Fashion pulse: Canada - August 2026

Consumer prices (August)

Canadian consumer price inflation was 3.0 percent year-on-year in August 2026, matching July, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan). Clothing and footwear prices rose 1.2 percent YoY, down from 2.4 percent in July, and remained below headline inflation. Clothing prices fell 1.1 percent YoY after rising 0.9 percent in July, StatCan said.

The decline in clothing prices was driven by men's clothing, down 2.3 percent YoY, and children's clothing, down 1.9 percent, according to StatCan. Women's clothing prices were unchanged YoY after falling 0.7 percent in July, while footwear prices fell 0.8 percent YoY. Prices of clothing accessories, watches and jewellery rose 12.1 percent YoY.

Retail sales (July, preliminary)

StatCan retail data are available up to July. Sales at clothing and clothing accessories retailers rose 5.5 percent YoY in July in nominal terms, or about 4.6 percent in real terms after deflating by the clothing CPI. Sales at the broader group of clothing, accessories, shoe, jewellery, luggage and leather goods retailers fell 1.2 percent from June on a seasonally adjusted basis but were 6.0 percent higher than a year earlier.

Sales at shoe retailers fell 1.2 percent YoY in nominal terms, or about 0.4 percent in real terms, according to StatCan. Total retail sales fell 0.7 percent month-on-month to 73.7 billion Canadian dollars in July, seasonally adjusted, and by 1.1 percent in volume terms.

Macro context (August)

Canada's unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.4 percent in August, while employment fell by 42,000, according to StatCan. Consumer confidence weakened in August but remained 5.2 points above its level a year earlier, according to Signal49 Research, formerly the Conference Board of Canada. StatCan's unofficial advance estimate, based on partial survey responses, shows total retail sales up 1.3 percent month-on-month in August.

Monetary policy and currency (August)

The Bank of Canada (BoC) left its target for the overnight rate unchanged at 2.25 percent in August. The US dollar averaged 1.3898 Canadian dollars in August, down from 1.4107 in July, according to the BoC, a 1.5 percent rise in the value of the Canadian dollar. Compared with August 2025, when the US dollar averaged 1.3802 Canadian dollars, the Canadian dollar was 0.7 percent weaker.

The bottom line

Canadian clothing and footwear prices rose 1.2 percent YoY in August, below headline inflation of 3.0 percent, while clothing prices alone fell 1.1 percent and accessories, watches and jewellery rose 12.1 percent. The latest StatCan retail data, for July, show sales at clothing and clothing accessories retailers up 5.5 percent YoY in nominal terms and about 4.6 percent in real terms. Unemployment held at 6.4 percent.

Note: this article combines the most recent official data available at the time of writing. Reporting lags differ by indicator and country, so not all figures refer to the same month. Each data point is labelled with its reference period.