Sales of clothing are falling as we choose to spend our cash on ‘experiences’ – from food to the gym, festivals and holidays
Is there no end to the evil that is avocado toast? Not content with keeping Generations Y and Z off the property ladder by trapping them in salary-hoovering brunch-addiction and destroying the environment in the Mexican state of Michoacán, where pine species are being felled to make room for the crop and soil erosion is endangering the habitat of native butterflies, the evil green stuff is now destroying the fashion industry.
Style is dead, long live lifestyle. Across the UK, sales of clothes are falling as we choose to spend our cash on going out for brunch. (Or on going to the gym, on a festival ticket, on a holiday.) The experience economy is squeezing our clothes budgets. In 2016, spending on recreation was up 8% year on year among UK consumers, while fashion brands struggled with falling receipts. Last year, a Harris group study in the US concluded that three in four millennials would choose to spend their money on an experience or an event over something physical. An aspirational Saturday afternoon is no longer about dropping a wedge in Topshop; it is an Instagram selfie from the farmers’ market showing you and your best friend in your power mesh leggings you wore to boxing class (£15), splurging on bunches of peonies (£8) and artisan walnut bread (£4.50) before tucking in to a Korean kimchi-tofu-scramble brunch (£10).
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