Credits: FashionUnited ai Consumer prices (April) Headline CPI in Ireland edged up to +3.7 percent year-on-year in April 2026 from +3.6 percent in March, per Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO). Clothing and footwear stayed among the largest-increase divisions, running in high single digits at around plus 8 percent year-on-year per the CSO, easing modestly from a roughly plus 9 percent rate in March. The April reading caps a striking reversal: on an annual basis, Irish clothing prices climbed from outright deflation in mid-2025 — minus 1.9 percent in May, minus 2.4 percent in July — to strong inflation by year-end (plus 5.7 percent in December), and the annual rate has stayed elevated since (month-on-month, clothing typically dips in spring after the seasonal index peak). Ireland retains one of the steepest fashion-price gradients of any eurozone market, the opposite of the mild clothing deflation that characterised the country through much of the 2010s. Retail sector (April) Irish retail softened in April. Total retail sales volume fell to minus 0.5 percent year-on-year in April 2026 per Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO), reversing March's plus 1.6 percent — a swing that partly reflects a negative Easter calendar effect, since Easter fell on 5 April in 2026 versus 20 April in 2025, deflating the year-ago comparison. Fashion fared worse than the total: the CSO's clothing, footwear and textiles volume fell around minus 3.5 percent year-on-year in March (from minus 2.5 percent in February), so apparel volumes were already declining before the April calendar drag.…
