The nation’s workers are spending an average of £75 per outfit on work clothes with cities in the north spending the most.
New research, by Suit Direct has revealed the nation’s spending habits with participants admitting to how much they spend on occasion outfits, how long they take to get ready, and some making a purchase just to take a photo for social media.
The poll of 2,000 Brits found that the average work outfit costs £75 with men spending £95 per outfit, compared with women who are spending nearly half that amount with £55 going on work clothes per outfit.
Those in Leeds are spending the most on their work clothes with residents forking out £97 per outfit. Other big spending cities include Sheffield who splash £91 per outfit, Belfast (£89), Birmingham (£87), London (£87), and Edinburgh and Manchester (£77).
With the UK willing to spend heavily on their attire, the country seems spoilt for choice when choosing what to wear to work. The average time taken by Brits to choose their clothes is 21 minutes with men taking 25 minutes and women just 17 minutes.
Birmingham takes the longest to select their workwear, taking half an hour, followed in second place by Southampton who take 29 minutes to plan their daily outfit.
Cardiff followed with 28 minutes, Leeds (27 minutes), Edinburgh (25 minutes), London (23 minutes), Norwich (23 minutes), Bristol (21 minutes), Sheffield (20 minutes) and Newcastle (18 minutes).
The focus on spending more money on workwear appears to be a more recent thing with the latest generation of workers. Generation Z spend the most on clothes for work at an average of £99 a year which is £45 more than their parent’s generation.
And this increase appears to have a link to the use of social media, with the survey finding that generation Z are the most affected. More than one in six (15%) from generation Z admit they buy clothes to wear them for social media and 14 per cent said they were persuaded by a social media influencer to make a purchase.
Director of E-Commerce at Suit Direct, Simon Lewis, commented: “This research shows that as well as the rise in online shopping, there’s also considerable interest in social media influencing purchases.
“This is one of the largest disrupters of our industry and also splits generation shopping habits significantly.”
Most expensive cities for work outfits:
1. Leeds £97
2. Sheffield £91
3. Belfast £89
4. Birmingham £87
5. London £87
6. Edinburgh £77
7. Manchester £77
8. Glasgow £73
9. Nottingham £66
10. Liverpool £60
