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Americans are spending less on clothing

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Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#221

Post by emiliobumachar »

nugi wrote: post #213
alphonsegaston wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me tell you a secret - it’s the drier. Clothes last far longer when you hang dry them. You’re right that fast fashion has reduced overall quality, but you can still get more wear out if them if you avoid the drier.

Even reducing the heat 1 step on a dryer helps immensely. Between that and washing your stuff inside out, you can double the life of most garmets.

Could you please elaborate on why washing your stuff inside out helps? I would think what's inside rubs against the other side of the inside, and wears out just the same.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#223

Post by mertd »

rb808 wrote: post #199
freejulian wrote: post #164

Earlier 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.

That doesn't explain why people in the poorest countries dress better than Americans. People living in the slums of India/Nigeria/Brazil are more likely to have a collared shirt and dress pants than an American going to work in an office.

They might all have a suit but do they have "more" outfits than Americans?

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#224

Post by walshemj »

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.

People into finance read the FT or the WSJ

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#225

Post by walshemj »

joncrane wrote: post #205
bluedino wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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…

I bet my >$700 Barbour works better than a cheap one from Walmart - and as a bonus it will out live me :-)

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#226

Post by walshemj »

slowmotiony wrote: post #75
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.

Ordnung muss sein

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#227

Post by vonmoltke »

coliveira wrote: post #179
freejulian wrote: post #164

Earlier 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.

Bingo. In a capitalist society, the better explanation is almost always an economic one. It boggles my mind that so many people find it difficult to understand this simple concept. Not only wages are stagnant, but the population is under high increases in housing and health care costs, which are not accounted in official inflation. Add this to the reduced welfare state, and you have the perfect recipe for this situat…

> Not only wages are stagnant, but the population is under high increases in housing and health care costs, which are not accounted in official inflation.

The US CPI does account for those, and the CPI changes are the "official" inflation rate.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#228

Post by logfromblammo »

steffan wrote: post #190
mattmanser wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you fairly young? One day you'll suddenly have a revelation that 5 year old t-shirts look really, really, really bad. I certainly did. The color fades, the prints fade, they look tatty. Same with suits, knees and bums get a sheen, stitching gets ratty, etc. Obviously depends on how expensive the suit was when you bought it. To quote Sam Vimes: “The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because th…

> Are you fairly young? One day you'll suddenly have a revelation that 5 year old t-shirts look really, really, really bad. I certainly did. I beg to differ. The condition of clothing is correlated to quality and amount and type of wear. I have some (plain) t-shirts that have lasted 10 or more years with no fading. Avoiding hot water and clothes dryers goes a very long way to making clothing last. Your point stands o…

Older people can also remember when t-shirts were thick enough that you couldn't see through them unless they got wet. Some brands now require two or even three layers before you can stop worrying if your birthmarks and tattoos are still visible.

Heavier fabrics can endure more wear.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#229

Post by _Wintermute »

breakbread wrote: post #138
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…

Somewhat related, but I went to Europe (I'm American)for the first time in December (Prague, Zurich, Munich, Florence, Rome) and kept noticing how much more well dressed people were on average compared to Americans. Not to suggest everyone was balling out of control in designer wear, just more "put together", so to speak. I considered the fact that I was visiting major cosmopolitan cities, but it was true even in the…

I noticed the opposite when I visit the US, adults wearing clothes that I normally consider for children (baseball caps, running shoes) seems pretty common, especially with men.

Re: Americans are spending less on clothing

#230

Post by drharby »

briandear wrote: post #177
zeveb wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ties, skirts, suits, coordinated outfits, scarves, leather soled shoes -- all are passe, even in button down East Coast Fortune 100 companies (other than for aspiring managers or those in banking/finance). I dunno about that. When I see someone who's wearing decent clothes, I still think, 'wow, that's someone who wants to look good .' But I think that I'm a bit weird — I actually enjoy dressing differently for diff…

Now I am curious — what are programming clothes? I actually think hiking clothes would be awesome to program in — comfortable layers, freedom of movement, durable.. a suit makes no sense for programming; restrictive collars, a tie (!!) and a propensity to wrinkle when sitting. I think you might have sparked a business idea! Clothes for Coders. Couldn’t be any more ridiculous than when Tiesto released a shoe for DJing…

Varies from people. Hell i can program in my underwear provided i dont have a draft
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