From mid-2005 the French economy as a whole returned to stronger growth levels and this continued into the early stages of 2006. Consumer spending has been one of the driving forces, growing by almost 6% in nominal terms for calendar year 2005. But clothing has underperformed relative to all consumer spending and all retail sales for some time.

The 2006 Mintel report series on Clothing Retailing in Europe covers the clothing market in 19 countries, comprising the 16 Western European markets and the three largest Central and Eastern European countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

We have produced Major Profiles of 18 clothing specialists in Europe. For many countries we also include smaller profiles on other significant players, both domestic and foreign as relevant.