$12bn a year spent on fashion

Fashion spending in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) accounts for around 1.7 per cent of the total global fashion spending of nearly $700 billion per year. (AGENCIES)

Gulf oil producers are among the biggest spenders on clothes and other fashion items as they lavish nearly $12 billion a year, according to a study.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, spends an average $five billion on fashion every year, one of the highest levels in the world, showed the study published in Saudi newspapers ahead of next week’s international fashion show in the Western Red Sea port of Jeddah..

Fashion spending in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) accounts for around 1.7 per cent of the total global fashion spending of nearly $700 billion per year, said they study prepared by Zainab Al. Qahtani, head of the show.

“Independent studies have shown the people in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are among the top spenders on fashion,” she said.

Her figures showed Saudis spend nearly 10 per cent of their total expenditure on clothes and shoes against around 4.5 per cent in France, six per cent in Britain and Germany and four per cent in the United States.(emirates247)

“Saudi Arabia alone imports in excess of 85,000 tonnes of ready my garments every year,” she said.