Style on the cheap? Most Americans say no problem.
That's according to the results of a new poll that says the vast majority think it doesn't take a lot of money to be stylish.
The Marist College study found that 86 percent of respondents said it was possible to be stylish on a limited budget. The remaining 14 percent felt keeping up with the fashion of the times requires a lot of money.
Despite the fact most those polled felt you can look cool with low cash, a large percentage also felt we pay too much attention to fashion in the U.S. as some 68 percent felt we're overdoing it on the how-we-look front.
However, a majority (55 percent) also felt that how we dress is an important part of our life and helps define who we are. A contradiction? Not necessarily, claim the poll's researchers.
"Ideally, with so much going on in America, it's easy to say we spend too much attention on this small issue, but when you dig deeper, it's not that small," said Sue Kenney, Marist Poll senior research associate. "People get up in the morning and figure out what they're wearing. That's not that quick and easy a decision."
According to recent statistics, American households spend, on average, approximately $1,700 on apparel, footwear, and related products and services annually. Manhattanites lead the way in this fashion frenzy, spending an average of $362 a month on various kinds of apparel. Far less concerned with their clothing are the folks in Tucson, Ariz,., as they are spending the least on apparel at $131 a month.
As for job creation in the fashion industry, employment has been rapidly declining over the years. Employment in the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry has declined by more than 80 percent (from about 900,000 to 150,000 jobs) over the past two decades.
But there is always Fashion Week in New York to get the fashionista's juices flowing as over 232,000 people attend New York Fashion Week per year (116,000 each fashion week), pumping some $20 million into the New York City economy during that period.
As for the global fashion industry, the numbers say the world clothing and textile industry (clothing, textiles, footwear and luxury goods) is now a $2.6 trillion a year business.
