Contents
About the Data in Who’s Buying Apparel ……………………………5
1. Percent Reporting Expenditure and Amount Spent, Average Quarter 2003 ……………9
Household Spending Trends: 2000 to 2003 …………………….11
2. Household Spending Trends, 2000 to 2003 ……………………………12
Household Spending on Apparel, 2003 ………………………………….15
3. Apparel: Spending, 2000 and 2003 ………………………….17
Household Spending on Apparel by Demographic Characteristic, 2003
4. Apparel: Average Spending by Age, 2003 ………………………………………………..19
5. Apparel: Indexed Spending by Age, 2003 ………………………………………………………………………….21
6. Apparel: Total Spending by Age, 2003 ……………………………………………………………………………….23
7. Apparel: Market Shares by Age, 2003 ………………………………………………………………………………..25
8. Apparel: Average Spending by Income, 2003 …………………………………………………………………….27
9. Apparel: Indexed Spending by Income, 2003 ……………………………………………………………………..29
10. Apparel: Total Spending by Income, 2003 …………………………31
11. Apparel: Market Shares by Income, 2003 …………………………..33
12. Apparel: Average Spending by High-Income Consumer Units, 2003 …………………………………35
13. Apparel: Indexed Spending by High-Income Consumer Units, 2003 …………………………………37
14. Apparel: Total Spending by High-Income Consumer Units, 2003 ………………………………………39
15. Apparel: Market Shares by High-Income Consumer Units, 2003 ……………………………………….41
16. Apparel: Average Spending by Household Type, 2003 ………………………………………………………43
17. Apparel: Indexed Spending by Household Type, 2003 ………………………………………………………45
18. Apparel: Total Spending by Household Type, 2003 ……………………………………………………………47
19. Apparel: Market Shares by Household Type, 2003 …………………………………………………………….49
20. Apparel: Average Spending by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2003 ………………………………………..51
21. Apparel: Indexed Spending by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2003 ………………………………………..53
22. Apparel: Total Spending by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2003 ……………………………………………..55
23. Apparel: Market Shares by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2003 ………………………………………………57
24. Apparel: Average Spending by Region, 2003 ……………………………………………………………………..59
25. Apparel: Indexed Spending by Region, 2003 ……………………………………………………………………..61
26. Apparel: Total Spending by Region, 2003 …………………………………………….63
27. Apparel: Market Shares by Region, 2003 ………………………………..65
28. Apparel: Average Spending by Education, 2003 …………………………………………67
29. Apparel: Indexed Spending by Education, 2003 ………………………………………..69
30. Apparel: Total Spending by Education, 2003 …………………………………………..71
31. Apparel: Market Shares by Education, 2003 ……………………………..73
Household Spending on Apparel by Product Category, 2003
32. Boys’ Apparel ……………………………………………………….76
33. Children’s Footwear ……………………………………………………….78
34. Coin-Operated Apparel Laundry and Dry Cleaning …………………………80
35. Girls’ Apparel …………………………………………………………………………………82
36. Infants’ Apparel ……………………………………………………………………….84
37. Jewelry …………………………………………………………………………………………….86
38. Men’s Apparel ……………………………………………………………………………………………88
39. Professional Laundry, Dry Cleaning …………………………………………………………….90
40. Sewing Material, Patterns, and Notions …………………………………………92
41. Watches ………………………………………………….94
42. Women’s Apparel …………………………………………………….96
Appendix: Spending by Product and Service, 2003 Ranking …………………………….98
Glossary ………………………………………………………..105
Introduction
The spending data in Who’s Buying Apparel are based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey, an ongoing, nationwide survey of household spending. The Consumer Expenditure Survey is a complete accounting of household expenditures, including everything from big-ticket items, such as homes and cars, to small purchases like laundry detergent and videos. The survey does not include expenditures by government, business, or institutions. The lag time between data collection and dissemination is about two years. The data in this report are from the 2003 Consumer Expenditure Survey, unless otherwise noted.
To produce this report, New Strategist Publications analyzed the Consumer Expenditure Survey’s average household spending data in a variety of ways, calculating household spending indexes, aggregate (or total) household spending, and market shares. Spending data by age, household income, household type, race, Hispanic origin, region, and education are shown in this report. These analyses are presented in two formats—for all product categories by demographic characteristic and for all demographic characteristics by product category.
Definition of consumer unit
The Consumer Expenditure Survey uses the consumer unit rather than the household as the sampling unit. The term “household” is used interchangeably with the term “consumer unit” in this report for convenience, although they are not exactly the same. Some households contain more than one consumer unit.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines consumer units as either (1) members of a household who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or other legal arrangements; (2) a person living alone or sharing a household with others or living as a roomer in a private home or lodging house or in permanent living quarters in a hotel or motel, but who is financially independent; or (3) two persons or more living together who pool their income to make joint expenditure decisions. The bureau defines financial independence in terms of “the three major expenses categories: housing, food, and other living expenses. To be considered financially independent, at least two of the three major expense categories have to be provided by the respondent.”
The Census Bureau uses household as its sampling unit in the decennial census and in the monthly Current Population Survey. The Census Bureau’s household “consists of all persons who occupy a housing unit. A house, an apartment or other groups of rooms, or a single room is regarded as a housing unit when it is occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters; that is, when the occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure and there is direct access from the outside or through a common hall.” The definition goes on to specify that “a household includes the related family members and all the unrelated persons, if any, such as lodgers, foster children, wards, or employees who share the housing unit. A person living alone in a housing unit or a group of unrelated persons sharing a housing unit as partners is also counted as a household. The count of households excludes group quarters.”
Because there can be more than one consumer unit in a household, consumer units outnumber households by several million. Young adults under age 25 head most of the additional consumer units.