The era of very cheap clothes prices could be coming to an end, a UK research firm warned today.
Shoppers will not see the 'dramatic' falls in price which have hit high streets in the past few years.
Instead, clothing deflation will ease off and some items will get more expensive, according to market analysts Verdict.
Clothes prices in the UK dropped by an average 10% between 2003 and 2007.
This was largely due to the success of budget fashion on sale in supermarkets such as Tesco and value retailers such as Primark.
Traditional high street chains responded to the competition by pushing their own prices down, according to Verdict.
These rock-bottom prices were underpinned by retailers sourcing cheap products from abroad.
But Verdict predicts the 12-year period of clothing price deflation will end by 2010.
It says womenswear will bear the brunt of inflation, with average prices increasing by 4.7% between 2008 and 2012, although menswear still has potential to get very slightly cheaper.
The predicted change is partly due to retailers being unable to cut their production costs further because most of them already source from cheap overseas locations.
