The Womenswear Market, Statistically According to US Census Bureau data, 2017 women’s clothing stores sales totaled $39.93 billion, a 2.3% decrease from 2016’s $40.89 billion. Statista reports larger numbers, or $48.095 billion for 2016 and $48.025 billion for 2017, which is a decrease of 0.01%. Globally, the womenswear market was still much larger than the menswear market during 2017, or $642.8 billion and $419.4 billion, respectively; however, womenswear sales are forecast to increase 1.4% during 2021, compared to 1.9% for menswear. During the 2017 holiday season, womenswear rebounded from its -2.3% decrease in the November Consumer Price Index compared to November 2016, with the largest dollar growth during the entire season.

A Retail Sector in Flux Women are also benefiting from only needing one wardrobe, in general, for work and off-work hours, as an increasing number of businesses permit casualwear throughout the work week. Consumers, including women, are also more likely to replace a piece of apparel they like and fits well instead of buying an unknown item, especially from fast-fashion stores. In fact, that’s what 83% of consumers did according to a fall 2017 survey. Retailers, magazines and high-end designers are no longer the sole arbiters of seasonal trends. Consumers are listening to and following social media influencers who often recommend combinations of apparel from various sources and just single brands.

Sporty Rules the Closet As businesses and their employees trade more of their formal attire for casualwear, the athleisure trend is giving way to sports and fitness apparel, which Global Industry Analysts, Inc. forecasts will reach $231.7 billion globally by 2024. Women once spent $200–$300 for designer jeans; however, now they prefer yoga pants, as reflected in the importation of 200 million pairs of women’s elastic knit pants during 2017, compared to 179.8 million pairs of women’s blue denim pants. Golf apparel is another sub-sector of sportswear driving the activewear market, as women’s golf apparel sales are forecast to increase almost 6% annually through 2021.

Too Many Brands and Stores Aren’t Serving “Plus-Size” Women “Plus-size” apparel (a term many women do not prefer) is an increasing opportunity for women’s clothing brands and stores, as, according to Plunkett Research, 68% of American women wear a size 14 or larger. Sales in this category have been increasing faster than the total US apparel market, or 6% and 3%, respectively, and The NPD Group forecasts the sector will total $24 billion by 2020. Despite increasing sales, Edited, a retail analytics firm, reported just 2.3% of the merchandise of 25 of the largest multi-brand retailers, with more than 15,500 brands, were considered plus-size.

Online Shopping for Women’s Apparel Is Just Too Convenient Internet Retailer reports 27.4% of all 2017 US apparel sales occurred online, an increase of 3.9 percentage points from 2016; and, based on the table on page 3 of the Profiler, women are responsible for much of the increase. The Astound Commerce research revealed 81% of women used the mobile channel to shop for fashions during the past 6 months, the largest among all groups measured: Millennials, 79%; non-Millennials, 70%; and men, 66%. Women were much more discriminating about shopping online if they weren’t familiar with the retailer’s products, quality or reputation, at 36%, compared to 23% for men.

More Women Attracted to Apparel Resale Market It’s likely the casual trend – for work and off-work – is driving the increase in the apparel resale market, which, as of 2018, totaled $20 billion, or 49% of the entire resale market, with media & electronics, a distant second, at 20%. According to thredUP’s 2018 Resale Report, one-third of adult women shopped for “secondhand” apparel during 2017, 40% of thrifters’ apparel in their closets were purchased used and 13% of the most active thrifters were millionaires. A primary benefit for women of buying resale apparel is it extends the average life of a used garment by 2.2 years, considering more than one-third of women wear a clothing item 5 or fewer times before discarding it.

Advertising Strategies Based on The Media Audit’s data on page 4 of the Profiler, womenswear stores could honor women’s different occupations with weekend specials, including displays of clothing selections for various occupations and a discount with proof of occupation. The growth of resale stores provides you with an opportunity to convince them of the value of TV advertising to reach women who wish to benefit from the cost savings and the extended life of resale clothing, which is environmentally-friendly. A local store that significantly increased its inventory of “plus-size” apparel, assigned like-minded store associates to serve this market segment and aggressively advertise its inventory would likely gain market share from major chains.

New Media Strategies Pinterest would be an obvious social media site to cross- promote mixed-and-matched selections for work and off- work occasions with the displays and special offers in the store to honor women’s occupations. The plus-size” and resale markets are perfect for influencer marketing, as women are much more likely to listen to and follow the suggestions of female social media influencers who are “plus-size” and resale apparel shoppers. Latina American women index higher for smartphone ownership than non-Latina American women, so stores would be wise to implement proactive mobile marketing campaigns and provide a discount for multi-generational purchases, as this is how many Latinas shop.