Buying Power of the 50+ Woman February 3, 2010
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Careers, Industry News, Inspiration, Retail, Trends , trackbackAs I was working yesterday with a student on her designs for a collection of garments for a full figured (read “average American”) woman, I got to thinking that it’s a bit of a shame that most of us design our businesses for a rail-thin woman who is preternaturally youthful.
Not only does a large portion of the public miss out on our creativity, but we miss out on a HUGE market when we don’t train ourselves to get inside the mind of certain consumers. I read a statistic last December that I found really inspiring – it’s that “women ages 50 and older have more spending power and discretionary income than any other group in the U.S. and wield a net worth of $19 trillion according to MassMutual’s Financial Group 2007 report. In fact, for the 12 months ending Oct. 31, women over 55 spent $19 billion on apparel, according to The NPD Group Inc.’s Consumer Tracking Service.”
This quote came from a WWD report on the apparel of female evening news anchors like Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric. It’s exciting to consider that the companies who dress one of these women have their garments seen by 14 million viewers each night. This represents a great opportunity for advertisers, retailers, and designers alike. Here is the full article in WWD – scroll to page 14 to read it: The Female Factor in Evening News.
- Tiffany Teague
Comments
Great Article! I’d never thought of actually dressing a woman within this age range and I can see where there could be HUGE opportunities!
This is a great point. Really makes you reconsider who to design for.