Fashion market development virtually halted: Russian retail plunges into crisis - intelligence
Kyiv • UNN
The number of new brands in Russian retail decreased by almost 40% in the first nine months of 2025, with a twofold drop expected by the end of the year. This is due to a collapse in purchasing power, rising rental rates, and problems with loans.
Russian retail is plunging into crisis – in the first nine months of 2025, the number of new brands decreased by almost 40%, and by the end of the year it will halve, UNN reports with reference to the Foreign Intelligence Service.
Due to the collapse of purchasing power, rising rents, and problems with loans, the development of the fashion market has practically stopped. From January to September, only 27 new brands appeared in the Russian Federation – half as many as last year. Cosmetic stores are closing en masse, there are no new shoe brands at all, and the share of closed clothing stores in Moscow shopping centers has reached 38%.
According to intelligence, most new brands are now going online – to marketplaces, because opening an offline store is becoming a luxury.
The market can only begin to "revive" if the economy stabilizes and interest rates on loans decrease. A similar crisis already occurred in 2015 – then the recovery of retail trade lasted almost three years.