Clothing, footwear and accessories retail fell 1.1% in September, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
These results follow the large 10.5% fall the sector experienced in August.
As predicted in the preliminary figures, the department store segment rose 1.0% in September, while overall retail turnover fell 1.1%, updating the preliminary result of -1.5%.
"Falls in the September month were led by household goods retailing (-3.6%), and food retailing (-1.5%), however both industries continue to trade at elevated levels compared to September 2019," ABS director of quarterly economy wide surveys Ben James said.
Geographically, there were falls in New South Wales (-0.9%), Queensland (-1.2%), Western Australia (-1.7%), South Australia (-2.9%), Victoria (-0.4%), the Australian Capital Territory (-2.4%), and Tasmania (-2.0%).
Meanwhile, the Northern Territory (4.3%) rose in seasonally adjusted terms in September.
The ABS has also released retail volumes data for the September quarter, reporting that the clothing, footwear and accessories category experienced a 35.5% rise in quarterly volume.
Overall retail volumes increased 6.5% in the September quarter, the strongest quarterly volume rise in the history of the series. The rise follows a fall of 3.5% in the June quarter 2020.
James added that while the fashion segment has experienced a rise in volume in the September quarter, it is still trading below last year.
"The quarterly rise was driven by a recovery in industries that saw sharp falls in the June quarter 2020, as well as continued strength in industries such as food retailing, other retailing and household goods.
"Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (28.1%), and clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (35.5%) led the rises.
"Despite the quarter-on-quarter rise, both industries continue to trade below the level of September 2019 in seasonally adjusted volume terms," he said.