A comparative basis due to the closure of businesses

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The recurring cold fronts that hit the country, particularly in the Southeast and Midwest, have boosted sales of clothing and winter goods. This is revealed by a survey by ABVTEX (Brazilian Textile Retail Association), which represents more than 110 fashion retail brands in the country.

While in recent years retailers have brought forward their Autumn/Winter collection sales to May, to better manage inventory, this year will be different given the heated demand .

According to Edmundo Lima, executive director of ABVTEX, "the increase in sales shop recorded in April is maintained with the low temperatures and in combination with the commemorative dates, which meant that Mother's Day and Valentine's Day gifts prioritized winter items," he highlights.

In the ABVTEX survey, May 2022 sales were higher than the previous month (April 2022) for 94% of the retail chains surveyed. Compared to the same period last year (May 2021), 100% of the brands reported better performance.

The fact that the coldest days coincided with important holidays, such as Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, highlights the results of the survey among fashion retailers in which 94% confirmed the better sales performance on Valentine's Day, both compared to the same date in 2021 and in 2019 (2020 is not due to the pandemic).

Lima notes that there was growth in the first quarter of the year and that the first-half sales closing should be positive for the sector. "In this sense, retailers expect to maintain this performance in the second half of the year, even in the face of concerns such as the impacts on supply chains due to logistics and raw material costs, inflation, and rising interest rates."