Fashion Consumers Prioritize Value, Longevity and Intentional Shopping in 2026 Outlook

FASHION by Informa’s 2026 US Fashion Consumer Outlook Report lands loud and clear: shoppers are done with mindless clicks. Datelined NEW YORK and released February 11, 2026, the report finds that value-for-money, quality and functionality outrank trendiness as purchase drivers, and that “the impulse buy is fading,” a headline pulled straight from Fashionbyinforma’s industry copy.

The report is rooted in a nationally representative survey of 1,032 US consumers aged 18 and older, with fieldwork conducted in December 2025. It explicitly benchmarks findings against the 2024 edition, which surveyed 1,248 US consumers, and supplements the survey with expert interviews with leading fashion brands and retailers plus desk research from BoF Insights, the advisory arm of Business of Fashion.

Across the coverage, GlobeNewswire, FashionUnited and Fashionbyinforma, the same three consumer priorities keep repeating: shoppers want value, durable or classic staples, and functional pieces rather than hot-trend impulse buys. FashionUnited’s framing lists “value-driven mindsets,” “tariff pressures,” and “intentional spending” among the forces reshaping buying behavior, and the report flags pushback from competing experiential categories like dining, travel and fitness as pressure on fashion spend.

Greg Kerwin, Senior Vice President at Fashion by Informa, sums the commercial stake plainly: “Today’s consumers are approaching fashion spending with intentionality, not impulse. They’re willing to spend, but they’re looking for high-quality, durable, or classic, staple products at competitive price points. Success will require a strategic pivot toward more focused consumer engagement, purpose-driven storytelling, and superior offerings.” Those three strategic moves show up as the report’s prescription for retailers and brands that want to defend margin and relevance in 2026.

FASHION by Informa positions the report as actionable intelligence for the industry, saying it was “designed to guide fashion companies in navigating the evolving preferences of US consumers.” That positioning ties directly into Informa’s events network, MAGIC, COTERIE, PROJECT, SOURCING and OFFPRICE, where brands can test storytelling and product decisions against real buyers and buyers’ reps.

Distribution of the material has been broad: GlobeNewswire issued the press release on February 11, 2026; FashionUnited ran a take by Vivian Hendriksz titled “5 trends shaping what US consumers will shop for in 2026”; and the press release was republished on sites such as Bdtonline, where the copy carried an update timestamp of February 22, 2026 at 9:27 am. Fashionbyinforma’s site doubles down with calls to action, “UNLOCK TOMORROW'S CONSUMER” and downloadable report assets, positioning the research as a toolkit for decision-making.

Bottom line: the 2026 report, built on 1,032 December 2025 responses, makes a simple demand of product teams and creative directors, stop trading on hype alone. Brands that lean into quality, price competitiveness, and purpose-driven storytelling will be the ones consumers reward this year.