's price environment runs uncomfortably warm relative to most of the eurozone. Tourism arrivals accelerated to +3.27 percent in March, and the EUR/USD reversal trimmed import costs from Asian sourcing during April.

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.