Fashion pulse: Türkiye - March 2026

Consumer prices (March)

Clothing and footwear inflation in Türkiye stood at 7.2 percent year-on-year in March, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) — the lowest annual rate of any major division of the consumer price index and a striking reversal from the lira-driven fashion-price shock of 2023 and 2024. Clothing and footwear was also the only major CPI category to fall month-on-month, declining 2.1 percent as retailers cleared winter stock.

Headline annual inflation eased to 30.87 percent in March from 31.53 percent in February, with monthly inflation of 1.94 percent across all items. The more-than-23-percentage-point gap between headline inflation and fashion inflation is one of the widest among the markets FashionUnited tracks — and for the first time in three years, Türkiye's fashion category is pulling the headline number lower rather than pushing it higher.

Retail sales (February)

Retail sales volume of textiles, clothing and footwear rose 7.8 percent year-on-year in February according to TurkStat, softer than January's 17.0 percent rise. Total retail trade volume grew 15.6 percent year-on-year in February. TurkStat's March Retail Sales Volume Index is scheduled for release in mid-May; until then, the February reading is the most recent official retail figure.

The deceleration from January's double-digit jump to February's single-digit gain is partly an echo of the January minimum-wage adjustment flowing through the base effect. Higher-frequency signals — BKM Interbank Card Center monthly sectoral card spending and the AYD shopping-centre turnover index — should be pulled at publishing time for the most recent pulse.

Consumer sentiment (March)

The Consumer Confidence Index fell to 85.0 in March from 85.7 in February, a 0.8 percent decline according to TurkStat. The sub-index tracking willingness to spend on durable goods over the next twelve months — the leading indicator most closely linked to fashion retail — fell 0.5 percent to 102.7, even as the assessment of households' current financial situation rose 1.5 points to 72.8.

Retail Trade Confidence fell to 113.6 in March from 115.9 in February, according to TurkStat. The sequence across the quarter has been choppy rather than directional — 115.4 in December, 112.6 in January, a rebound to 115.9 in February, and 113.6 in March — consistent with retailers reading the policy-rate and wage-cycle signals week by week. The Economic Confidence Index dropped to 97.9 from 100.7, and real-sector confidence fell to 100.0 from 104.1.

Shopping-centre and e-commerce (most recent available)

Türkiye's roughly 450 shopping centres generated around 59 billion dollars in total retail revenue over the last reported year, according to the Shopping Centers and Investors Association (AYD). Visitor numbers declined 3 percent over the same period, continuing a shift toward online channels — AYD monthly data should be pulled for the latest turnover and footfall readings.

In e-commerce, clothing, footwear and accessories remained the single largest category by transaction volume, reaching 301 billion lira in 2024 according to the Ministry of Trade's Electronic Commerce Information System (ETBIS). Trendyol, the market leader with 35 to 40 percent share of Turkish online retail, derives roughly 31 percent of sales from fashion. BKM's monthly sectoral card spending is the fastest read on fashion consumption, typically updated two to three weeks after month end.

Macro context (March)

The lira averaged 44.21 to the US dollar in March, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) — 19.08 percent weaker than a year earlier — with an intraday peak near 44.22 on 26 March. CBRT held its one-week repo rate at 37 percent at its March meeting, the first hold after five consecutive cuts, after intervening in foreign-exchange markets and suspending repo auctions, which pushed the overnight reference rate to near 40 percent.

Twelve-month-ahead inflation expectations in the real sector rose 0.90 points to 32.90 percent according to the CBRT's Business Tendency Survey sectoral measure. The separate CBRT Market Participants Survey — a narrower poll of economists and market professionals — recorded a softer 22.17 percent expectation, up 0.07 points; the large gap between the two is itself informative. Türkiye's position as the world's fifth-largest textile exporter continues to shape the broader sector: IHKIB and TIM publish monthly apparel export figures within days of month end for readers tracking the sourcing side.

The bottom line: Türkiye's fashion story in March 2026 is the opposite of the one the market told for three years. Clothing and footwear is now the lowest-inflation major CPI category at plus 7.2 percent, headline inflation remains above 30 percent, and fashion is the category pulling the index lower. Retail volumes cooled from a post-minimum-wage January pop to plus 7.8 percent in February, and consumer and business sentiment are drifting sideways rather than breaking down. For brands in the Turkish market, the immediate story is a price environment stabilising for the first time in years — even as lira volatility and the CBRT's sectoral expectations chart keep the currency and policy risks fully alive.

Note: the figures in this article are based on different reporting periods. Some indicators are already available for March 2026, while others are reported with a time lag due to survey and publication cycles. This is common practice in official statistics and nevertheless allows for a reliable assessment of current market trends.*