Fashion Segments in America

This research explored the fashion motivations and spending patterns of 2,025 United States residents. Using market segmentation techniques called exploratory factor analysis and k-means clustering we managed to identify three consumer fashion segments: Style Seekers (30 per cent of Americans), Mainstream Maintainers (34 per cent of Americans), and Outdated Outfitters (36 per cent of Americans).

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Our research found that Style Seekers may be an important fashion and retail target audience in America, with 96 per cent following fashion trends, 88 per cent having the latest fashion available, and 83 per cent giving fashion advice to others. From a demographic perspective this segment is more likely to be under the age of 45, have a household income over 100,000 dollars, have graduated university, and hold liberal political views.

From an online perspective, Style Seekers reported spending a total of 498 minutes (>8 hours) a day on social media and online platforms - with 89 minutes a day being spent on YouTube, 79 minutes a day on Facebook, 53 minutes a day on Instagram, and 47 minutes a day on Messenger.

Fashion Spending in America

In order to assess the validity of these consumer fashion segments we also explored their annual spending patterns on fashion items like apparel, footwear, and accessories.

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On average, Style Seekers reported spending 1,185 dollars on fashion in the past year, Mainstream Maintainers reported spending 605 dollars on fashion in the past year, and Outdated Outfitters reported spending 375 dollars on fashion in the past year. Put differently, this means Style Seekers spent 71 per cent more on fashion than the average American and a massive 216 per cent more than those in the Outdated Outfitters segment.

Fashion Segments in Canada

This research explored the fashion motivations and spending patterns of 1,009 Canadian residents. Using market segmentation techniques called exploratory factor analysis and k-means clustering we managed to identify three consumer fashion segments: Style Seekers (27 per cent of Canadians), Mainstream Maintainers (35 per cent of Canadians), and Outdated Outfitters (39 per cent of Canadians).

Intensions Consulting - Fashion Segments in Canada.jpg

Our research found that Style Seekers may be an important fashion and retail target audience in Canada, with 95 per cent following fashion trends, 90 per cent having the latest fashion available, and 76 per cent giving fashion advice to others. From a demographic perspective this segment is more likely to be female, under the age of 45, have a household income over 100,000 dollars, and have graduated university.

From an online perspective, Style Seekers reported spending a total of 342 minutes (<6 hours) a day on social media and online platforms - with 76 minutes a day being spent on YouTube, 50 minutes a day on Facebook, 39 minutes a day on Instagram, and 28 minutes a day on Messenger.

Fashion Spending in Canada

In order to assess the validity of these consumer fashion segments we also explored their annual spending patterns on fashion items like apparel, footwear, and accessories.

Intensions Consulting - Fashion Spend in Canada.jpg

On average, Style Seekers reported spending 1,313 dollars on fashion in the past year, Mainstream Maintainers reported spending 655 dollars on fashion in the past year, and Outdated Outfitters reported spending 285 dollars on fashion in the past year. Put differently, this means Style Seekers spent 91 per cent more on fashion than the average Canadian and a massive 362 per cent more than those in the Outdated Outfitters segment.

About This Research

These are findings from an Intensions Consulting study conducted between January 20, 2020, and January 28, 2020. For this study a 20-minute online survey was administered with a sample of 2,025 United States residents, and 1,009 Canadian residents, aged 16 years and older. Each national sample was stratified by gender, age, and region, to ensure that the sample’s composition reflected the underlying distribution of the population as determined by Census data. For the United States, a traditional probability sample of comparable size would have produced results considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For Canada, a traditional probability sample of comparable size would have produced results considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

For more information on this research, please contact: info@intensions.co

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