Después de casi dos años de pandemia, con el avance de la campaña de vacunación, el descenso de los casos de Covid y con menos restricciones, distintos rubros comenzaron a reactivarse.

One of them is the sale of summer clothing, which is experiencing a warm awakening in the last months of the year.While it is far from the prepandymia times, in the sector there is a strong expectation, among other reasons, for the return of parties and social events.

"For now the sale of bikinis is very quiet.It began to move, but very little, ”said López Tillard, from La Boutique."The return of the end of the year events helped a lot for the sale of sandals, where there is more movement," added the merchant.

Price hikes

Regarding last year, López Tillard said prices are 30 percent up.Brand bikinis are around 9 thousand pesos, while sandals cost between 7.900 and 16 thousand pesos.

Different protagonists of the clothing and footwear sales sector agreed that the reopening of activities after decrease in Covid cases is promoting the activity in Córdoba.Specifically, it is expected that in the last two months of 2021, and especially on Christmas eve, the volume of sales will grow considerably.

However, the strong price increase that has been experiencing these products is not a minor fact that these products have been experiencing. De hecho, el rubro indumentaria y calzado tuvo subas en octubre que oscilaron entre un tres y un siete por ciento (según la región del país), lo que convirtió a este rubro en el de mayor incidencia en el índice de inflación de ese mes (3,5 por ciento promedio).

“Sales were reactivated long after pandemic, but they have not grown up with respect to previous years.Now there is much more care and responsible consumption, ”said Laura Saenz, by Felicity Urban, who said prices have a 40 percent increase over the last season.

Expectations

"Demand began to grow.We hope you are still increasing as Christmas approaches, where the sale is usually very good.The panorama is complicated with respect to previous years.Somehow, the pandemic made us more austere, and many merchants stayed with merchandise because of how loose this two years were.But the expectation is good, ”said Santiago Figueroa, of the wholesale firm area.

According to a report from the Argentine Indumentary Chamber (CIAI), in August of this year there was a rise in sales of the 79 percent sector compared to the same month of 2020, but a 21 percent drop compared toAugust 2019.

“Luckily November and December are months of great demand for the holidays that are at the end of the year.Prices come with a 50 percent increase with respect to 2020 ″, said Daniel Linares from the Strawberry store, where a couple of sandals costs around 5.000 pesos and the shirts are around 3.000 pesos.

"Hopefully a new wave of Covid does not come," said Diego Funes, from Rock and Jeans, a firm that in addition to being a manufacturer has its own premises and franchises.

"To the public the sale is good at the moment.People begin to change that custom that remained of the quarantine of staying in the house and begins to leave more;Therefore demand, ”he added.

In tune with the opinion of his colleagues, the merchant pointed out that, after almost two years of pandemic, many brands are not prepared for the great demand for night clothing.

Cost increase

The summer collection arrives with increases of up to 60 percent with respect to last year's prices.

In that sense, Funes highlighted the increase in merchandise production costs."It was never so.You have to be controlling costs every week.We are seeing that inputs and raw materials to produce winter clothes are going up a lot, ”he closed.

The merchants acknowledged that after so many months of Home Office people have turned to buy more comfortable clothing instead of sophisticated garments. En julio pasado, La Voz relevó que las ventas de ropa formal habían caído cerca de un 60 por ciento producto de la pandemia.