Black Friday sales strong

The US retail industry has reported that the Black Friday sales (post Thanksgiving holiday) rose by the greatest amount since 2007.

The shopping day's name was originally used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic on the day after the holiday but later an alternative explanation was it indicated the point at which retailers began to turn a profit, or were 'in the black'.

The National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia executive director Chris Wilcox said it was one of the crucial US retail industry events to rate each year to determine consumer confidence levels.

"It is one of five traditional top sales days in the US," Mr Wilcox said.

"The result is encouraging and hopefully it can continue for the rest of the holiday retail sales season and be reflected in sales of clothing, reversing the downward trend of recent months."

He said a rise in US apparel sales for November, December and January would encourage retailers to lift their orders for the 2012 autumn/winter, which would flow through the wool textile industry to raw wool demand.