Certainly a very generalized statistic, I can understand it being the case for the “average American consumer.” For my brother and his wife, it largely fits the bill. While his wife rarely wears makeup, is generally a bit of a “Tom boy”, she also (surprisingly to me), has a huge, fancy, expensive, purse collection. She also has an insanely huge running shoe collection. She clearly just enjoys the purses herself. They are largely in her closet, still with tags. No one would ever even know she has them (doesn’t flaunt them, use most of them, talk about them, etc.) General decorative items around their house look like they could be out of a magazine. My brother, on the other side of the statistic, is huuuuge into electronics. Top of the line everything. Probably $60k+ in pinball machines as part of his arcade. Fortunately, they are both very high income earners and have careers they seem to really enjoy.
My wife and I are really polar opposites of the statistic. She is about as frugal as it comes. She gets an annual haircut around her birthday (this year it cost $45 + tip). Her idea of clothes shopping is 2nd hand on FB market place, or Ross, Marshall’s, etc. I have a very very expansive/expensive wardrobe. I have a penchant for Red Wing Heritage Boots (Their made in USA line), which run around $280-$350 a pair (have 6 pairs). I have also spent the last 5-6 years building a capsule wardrobe, primarily from the highest quality materials and stitching I have found in existence, generally from Japan, but occasionally US/Canada. The majority of clothing at this point is from
www.IronheartAmerica.com - a UK retailer that sources from Japan. I would expect the clothing to last a lifetime, assuming no tears/stains that could destroy it. Each article is around $250-$350. Compared to a similar piece of clothing for around $75, and the quality is quite obvious. The denim in my iron heart jeans is 2x-2.5x thicker than in my Levi’s I use for working on projects around the house/garage.
I cannot speak on behalf of most women that spend more on clothes, but I feel quite logical in my purchases for more expensive clothing. I remember walking through the mall a couple years ago and seeing a pair of boots at “The Buckle” for around $130 that LOOKED very similar to a pair of my red wing heritage boots. I picked them up and it was comical how crappy the material was. Yes, they cost about 1/2 as much, but I would guarantee they would last about 10% as long. They probably weighed 1/2 as much (crappy sole and thin leather)..
Both my boots and clothing contain basically no branding. While many people are familiar with redwing boots, very few realize know that there’s both their crap Asian ‘standard’ line of boots, vs their separate American made series. Regarding my iron heart and similar brand clothing, I’d guess that probably 99.9% of people have never heard of these brands. In real life, i’m generally ‘embarrassed’ about the cost of my clothing and wouldn’t discuss it with most people I know, so it has nothing to do with ‘showing off’ how much I spent or the brand names. It is literally about buying top quality items that I see value in and enjoy. This extends for other items beyond just my clothing as well.
I will add that for ‘consumable’ clothes (t-shirts) I often buy pretty cheap stuff as they don’t last as long regardless. All of my boxer briefs are identical adidas (different colors). Most of my socks are rather expensive “darn tough” brand, however they come with a lifetime warranty. I’ve been wearing them for 5+ years and have only had to use the warranty claim once. They cost more and provide a life time warranty because they are truly top quality.
For good measure, here’s some of the boots:
