The clothing, footwear and personal accessory retail segment declined 9.5% in June, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates.
Driven by COVID-19 lockdowns introduced across the country, the fashion sector slipped $240.8 million in the month.
By industry subgroup, clothing suffered the most in June, declining 11.1% (-$191.6 million), while footwear and personal accessories retailing fell 6.1% (-$49.3 million).
Department stores also fell in June, declining 7.0% (-$118.6 million) in the month.
Australian Retailers Association (ARA) CEO Paul Zahra said that the figures reveal the struggles retailers face when lockdowns are introduced.
"These figures are another sign of the pressures caused by recurring lockdowns, underlining the clear need to reinstate comprehensive support measures across the country as many businesses suffer without an adequate safety net in place.
"The June figures are just the tip of the iceberg, as they don’t yet reveal the blow caused by lockdowns in Victoria, WA and SA in July, current Southeast Queensland restrictions, or the prolonged Greater Sydney lockdown.
"We also know that certain categories of retail performs better than others under lockdowns, and discretionary spending is likely to take a significant hit across this time.
"The Delta variant has so far put around $12 billion of retail trade at risk, with a billion dollars at risk each week in Greater Sydney alone," he said.
As has been the trend during lockdowns, online sales rose in June, lifting 11.6% in the month.
This increase follows falls of 4.5% in May and 4.1% in April 2021.
Meanwhile, retail sales volumes rose 0.8% in the June quarter, following a 0.5% fall in the March quarter.
ABS director of quarterly economy wide surveys Ben James said that while fashion volumes rose in the quarter, department store volumes declined.
"Households increased their discretionary spending for much of the quarter, with cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (3.9%), other retailing (2.3%) and, clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (3.0%) all benefiting in volume terms.
"Quarterly volumes were also impacted by lockdowns from May onwards, having a detrimental impact on department store volumes (-3.1%) in particular.
"Despite a 0.4% fall in quarterly volume terms, food retailing benefited from lockdown-related sales in May and June," he said.
Overall, Australian retail turnover fell 1.8% in the month of June, following a rise of 0.4% in May.
The states which were under long periods of lockdowns in the month declined the most, with the largest falls coming from Victoria (-4.0%), New South Wales (-2.0%), and Queensland (-0.9%).