Women waste billions on clothes never worn

Financial Express ^ | 1/8/06 | Reuters

[voletti]

LONDON, JANUARY 7: British women have spent more than 7 billion pounds buying clothes, shoes and accessories they will never wear, according to a survey on Friday.

Women have 14 items of clothing, on average, lurking in the back of their wardrobes that they have not worn in the last year, the survey by home insurer Churchill found.

Each unwanted item cost an average 21.82 pounds, which meant Britain's 24 million women spent 7.3 billion pounds last year on clothes they did not wear, the insurer said.

Nearly two-thirds of women (62 percent) said that they bought their fashion follies in the sales, the same proportion as bought clothes a size too small in the hopes of dieting to fit their latest finds.

Churchill said women were spending an average 305 pounds a year on clothes they would never wear, or 12,810 pounds in a working lifetime.

"Many householders are guilty of buying new clothes in the sales which will never get worn," said Martin Scott, head of Churchill Home Insurance.

[AzaleaCity5691]

This is news?

[encm(ss)]

Gee. I thought it was American women that were overweight. Those Londoneers carry tooo many pounds.

[Gordongekko909]

Some people blame monetary policy for the Great Depression. Others blame credit policy, others blame structural contradictions, and still others just blame e-vill corporations.

I blame women voters.

< /joking >

[TASMANIANRED]

It's good for the economy.

[saveliberty]

Wow!

[coconutt2000]

So long as it isn't Social Welfare money, I don't see why others should care if people are buying clothes they'll never wear.

But that isn't news either.

[saveliberty]

LOL!

[R. Scott]

My daughter has around 100 pair of shoes.

[Panerai]

And how much of those money is on shoes?

[saveliberty]

Excellent point.

[proxy_user]

And how does this compare to men? Do we have any male volunteers to do a survey?

I think I have finally nearly managed to stop buying things I won't wear, but this is after many years experience.

[saveliberty]

Yikes!

[saveliberty]

I forced myself to take back whatever I wouldn't wear. I also reduced the budget available for frivolous items.

[AzaleaCity5691]

Actually, what I meant by "This is news" is that I didn't see how it was actually news that women wasted money on clothes that they never wear. Anyone who is of the male persuasion would know this within a month of getting married.

[bluesagewoman]

This thread should open up a can of worms.

[Ditter]

Yeah. so? Not every purchase is a success. Some cars are lemons too. Some expensive dogs bite or pee on the furniture, some steak is tough. "Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances."

[rightwingintelligentsia]

How do those women live with themselves? I'm sure a homeless person would love to have that lime green polyester halter top some callous Brit snagged from the clearance rack last year.

[deport]

Keeps the foreigners working don'tcha see. Planned obsolescence or in the case planned never to wear...

[Alouette]

My daughter has around 100 pair of shoes.

My daughter would say, "Ohmygod! That poor thing! I would just die if I had less than 500!"