Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sweat Pants should be trending up then!
Indeed, they are and have been trending up for a few years now. The fashion calls it Athleisure.
Also, healthgoth fashion
Americans are spending less on clothing
201–210 of 344 posts
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#202This is a pretty sloppy article, with a bunch of conventional-wisdom-as-evidence and no critical analysis of potential cause and effect. H&M as a stand-in for "cheap clothes", ignoring any number of other cheap clothing retailers that have come and gone for decades. Using only three datapoints for Levis 501 prices going back only to 2009 when claiming trends that go back 30 years, and when Levis 501s have been availa…
"the Fed reacted with big interest rate hikes that sent the stock market plummeting."
Wat? We're still in of one of the longest bull runs in history. The S&P 500 jumped 80% in the last 5 years. Even incorporating the minor market correction in the last week (2/3rds of which has already recovered), the stock market has done the reverse of what you suggest.
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think your “facts” are more nuanced and complicated than you might be suggesting. Consumer prices have been declining since 1979 and non-wage benefits have been increasing. Suggesting clothes purchases are declining because wages are stagnant is logically flawed because we would expect declines in similarly elastic goods as well. But we aren’t seeing that. Consumer purchasing is growing, consumer confidence is up —…
> non-wage benefits have been increasing This is codeword to say that gains are going to people of high net worth. Most of the population still survives on wages (excepts for the ones out of work). So what you're saying doesn't disprove the fact that for most people income is going down, adjusted for inflation and for costs that don't appear on inflation statistics (housing, health care).
The non-wage benefit that's increasing the fastest is probably health care benefits, which is likely mostly captured by the middle class, not high net worth individuals.
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#204With the exception of shoes and jackets I buy all my clothes at Goodwill. It's awesome! Every couple of months I spend around $20 dollars and I always have nice new tee shirts, button ups, pants etc. You wont believe how many nice clothes people simply give away. Plus it makes me feel great knowing I'm contributing to reuse and giving money to a company that helps employee less fortunate people.
I really admire that. There is stigma attached to second-hand clothes, at least in India. If you can afford it, it is almost unacceptable to wear second hand clothes, especially outside family and friends.
There is a stigma also in the USA, but mostly amoung the upper middle class and up. The trend of 'vintage' clothing tore through the stigma to a large degree in the last few decades I think. There is now a positive 'hipster' appeal to reusing or repurposing things, as well as 'they dont make it like that anymore' sentiment.
Many people born poor, now take perverse pride in procuring sneakers they didn't get as a kid, and collect them, often at a high cost. Staying 'clean' in a dirty area is almost always a popular signifier of 'class'.
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#205>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…
>> Apparel is being displaced by travel, eating out and activities The apparel and technology spending lines basically mirror each other. Why is travel mentioned? Tech is the new status symbol for the masses. $600 phone instead of a $600 watch, leather jacket, etc
I diagree. Phones only go up to about $900. But watches go up to the tens of thousands.
Laptops only go up to about what, $5k or so? But jackets go up way more.
Tech is more of a "as a bare minimum, I need to have the top of the line." Additionally, increased expenditure on tech does actually give increased utility in the form of performance. (even though it's reduced bang for buck).
However, a $50,000 watch doesn't tell time any better than a simple Casio. An $8,000 jacket doesn't keep you any warmer than a $200 one.
The whole point of demonstrating wealth is to spend money on impractical things. You're demonstrating that you have money to literally waste.
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
All these explanations are rather complicated. I think the simplest explanation is the best: people don't have the free money to spend on clothing. This is evidenced by the following facts: 1) Wages have been stagnant 2) Cost of living has been increasing well beyond the stated 2% rate of inflation.
You're explanation is not less complicated and far from the simplest, a much simpler explanation is clothes are simply cheaper. Dunno if that's true or not, but I suspect it is just from my experience. "Fast fashion" has really taken off.
Yes, with the invasion of cheap Chinese (and alike) stuff, I calculated that you can can dressed with about 3% of the minimal wage in my country (where income is a bit below the one in the USA).
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish I could build a wardrobe using thrift stores, but I live in a smaller town and thrift stores rarely have anything worth wearing.
Yeah I live in a pretty big city and I live in a part of the town that is sandwiched between two very wealthy areas so it can make for very good thrift store shopping. It is still a very hit or miss thing though. Sometimes you find tons of stuff, other times you find nothing.
For obvious reasons, it is always worth the extra drive to thrift shop in a wealthier area. They give away the best stuff in unused condition.
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#208European 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…
It's the paradox of fashion. We want to look different, but other people want us to look the same (that's why people in uniform are considered more attractive).
I asked a friend once, do you prefer men in uniform because you see men as basically interchangeable? Nah, she replied, because they’re employed and clean. Make of that what you will...
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#209The suit is dead except explicitly formal occasions. The global financial crisis killed it. Basically every person commuting securities fraud in the oughts did so while wearing a suit. Think about who you now see wearing suits - bankers, salesmen, and politicians. Occupations that trigger a range of responses from general mistrust to downright loathing.
Suits have become a liar's uniform. Whenever I encounter anyone in this mode of dress who isn't an obvious dandy, I'm immediately on the watch for tactics to squeeze as much money out of me as possible.
This leaves business casual and casual. As the article points out, most of those haven't seen substantial change for years. People don't get rid of clothes these days because they're out of style. Given these trends, it would amaze me if clothing sales weren't down substantially.
Re: Americans are spending less on clothing
#210European 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…
tbh you'll find a similar culture of casual dress in the UK too, depending on what industry you are in. Corporate IT and finance companies can mostly be "business casual", but venture into the media/creative industries, along with the usual tech companies and startups, it's mostly wear whatever you want.
it's mostly wear whatever you want.
Whatever you want that’s deemed fashionable by your peers. There’s still a dress code, and it’s strictly enforced, it’s just not written down anywhere.
How many people use “suit” as a pejorative?