---
title: "Russians turn to secondhand clothes as new fashion prices out of reach"
url: https://moldova1.md/p/81884/russians-turn-to-secondhand-clothes-as-new-fashion-prices-out-of-reach
published: 2026-07-29T06:42:00Z
language: en
author: "Redacția  TRM"
section: "International"
source: moldova1.md
---

# Russians turn to secondhand clothes as new fashion prices out of reach

> Russian shoppers bought 9% more secondhand clothing in the first half of 2026 than a year earlier, as squeezed household budgets push consumers away from new fashion, retail analytics firm Check Index has found.

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*Sursa: imagine simbol*

Russian shoppers bought 9% more secondhand clothing in the first half of 2026 than a year earlier, as squeezed household budgets push consumers away from new fashion, retail analytics firm Check Index has found.

![](https://storage.moldova1.md/images/55d23d36-bdbf-4339-a520-093344ff5fcb.jpg)

The average secondhand purchase rose 10% year-on-year to 1,245 rubles (approx. €13.86), according to Check Index data cited by The Moscow Times. New-clothing purchases fell 10% in volume over the same period, even as the average receipt for new items climbed 9% to 3,129 rubles (€34.84), Forbes reported.

*"For a significant share of consumers, new clothing has become less affordable, while secondhand stores offer a more attractive balance of price, quality and originality,"* said Tatiana Belkevich, president of the Russian Association of Fashion Industry Participants (RAFI).

Mikhail Burmistrov, general director of retail consultancy INFOLine, estimates Russia's secondhand market reached between 950 billion and 1 trillion rubles (approx. €10.58 billion to €11.13 billion) by the end of 2025. He expects a further 12-15% expansion this year, driven by weakening purchasing power.

Official Rosstat data show real household incomes are still rising, but far more slowly: up 1.5% in the first quarter of 2026, against 7.4% growth in the same period of 2025 — a nearly fivefold slowdown.

Consumer sentiment has soured sharply alongside that slowdown. Gallup found that 56% of Russians said their living standards worsened in 2026, the highest share in two decades, while 60% believe the economy is still deteriorating — the most pessimistic reading since 2006, The Moscow Times reported.

Translation by **Iurie Tataru**