BY THE NUMBERS
Underwear Sales
BY THE NUMBERS — 2.3: The projected percentage drop in all men’s underwear for 2009, from research company Mintel. In November, Mintel had forecasted a 2.6 percent sales growth. Why care? Because some leading economists (a certain Alan Greenspan) point to men’s underwear sales as an indicator of consumer confidence and economy stability. So goes the thinking: If men can’t even afford to replace their underwear, they’re really in trouble.
Greenspan has typically old school thinking going on. He is oblivious to the last 20 years of history in which objectification of men has turned underwear into outerwear.
Clothing sales are plummetting in general. In this economy I’d exect more than 2.5% drop in underwear sales.