Coronavirus costs Belgian fashion industry 1.2 billion

The coronavirus crisis has already cost the Belgian fashion chains some 1.2 billion euros in turnover, trade federation Comeos calculated.

40 % turnover drop

Unsurprisingly, Belgian fashion turnover has suffered tremendously from the lockdown. In March, April and May, turnover drops on a year-on-year basis were 63 %, 90 % and 35 % respectively. In April alone, the loss in turnover was 591 million euros – and despite the recovery in May, 241 million euros in turnover were still lost in that month.

Comeos CEO Dominique Michel estimates the total losses to be some 1.2 billion euros by now. “That damage cannot be restored any more this year”, he says in Belgian business newspaper De Tijd. Michel thinks the government needs to step up, extending the existing furlough scheme till the end of the year, while looking for tax cuts for lower wages in the long run.