From January to September 2016, Italian clothing exports to Russia grew five per cent. This is good news for Italian companies, in particular the fashion industry, which since 2010 had been struggling to get export orders from a country that was one of their main markets.

During the same period exports from other major EU countries to Russia fell, and especially from the biggest ones, Germany, Spain and France. Italy bucked the trend as it was the only country to grow and remains firmly in first position with 45.9 per cent of the total, followed by Germany, Spain and France.

Further, Italy’s market share increased more than four percentage points, from 40.4 per cent in the same period of 2015, mainly at the expense of Germany, whose market share fell from 26.3 per cent to 24.9 per cent. Russia’s domestic market is of particular interest for Italian companies. Luxury department stores in Russia are stocking Italian fashion brands in a big way.

The Russian clothing market had grown continuously from 2003 to 2008, and later came to a standstill in the wake of the global financial crisis. After a recovery from 2010 to 2013, another collapse followed, due to the international sanctions after Russia’s military intervention in Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent collapse of the ruble and of oil prices.