Data compiled by GlobalData suggests budget apparel retail is benefitting from the cost of living crisis and rising inflation in the US as Dollar General Corp, a US chain of variety stores that includes apparel looked to hire 61,272 employees as of 31 July 2023.

The closest competitor on the list was US fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, however it was only hiring 4,895 employees as of 31 July 2023, which means it was on the look out for a tenth of the amount of new employees.

Meanwhile, Walmart Inc was hunting for 4,741 employees and US women's apparel store Ascena Retail Group, Inc., was hiring 3,631.

Company apparel hiring in July 2023

Source: GlobalData

How is the cost of living crisis impacting apparel hiring in July 2023

National Retail Federation (NRF) chief economist Jack Kleinhenz revealed only last week (11 August) the US economy was more resilient in the first half of the year than many expected, however he added that consumers are still spending but are under financial pressure. As a result they have been adjusting how much they buy while also shifting from goods such as apparel to services.

In fact, he remarked that despite job and wage gains counterbalancing inflation, the stockpile of savings accumulated during the pandemic is dwindling and is no longer providing as much spending power as previously available.

Earlier this year Gherzi Textil Organisation Robert Antoshak told Just Style it could take a year for the global apparel industry's financial outlook to improve given nine out of 15 key economic factors were weakening.

He explained the economic factors causing concern included rocky interest rates, lower retail sales, excess inventory, consumer anxiety about the future and weakened GDP growth.

However, GlobalData's July data suggests apparel budget-style retailers could benefit in the short-term while the rest of the industry waits for the economic pressures on consumers to ease.

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