According to the French "TEXTILE", France is actively encouraging garment exports to Russia, because Russia has become a real fashion market.
In 2006 first quarter, 25 EU countries exported 473 million euros clothing to Russia, an increase of 27%. By the end of year 2006, it is expected to reach 5.4 billion euros. Within these EU countries, France rankes No. 3 position, behind Italy and Germany. At present, China and Turkey account for 49% share of the clothing market, EU account 39%.
It is known that Russian middle class grow rapidly these years. Moscow people s monthly income is 650 to 1,000 euros, and 20% to 25% of the Russian population are within this level. Russian spend 32% of their income on non-food consumption, the clothing and footwear consumption reach nearly 20 billion euros. In 2006, Russian spend 14 billion euros to buy clothes, an increase of one third over 2005.
