Are Your Clothes Working Hard Enough?

£4.7billion of clothes are gathering dust in UK wardrobes

9th October 2008

Three quarters of people in the UK have bought an item of clothing and never worn it meaning the UK has resigned £4.7billion of pristine fashion to mothballs according to research released today.

On average, Brits have six items of clothing that they ' ve never worn sitting in their wardrobes equating to £101 per adult wardrobe doing nothing more than collecting dust. Women conform to stereotype with 87% of them admitting to confining unworn clothes to the closet, compared to 53% of men.

The research by Marks and Spencer reveals shoes as the items most likely to languish unworn behind closet doors, followed by evening wear and unused handbags. Over a quarter of the population admit to hoarding clothes finding them either too difficult to give away or assume that they ' ll come back in to fashion at some point.

The research also showed that:-

75% have bought an item of clothing and not worn it
69% have up to 5 unworn items in their wardrobe
34% tend to sort out their wardrobe from season to season (i.e. clean out anything they don't want anymore in Autumn/Winter)
69% give their old clothes/clothes they no longer wear to charity shops
17% say they are a 'hoarder' and find it difficult to give things away/bin them

As a third of the population say they make room in their wardrobes for the next season's styles, bargain hunters should head to charity shops where over two thirds of people say they take the clothes they no longer wear. Label lovers should be on the look out for key finds at a fraction of their costs with 39% of those polled admitting to taking items they deem to be expensive or designer to their local charity shop.

The Clothes Exchange Programme, the biggest of its kind in the UK, which was set up by M&S and Oxfam earlier this year gives people an added incentive to clear out their wardrobes as we enter autumn.

For more information please visit: www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/shops/marksandspencer.html and http://plana.marksandspencer.com/index.php?action=PublicPartnerOxfamDisplay

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