June 28, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Consumers spend more on apparel in 1999

Consumers increased spending on apparel by 4.1 percent on average in 1999. This followed consecutive years of decreased spending in 1997 
(-1.3 percent) and in 1998 (-3.2 percent).

[Chart data—TXT]

Increases of 5.5 percent in spending for men's and boys' clothing, 7.8 percent for footwear, and 10 percent for other apparel products and services offset an 8.2-percent decrease in clothing for children under 2, and a small 0.6-percent increase for women's and girls' clothing. The "other apparel products and services" category includes expensive items such as watches and jewelry, as well as items such as laundry and dry cleaning, and is subject to fluctuation from one year to the next.

These data come from the Consumer Expenditure Survey. Find out more in "Consumer Expenditures in 1999," (PDF 87K), BLS Report 949.