Joor, a wholesale management platform, which aggregates transaction data from more than 14,000 brands and 700,000 fashion buyers in 150 countries, conducted a detailed analysis to assess the impact of Brexit on brands and retailers.
Its data shows the value of wholesale sales by UK fashion brands on its platform rose by 48% between 2017 and 2025, while sales volume of non-UK brands increased by 129% in the same period.
The report also shows that EU fashion retailers have sharply reduced their purchases from UK brands in the 10 years since Brexit.
In 2017, 17% of the average EU retailer’s total buying budget was allocated to UK brands, however, the figure had dropped to less than 7% by 2025.
EU retailers have redirected much of this spend to intra-EU brands, increasing the share of their purchases from EU-based labels from 54% to 69% over the same eight-year period.
UK retailers also made notable adjustments to their buying strategies in the wake of the UK’s formal exit from the EU Customs Union in December 2020.
Prior to this, the proportion of UK retailers’ buying dedicated to EU brands was climbing, but the trend reversed sharply after Brexit.
In 2020, UK retailers directed 51% of their buying budget to EU brands, a share which declined to 29% by 2025.
EU fashion brands have collectively expanded sales on Joor during the period, more than tripling their total gross merchandise value.
However, in the same period sales to UK retailers have declined sharply, with the UK’s share of EU brands’ sales volume dropping from 12% in 2017 to less than 4% in 2025.
Joor said the growth of EU brands was now being fuelled primarily by buyers within the EU and in the rest of the world, rather than by the UK market. In contrast, UK brands have seen comparatively gradual changes in the destinations of their sales.
Since 2020, the proportion of UK brands’ sales to retailers outside the UK has diminished slightly, while sales to domestic retailers have increased.
UK retailers accounted for 18% of UK brands’ wholesale transactions on Joor in 2021, rising to 23% by 2025.
The report also indicates that, from 2017 to 2025, UK retailers increased their overall purchase volume on the Joor platform by 39%.
Non-UK retailers, by comparison, posted a 128% increase in purchase volume over the same period, underscoring the slower expansion rate of the UK wholesale fashion sector relative to the global marketplace.
