£1.6 Billion Of Clothes Wasting In Wardrobes

New research out today reveals that the average British woman hoards £285 of clothes they will never wear, but refuse to throw out – the equivalent of 22 outfits each that are left hanging in valuable wardrobe space. QVC, one of the world’s

Wasted Wardrobe Clothes

leading television and online retailers, questioned over 1,200 UK adults to find out the nation’s hoarding habits. Cumulatively women spend over £1.6 billion on over 500 million items of clothing that are never worn, which if placed on a single clothes rail would stretch the distance from London to New York over four and a half times over – a distance of 15,534 miles.

Rash purchases are the main reason for an unworn clothing pile up, with 45 per cent of Brits blaming impulse buys for their unfulfilling wardrobes. Despite unworn clothes taking up 5 per cent of storage space, only 12 per cent regularly clear out their wardrobes with 11 per cent saying they only throw away clothes once every three years and two per cent once every ten years.

Men are not much better hoarding 19 many items of unworn clothing worth an average of £248 altogether. Rash purchasing, commonly associated with women, is just as apparent in men’s shopping with 37 per cent of men admitting that their unworn items are largely a collection of sale buys. Jeans are the most common items of unworn clothes with 88 per cent of Brits saying they own a pair (or more) of denim trousers that they would never been seen out in. 22 per cent of Brits are modern day Imelda Marcos, hoarding up to 6 pairs shoes and 95 per cent owning tops that will never be worn.

54 per cent say that guilt over wasting money keeps them from throwing out unwanted clothes whilst 41 per cent say they are planning to lose weight before donning their unworn outfits. 17 per cent are hoarding particular styles in the hope of a fashion revival. Sue Leeson from QVC comments:

“Hoarding clothes is a form of nostalgia but it’s impractical. Whilst sale shopping can be the downfall of many bank balances in January, with rash purchases turning us from smart shoppers to sloppy shoppers in the swipe of a credit card, our informed shopping approach means you buy the right item in the first place.” Women from London are the nation’s top hoarders with an average of over £300 worth of clothes lying unworn in their wardrobes. Whilst Welsh women are the savviest shoppers, their total of unworn items coming in at £223.96. The UK’s top wardrobe hoarders are as follows:

WOMEN
1. London women have £302.29 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes
2. Scottish women have £301.90 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes
3. Northern Irish women have £290.28 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes 4. West Midland women have £275.85 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes
5. South Eastern women have £273.16 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes 6. North Eastern women have £269.15 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes 7. Yorkshire women have £266.98 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes
8. North Western women have £255.74 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes 9. East Midlands women have £251.79 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes 10. Eastern women have £245.93 of unworn clothes in their wardrobes