Autumn is here

Autumn has arrived and actually feels, well, autumnal. This news has been greeted with audible sighs of relief by beleaguered fashion retailers, which have had to contend with one of the most unpredictable summer seasons for some time.

Ted Baker has been among the first to provide evidence of resilient consumer confidence in the clothing sector when it detailed its interim results today.

Retail sales in the seven weeks since August 11 were up 12.5 per cent against last year even against strong comparatives of 15 per cent.

Ted Baker founder and chief executive Ray Kelvin said the Ted Baker autumn/winter ranges have been well-received, a sentiment reverberating around City corridors about Next’s new season’s ranges.

Even Debenhams has been singled out by expectant analysts as likely to produce upbeat trading figures when it reports its final year results on October 23.

And the buoyant sentiment has been echoed by September’s footfall figures, revealed today by shopper traffic monitor Footfall.

It seems that shoppers were not deterred from hitting the shops in the wake of the Northern Rock fiasco and the ensuing financial turmoil resonating here and across the pond

A 0.7 per cent year-on-year decline in shopper numbers across the UK in September is a hardy result. A 2.3 per cent month-on-month drop is a healthy fall, following the holiday and back-to-school periods.

But for fashion retailers and department stores to capitalise on the festive good vibes, their ranges must be spot on and they must not underestimate a more tentative Christmas shopper, fashioned from an environment beset by interest rate rises and financial uncertainty.

Undoubtedly, retailers of Ted Baker’s aspirational ilk are likely to maintain momentum and indeed the mid-market, led by the contagious renewed vigour of Next are similarly aligned.

And if all the signs point towards shoppers being less concerned about the economic outlook than initially anticipated, value retailers may not face the prospect of a consumer penchant for trading up.

What is clear is that fashion retailers must ensure they capture the attentions of a savvy Christmas shopper if they are to avoid an unwelcome chill in the air.