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Apparel Study, 2009


Introduction

Over 2,200 of Market Reader Pro’s panelists recently responded to a survey about what they were looking for in apparel and which high-tech fabrics they have heard of or tried. All panelists included in this study were women in the US between the ages of 18 and 64.

Income

Less than $30,000……….23%

$30,000-$54,999…………31%

$55,000 to $74,999………19%

$75,000-$99,999…………13%

$100,000+…………………12%

Age18-24…..……5%

25-34………21%

35-44………27%

45-54………33%

55-64………15%


Map of Respondents


Characteristics of clothing in question included:•Air flow•Anti-microbial properties•Color retention•Extreme weather protection•Moisture wicking•Shrinkage resistance•Stain resistance, and •Wrinkle resistance

High-tech fabrics that we asked about included:•Coolmax for air flow•Microsuede for repelling water and stains•Polartec performance fleece•Solarweave or Solarknit for protection from the sun •Supplex for ease of care•Tencel for wrinkle free clothing•Ultrex for protection in extreme weather


Clothing Attributes

Somewhat or very concerned about these clothing attributes

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As shown in the chart below, more than half of respondents were “very” or “somewhat concerned” about all of the characteristics we asked about, with over 80% being “very or somewhat concerned” about shrinkage resistance, stain resistance, color retention, and wrinkle resistance


Clothing attribute results by income level

Some differences were found regarding what attributes were most important to consumers based on their income. Statistically significant findings (at 95% confidence level) include the following:

Summary of important clothing attributes by income level

$100,000+More concerned about color retention and sun protectionLess concerned about extreme weather protection

$75,000-99,999 More concerned about color retention

$55,000-74,999 More concerned about stain resistance

$30,000-54,999More concerned about extreme weather protectionLess concerned about color retention and sun protection

Less than $30,000More concerned about extreme weather protectionLess concerned about color retention, clothing shrinkage, stain resistance, sun protection, and wrinkle resistance


• Air Flow and Anti-microbial Qualities:There were no significant* differences found regarding the concern level about air flow or anti-microbial clothing characteristics based on income group. However, air flow did become more important as income level increased.

• Color Retention:Consumers in the upper level income groups of $75,000+ were statistically more likely to say that they were “somewhat” or “very concerned” about color retention when compared to the lower income groups of less than $54,999.

• Extreme Weather Protection:Those in the lower income groups of less than $54,999 were statistically more likely to say that they were “somewhat” or “very concerned” about extreme weather protection when compared to the highest income group of $100,000+.

• Moisture wicking:Having clothing be moisture wicking is more important as income level increases, but there were no statistically significant differences based on income level.

• Shrinkage:Clothing shrinkage was statistically less likely to concern those in the under $30,000 income group than those in any other income group.

• Stain resistance:Consumers in the $55,000-$74,999 income group were statistically more likely to be “somewhat” or “very concerned” about stain resistance than those in the under $30,000 income group.

• Sun Protection:Those in the $100,000+ group were statistically more likely to be “somewhat” or “very concerned” about their clothing’s sun protection qualities as compared with those in the less than $30,000 and $30,000-$54,999 income groups.

• Wrinkle Resistance:Wrinkle resistance was statistically less likely to be of concern to those in the under $30,000 income group as compared with those in any other income group.

Clothing attribute results by income levelDetailed findings


Clothing attribute results by age group

Clothing attributes that consumers had statistically significant differences in their level or concern about, by age group, were as follows:

Summary of important clothing attributes by age

55-64 years oldMore likely to be concerned about stain resistance and wrinkle resistance

45-54 years oldMore likely to be concerned about moisture wicking and wrinkle resistance

35-44 years old More likely to be concerned about moisture wicking

25-34 years oldLess likely to be concerned about air flow, moisture wicking, stain resistance, and wrinkle resistance

There were no significant differences for the 18-24 age group, but findings show that over 80% of respondents in this age group are “somewhat” or “very concerned” about color retention, shrinkage, stain resistance, and wrinkle resistance.


Clothing attribute results by age group Detailed findings

• Air Flow:• Those in the 25-34 age range were significantly less likely to be “somewhat”

or “very concerned” about air flow than consumers in any of the higher age groups.

• Anti-microbial, color retention, extreme weather protection, shrinkage resistance, sun protection:

• There were no statistically significant differences found in concern about anti-microbial characteristics of clothing, based on age group. However, color retention became more important as age increased.

• Moisture wicking:• Consumers in the 35-44 and 45-54 year old age groups were found to be

significantly more likely to be “somewhat” or “very concerned” about moisture wicking in clothing than were consumers in the 25-34 year old age group.

• Stain resistance:• Stain resistance became more important as age increased. And, those in the

oldest age group, 55-64, were significantly more likely to be “somewhat” or “very concerned” about stain resistance than those in the 25-34 age group.

• Wrinkle Resistance:• Stain resistance also became more important as age increased from the 25-

34 age group on up. Those in the highest age groups, 45-54 and 55-64, were significantly more likely to be “somewhat” or “very concerned” about wrinkle resistance than consumers in the 25-34 age group.


High-Tech Fabrics

Survey respondents told us which of the following high-tech fabrics they have tried or heard of:

• Coolmax for air flow• Microsuede for repelling water and stains• Polartec performance fleece• Solarweave or Solarknit for protection from

the sun • Supplex for ease of care• Tencel for wrinkle free clothing• Ultrex for protection in extreme weather


Microsuede was the fabric most likely to have been tried, at 30%, with Polartec a close second at 27%.

Which have you heard of or tried?

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Microsuede Polartec Coolmax Tencel Ultrex Solarweave orSolarknit

Supplex

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Have tried Have heard about but not tried Have not heard about

High-tech fabrics heard of or tried


High-tech fabrics results by income level

For each type of high-tech fabric, there is or is nearly a direct, positive relationship between income level and likelihood of having tried the fabric, as shown below. Significant differences in high-tech fabrics consumers tried, based on their income levels, were as follows:

• Microsuede:Those in the less than $30,000 income group were significantly less likely to have tried Microsuede compared to consumers in the upper level income groups of $75,000+.

• Polartec:Consumers in the two lowest income groups of up to $54,999 were significantly less likely to have tried Polartec than those in the two highest income groups of $75,000+.

• Coolmax:Consumers in the lowest income group of less than $30,000 were significantly less likely to have tried Coolmax compared to those in the two highest income groups of $75,000+.

• Solarweave or Solarknit:Those in the $30,000 to $54,999 group were significantly less likely to have tried Solarweave or Solarknit than those in the income group of $100,000+.


High-tech fabrics tried by income level

The chart below reflects high-tech fabrics that consumers in the different income levels have actually tried:

High-tech fabrics tried by income level

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Microsuede Polartec Coolmax Tencel Ultrex Solarw eave orSolarknit

SupplexPer

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>$30,000 $30,000-$54,999 $55,000-$74,999 $75,000-$99,999 >$100,000


High-tech fabrics heard of by income level

High-tech fabrics heard of by income level

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Supplex

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>$30,000 $30,000-$54,999 $55,000-$74,999 $75,000-$99,999 >$100,000

As reflected in the following chart, as income increased, consumers were also more likely to have heard of high-tech fabrics.


High-tech fabric results by ageAs shown below, most high-tech fabrics were more likely to have been tried

by younger consumers, although Microsuede was most likely to have been tried by 25-44 year old, and Tencel by 45-54 year olds. The only statistically significant difference within the categories of high-tech fabrics tried, based on age, was that Coolmax was significantly less likely to have been tried by 55-64 year olds than by 18-24 year olds.

High-tech fabrics tried by age

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Microsuede Polartec Coolmax Tencel Ultrex Solarw eave orSolarknit

SupplexPer

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18 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64


High-tech fabrics heard of by age

As Coolmax was less likely to have been tried by those in the 55-64 age group, it was also less likely that those in that age group had heard of Coolmax. In fact, significantly less consumers in the oldest age group tested (55-64) had heard of Coolmax compared to those in the 25-54 age groups.

High-tech fabrics heard of by age

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Supplex

18 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64


Key findings• The majority of consumers were concerned about all the clothing attributes we asked

them about.• Higher income consumers were more concerned about color retention and sun

protection while lower income consumers were more concerned about extreme weather protection.

• Older consumers were more likely to be concerned about stain and wrinkle resistance, while color retention was the biggest concern of the youngest consumers. Moisture wicking was of concern for the two middle age groups.

• Microsuede and Polartec were the high-tech fabric most likely to have been tried by consumers.

• As income increased, likelihood of having either heard of or tried a high-tech fabric increased almost across the board.

• 18-24 year olds were the most likely age group to have heard of Ultrex; 35-44 year olds were most likely to have heard of Coolmax, Tencel, Solarweave/Solarknit, and Supplex; 45-54 year olds were the most likely to have heard of Microsuede and Polartec.

*”Significant” signifies statistical significance at the 95% confidence level or above.

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