The men’s and women’s clothing market is expected to experience another admirable sales bump in 2022 as it continues on its path toward stabilization following massive disruption from the pandemic in 2020 and early 2021. A majority of consumers have very positive attitudes about clothes shopping – 68% like or love it – indicating they see value in the emotional benefits that clothing purchases can provide. They also continue to prioritize the activewear components of their wardrobes – 66% would live in activewear if they could, showing this sector’s longevity.

Inflation, which is at a record high and artificially driving up clothing sales, is the biggest threat to the apparel industry at the time of writing. This will cause consumers to restrict their clothing purchases mainly to the necessities, which they’re now starting to do. It will also impact where consumers shop and what they buy. Value-oriented merchants will be favored.

Besides inflation, fashion retailers and brands that are not prioritizing sustainability will face significant threats in the future. Consumers expect brands to be driving change in this area, and they will support or abandon brands accordingly.

One of the biggest opportunities for fashion is the continuous innovation that’s elevating the multichannel shopping experience, one that will eventually include the metaverse as a common place for customer and brand interaction. Retailers should lean into new ways to bring the benefits of in-person shopping to the digital channel (livestream shopping, personal consultations, digital sizing tools) while continuing to modernize the store with digitization as well.

• The impact of inflation, supply chain issues and COVID-19 on consumers’ willingness to spend on new clothing

• Consumers’ affinity for clothes shopping

• How often, when and why consumers buy clothing

• Where consumers are shopping for clothes and what items they are buying

• How retailers are using technology to improve the clothes shopping process, in-store and online

• The emerging shifts in consumer behaviors and attitudes about apparel and ensuing market opportunities for brands

This Report will identify behaviors and preferences among male and female shoppers when shopping for clothing.

The Report focuses on purchases adult men and women 18+ make for themselves (as opposed to as gifts). Clothing in this Report covers the following categories: jeans, pants/slacks, suits, T-shirts, blouses, sweaters, dresses, skirts, jackets/coats, blazers, shorts and workout clothes (tops and bottoms).

Swimwear, sleepwear, underwear, hosiery, footwear and accessories are not discussed in this Report but are included in the overall clothing market size. Note that the market size includes all sales of women’s and men’s clothing – as opposed to boys’, girls’, misses’ and junior wear – regardless of the purchaser.

This Report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Men’s and Women’s Clothing - US, 2021. An important companion Report to this one is Mintel’s upcoming Online Apparel Retailing – US, 2022. Other apparel-related Reports publishing in 2022 include Athleisure – US, 2022 and Men’s & Women’s Underwear – US, 2022.

Consumer markets have faced an unprecedented level of turmoil in recent years. At the start of 2020, COVID-19 caused massive economic disruption, as various stay-at-home orders were introduced and nonessential businesses were closed. Consumer behavior shifted drastically, with much greater demand for at-home products and delivery services, straining an already challenged global supply chain.

Business operations resumed in most parts of the country in 2021 as vaccines were administered and social distancing restrictions and capacity limitations were relaxed. However, localized surges in case counts and the rapid spread of the Delta and then Omicron variants caused increased business as well as travel restrictions in and out of the US, exacerbating supply chain shortages in many industries.

Early 2022 has seen a decline in COVID-19 cases in the US, while the conflict in Ukraine continues to escalate and more civilians are displaced. The economic fallout from the conflict and subsequent sanctions will include soaring energy prices, worsened supply chain disruptions and potential shortages of food and other natural resources.

As of March, the Conference Board expects US Real GDP to increase at an annualized rate of 3% for 2022, down from previous estimates of 3.5%. To curb rapidly rising inflation, the central bank is tightening monetary policy and analysts are predicting anywhere from three to seven interest rate hikes this year to limit the supply of money in the economy.

US inflation reached 40-year highs in early 2022, but barring a new, more severe COVID variant or expansion of the conflict outside of Ukraine, those figures should begin to stabilize and eventually fall as we enter the second half of the year. US consumers, however, should expect to see prices remain higher than they have been the past few years, as supply chain disruptions create product and labor shortages. As is often the case, wealthy Americans likely won't see much change to their daily purchasing behaviors. But those consumers unable to withstand price increases will have to choose between cutting back and increasing debt.

Research for this Report was fielded in May 2022, and it was written in June/July 2022.