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Americans are spending less on clothing

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Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#71

Post by toomanybeersies »

dalbasal wrote: post #53
dandare wrote: post #8

European here: when visiting my company HQ I was surprised how casual Americans dress for work. I am not saying devs should wear suit and tie, nothing like that, but even my bosses boss* was wearing what looked like a rumpled sweater with worn out jeans. And I don't mean like fashion statement rumpled and worn out, more like the "great depression" crumpled and worn out. Jules and Vincent in their new t-shirts would f…

That could be a factor. Casual office clothes (closely related to post 90s tech culture) probably halves apparel costs for a lot of people. In a suit and tie company, the average person probably buys 2 suits and a half dozen shirts/ties pa, in addition to their casual clothes.

You should not be buying 2 suits and half a dozen shirts per year.

I wear tshirts daily and I don't even buy half a dozen tshirts per year. I have some that are over 5 years old.

Spend more than the bare minimum on your clothes, and they will last you a long time. A suit should last you at least half a decade.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#72

Post by toomanybeersies »

dandare wrote: post #8

European here: when visiting my company HQ I was surprised how casual Americans dress for work. I am not saying devs should wear suit and tie, nothing like that, but even my bosses boss* was wearing what looked like a rumpled sweater with worn out jeans. And I don't mean like fashion statement rumpled and worn out, more like the "great depression" crumpled and worn out. Jules and Vincent in their new t-shirts would f…

Maybe it's because I work in small companies, but New Zealand and Australia seem to have the world beat for casual dress codes.

I frequently turn up to work wearing flip flops and shorts. The way I see it, and the way the company sees it, is that if I'm not interacting with anyone outside the company, it doesn't really matter what I wear. If I'm talking to customers or other companies (very rare), I'll put on chinos, boots, and a shirt.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#73

Post by watwut »

jon-wood wrote: post #57
jimmies wrote: post #54

>Apparel is being displaced by travel, eating out and activities—what’s routinely lumped together as “experiences”—which have grown to 18 percent of purchases. [..] That now tops all clothing and footwear expenditures. I have a completely blunt theory on that. People learn that pictures of them smiling in their bathing suit in the Maldives or with that exotic plate of food attract more 'likes' than the pictures of th…

I think you've got cause and effect the wrong way round. People who enjoy hobbies are going to be drawn to Pintrest, people into finance read /r/fi, and people who are into tech read Hacker News.

But then again, one is more likely to try hobbies people he knows/likes do. And occasionally I get interested in things someone posted on my social network I would not even care about otherwise.

The influence goes two ways.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#74

Post by meagher »

i’d rather buy a small number of high quality, versatile items i love, than buy lots of cheap stuff i don’t really like to wear.

this plus being able to wear whatever i want to work makes my decisions simpler so i can spend time on other things.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#75

Post by slowmotiony »

dandare wrote: post #8

European here: when visiting my company HQ I was surprised how casual Americans dress for work. I am not saying devs should wear suit and tie, nothing like that, but even my bosses boss* was wearing what looked like a rumpled sweater with worn out jeans. And I don't mean like fashion statement rumpled and worn out, more like the "great depression" crumpled and worn out. Jules and Vincent in their new t-shirts would f…

I wish Germany was like that. I work as a IT consultant in a financial institution and we all have to wear suits here, even though most of the people have never seen a client in their life - they just sit behind their desks and do their daily work on a PC. So they do so - in a suit. I really don't know why Germans do this to themselves.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#76

Post by iiv »

dagurp wrote: post #65
eesmith wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite 20 years ago I did my first consulting work in Europe. I was concerned as I did not have business clothes. I had only worked for and consulted for companies in the western part of the US. I knew that European dress standards were higher than the US, and even that East Coast standards were higher. When I visited my sister's then-Big-Five company she had me change my socks as I apparently wasn't dressed up en…

> "But in Sweden we dress down compared to other countries." That's very surprising to me. To me, the Swedish think more about their looks than any other country.

I don't think they are contradicting statements. My impression is that Sweden is more casual, but also more calculated, while continental Europeans are more formal but just throw on a suit and are done with it.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#77

Post by eesmith »

dagurp wrote: post #65
eesmith wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite 20 years ago I did my first consulting work in Europe. I was concerned as I did not have business clothes. I had only worked for and consulted for companies in the western part of the US. I knew that European dress standards were higher than the US, and even that East Coast standards were higher. When I visited my sister's then-Big-Five company she had me change my socks as I apparently wasn't dressed up en…

> "But in Sweden we dress down compared to other countries." That's very surprising to me. To me, the Swedish think more about their looks than any other country.

In a business environment.

Compare https://duckduckgo.com/?q=sweden+business+office&t=ffsb&iax=... with https://duckduckgo.com/?q=germany+business+office&t=ffsb&iar... .

The people in the Germany pictures are more likely to be wearing a dress shirt. The people who wear a business jacket in the Sweden pictures are less likely to be wearing a tie.

My experience is also that people (or at least managers) in the UK also tend to wear suits, with ties, more than in Sweden.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#78

Post by NLips »

mozumder wrote: post #63
B-Con wrote: post #11

tl;dr: They buy less in quantity and value expensive brands less. This is in line with the "spend money on experiences not stuff" trend we're watching rise in popularity, particularly in the younger generation. People aren't flocking as quickly to flaunt their status via possessions, particularly in clothing. The right $20 shirt can look great and last you forever. I found a $8 t-shirt and $20 pair of pants that I li…

> This is in line with the "spend money on experiences not stuff" trend we're watching rise in popularity, particularly in the younger generation. The irony is that vacations ARE the exact same thing as buying stuff. It's just you're buying stuff for your time. The worst part is that these vacations are commodity items. It's not like people are having new adventures and unique experiences - they're doing the same shi…

It's not the same in the important way: research shows we enjoy experiences more than owning extra things. No one's saying "I'll go on holiday to Spain because that's unique, whereas a $500 handbag isn't" - they're saying "I'll go to Spain because I'll enjoy it more."

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#79

Post by dalbasal »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #71
dalbasal wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That could be a factor. Casual office clothes (closely related to post 90s tech culture) probably halves apparel costs for a lot of people. In a suit and tie company, the average person probably buys 2 suits and a half dozen shirts/ties pa, in addition to their casual clothes.

You should not be buying 2 suits and half a dozen shirts per year. I wear tshirts daily and I don't even buy half a dozen tshirts per year. I have some that are over 5 years old. Spend more than the bare minimum on your clothes, and they will last you a long time. A suit should last you at least half a decade.

I never had that kind of job. Estimates based on people I know. Most suit people I know like to have 4-5 at any given time. They also like to have the crisp look of new clothes, more noticeable in formal clothes than hoodies and t shirts. Also suit fashions tend to be fairly specific. My old suit (11 year old 3 button pinstripe that everyone had then) that I haven't worn for years looks ridiculous now, being 2-3 generations old.

I'm sure this could be optimized with better quality, better laundry, etc. Everything about clothes could be a fraction of the average costs, if we go based on first principles "what's possible." But generally, people who wear suits to work spend over €1k pa, in my circle.

*I'm not sure what the implications are for women's office clothes.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#80

Post by doikor »

dazc wrote: post #68
johnpowell wrote: post #7

Maybe I just live in a weird place. But I see a lot less branding when I walk around town compared to 20 years ago. My sister has 17 year old twin girls and they pretty much refuse to wear anything that makes them a "walking billboard". I live close to the university of Oregon and when I was in high school it was all Nike clothes all over campus. Now I still see some but not nearly as much. It is like "Likes" instead…

In the UK wearing branded 'designer' clothing is a kind of status signal people with a low status tend to gravitate towards. People of a higher status are more likely to dress conservatively since they don't have anything to 'prove'. /*generally speaking

A lot of the really expensive high end designer clothes don't really have any logos on them or if they do they are very small for this very reason. Due to this what they wear might look conservative but could be expensive as fuck ;)
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