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Year ahead: From discounting to AI, fashion retail braces for a rougher 2026
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Fashion retail faces mounting headwinds in 2026 as tariffs drive pricing volatility and value-conscious consumers trade down across all income brackets, according to an article in Retail Brew featuring insights from Alvarez & Marsal's Consumer and Retail Group.
“Reflecting on 2025…what it really forced was the entrenchment of this idea that that disruption is no longer episodic, but rather is constant, and is the reality of the ecosystem that all organizations in the fashion space are going to have to operate, navigate,” said Joanna Rangarajan, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal’s consumer and retail group. “That has created what seems to be a springboard for 2026 where there’s the way we’re thinking about it as a systemwide recalibration.”