BRITAIN’S CLOTHES OBSESSION IS WORTH £38.5 BILLION

The contents of Brits’ wardrobes are worth a staggering £38.5 billion, Allianz Insurance’s ‘Britain’s Cost of a Wardrobe Report*’ reveals. It looked at the nation’s shopping habits to identify the price tags attached to the contents of our wardrobes, finding the average wardrobe is worth £769. Women value their wardrobes at £856 compared to £677 for men.

A growing British obsession with fashion and the desire to look good – fuelled by online fashion tools and the growth of websites such as ASOS means that as a nation, we now care about our wardrobes more than we ever have. Shopaholic Brits shell out an average £63 per shopping trip, hitting the shops once a fortnight, with men and women splashing out almost the same (£61 and £64 respectively). The average shop – online or on the high street – lasts 70 minutes.

Indeed, more than a quarter (27%) of Brits admit to clothes choices being influenced by celebrities, with Londoners (36%) and the North East (35%) being the most avid followers of fashion, according to the Britain’s Cost of a Wardrobe Report from Allianz Insurance.

Love thy wardrobe

Jackets and coats tend to be our most valued item of clothing for one in five of us (20%). Over a third (35%) of Brits who have a most valued item of clothing confess it’s the most expensive one they own. The average value of the most expensive item in our wardrobe is £165. This compares to £216 for Londoners and £193 in the North East and in contrast, the average value of the most expensive wardrobe item in Wales is £126.

We take extra care of our most valued item with nearly one in five (18%) keeping it in a dust bag, almost two fifths (39%) saving it for special occasions and four per cent simply not wearing it!

However, more than a quarter of Brits have either lost an item of clothing or had one stolen (27%).

Tim Pitts, head of home and motor at Allianz Insurance, said: “It’s worrying that almost a third of Brits have fallen victim to theft of clothes, or lost a favourite item. Our Cost of a Wardrobe Report shows clothes mean a lot to us, they’re an expression of who we are and we treat our favourite items with extra care – in some cases, we don’t even wear them. For some of us, our favourite items are irreplaceable, perhaps bought for us by a loved one, but for many of us, they are simply the most expensive.”

Cut from the same cloth?

The contents of women’s wardrobes are worth 26% more than their male counterparts (£677, compared to £856 for women). However, men enjoy hitting the shops just as much as women; more than two fifths would pick hitting the high street over surfing the internet for new clothes (43%).

Tim Pitts continued: “We spend a lot of time shopping around for clothes, and although shopping itself can be a chore – we love a bit of retail therapy – we spend a large slice of our salaries updating our clothes rails, so much so that as a nation, our wardrobes are worth a staggering £38.5 billion.

“Replacing expensive items can burn an unnecessary hole in your pocket. Having the right home insurance in place can provide the peace of mind that you will be able to replace your favourite items in the unfortunate incident of loss or theft.”

-Ends-

For more information please visit: https://www.allianz.co.uk/home-insurance.html

Notes to editors:

*Research carried out by One Poll between 04.09.15 and 09.09.15 on a survey of 2000 UK adults. £38.5billion calculation worked out by calculating UK adult population (50,087,000 x wardrobe value - £768.86 = £38,509,890,820)

For more information please contact:

Rachel Dakin, Lansons, 0207 294 3661AllianzInsurance@lansons.com

This online survey was commissioned by Allianz and conducted by market research company OnePoll, in accordance with the Market Research Society code of conduct. Data was collected between 07/09/2015 and 09/09/2015. All participants in the survey are double opted in to take part in research. They are paid per survey (the payment differing depending on the length/time taken). This survey was overseen and edited by the OnePoll research team, who are members of the MRS.

About Allianz

Allianz Insurance is one of the largest general insurers in the UK and part of the Allianz SE Group, the largest property and casualty insurer worldwide. Around 85 million private and corporate customers rely on Allianz's knowledge, global reach, capital strength and solidity to help them make the most of financial opportunities and to avoid and safeguard themselves against risks. In 2014, over 147,000 employees in more than 70 countries achieved total revenues of approximately 122.3bn euros.