Fashion pulse: Switzerland - March 2026

Consumer prices (March 2026)

Clothing and footwear prices in Switzerland fell 0.7 percent year-on-year in March, according to the Federal Statistical Office (BFS), continuing a six-month run of negative fashion inflation against a near-zero headline rate of +0.3 percent. Swiss headline inflation is among the lowest in the Fashion pulse country set — less than a quarter of New Zealand’s +3.1 percent and Australia’s +3.7 percent. Within the fashion basket, women’s footwear fell the most at minus 2.9 percent, followed by babies’ clothing at minus 2.1 percent and other clothing items also at minus 2.1 percent. Women’s garments fell 0.5 percent and men’s garments fell 0.7 percent. Only men’s footwear (+0.2 percent) and children’s footwear (+1.3 percent) were in positive territory within the fashion basket.

Retail sales (February 2026)

Swiss clothing and footwear retail turnover contracted sharply in early 2026. February retail volumes fell 2.5 percent year-on-year in real terms (working-day adjusted) and 3.5 percent in nominal terms, according to BFS’s monthly turnover statistics. January saw an even steeper decline at minus 3.3 percent real and minus 3.2 percent nominal — a pronounced swing from December 2025’s positive readings of plus 2.1 percent real and plus 1.2 percent nominal. Two consecutive months of ~3 percent real contraction establishes a clear downtrend in Swiss apparel spending.

Consumer sentiment (March 2026)

Swiss consumer sentiment weakened meaningfully in March, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The consumer sentiment index stood at minus 43 points, 8 points lower than March 2025. Three of the four sub-indices — economic outlook, financial outlook, and moment to make major purchases — all deteriorated year-on-year; only past financial situation held steady. The moment-to-make-major-purchases component is the most directly fashion-relevant subindex, and its YoY deterioration tracks the contraction visible in the retail turnover data.

Monetary policy and currency

The Swiss National Bank has held the policy rate at 0.00 percent since June 2025, completing a 175-basis-point cutting cycle from the June 2023 peak of 1.75 percent — 50 basis points of which were delivered in 2025 (25 bp in March, 25 bp in June). The Swiss franc weakened 1.8 percent against the US dollar in March, with SNB monthly averages moving from CHF 0.773 per dollar in February to CHF 0.787 in March, while strengthening 0.5 percent against the euro to CHF 0.909 per euro.

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.