The largest operator in the world in its segment (Inditex, in large fashion distribution), check. Leading companies in specific market niches, such as department stores (El Corte Inglés), bridal fashion (Pronovias) or children’s fashion (Mayoral), check. A weight in fashion retail above the European average, check. Is Spain a power in fashion? Read the preceding lines.
The country is the sixth market in Europe where textile trade has the greatest weight in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), above the community average. In addition, Spanish fashion companies concentrate 12.6% of the turnover of all European companies (up to 325.7 billion euros), according to data from the 2024 Economic Report presented by the Spanish Textile Retail Association (Arte).
The Spanish textile trade contributed 0.72% of the total to the European GDP, compared to the community average of 0.57%.. Spain is thus positioned in the top 10 of the European countries where fashion is most important.
Only in Spain, the contribution of textile companies to the country’s commercial sector is also of great importance, above the European average. Specifically, Spanish textile businesses account for 5.9% of the country’s total trade, which places it as one of the most relevant sectors.
This is one of the highest rates in Europe, only behind markets such as Sweden (where fashion accounts for 7.8% of trade), Italy (where it accounts for 7.5%) or Denmark (where fashion accounts for 7.5%). 6.7% of trade). This ranking shows that Spain is the fourth most relevant European market in the fashion sector.
The Spanish textile trade contributed 0.72% of the total to the European GDP, compared to the community average of 0.57%.
The association ensures that Shopping tourism was one of the levers of this growthwith Madrid and Barcelona being the two locations with the highest number of this type of visitors, both in the top of the European ranking.
The contribution of shopping tourism to the Spanish GDP is one of the highest in the world, ranking ninth of all economies in the world and is one of the main job generators, creating up to 55,800 positions in 2021, according to the latest figures available. .
Only in Spain, the textile retail sector also concentrates an important weight. Specifically, the sector contributed 19.8 billion euros to the economy as a whole, which represented 1.62% of Spanish GDP in 2022. Of every hundred companies dedicated to commercial activities in Spain, eight were specialized in the sale of fashion and footwear products.which represents 5% of the turnover of Spanish commercial activity.
Between 2018 and 2022, Spanish textile retailers contributed 8 billion euros to the Spanish economy each year directly and with 9.9 billion euros indirectly. Employment is another of the sector’s strengths in the Spanish economy as a whole; In 2022, Spanish fashion will employ 343,270 people. Between 2018 and 2022, the sector employed more than 248,000 people on average, representing 1.3% of the national average affiliation during said period. Furthermore, textile retail stands out as one of the most productive sectors within retail trade activities in Spain.
