U.S. Apparel Sales Driven by Small Regional Markets

New York and Los Angeles are the largest U.S. markets for apparel sales — accounting for 8 and 5 percent of industry dollar sales, respectively — but smaller markets such as Orlando, Fla., and Washington, D.C., are the top markets driving both the growth rate and dollar volume increases for the industry, according to a new study released by The NPD Group. The two top markets had strong performances across in-store and online channels. For the year ended Feb. 28, Orlando’s dollar sales were up 23 percent, while Washington’s dollar sales gained 18 percent. Among the top 25 designated market areas in the U.S., online dollar sales of apparel increased for most, but only a few grew in-store sales. Total apparel industry dollar sales increased 2 percent in the 12-month period, but sales of apparel purchased in-store declined 2 percent. The decline of in-store sales was evident for most of the top 10 U.S. markets. Washington, D.C., is the only area with notable in-store sales growth, experiencing a 14 percent gain. “The big regions are no longer leading apparel industry sales growth,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD. “When New York and Los Angeles don’t even make it into the top 10 list of

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