Let’s hear it for the boys. Men’s wear continues to be an exciting category due to a surge of “fashionable males” who are consuming and experimenting with new trends nearly as fast as women, a new YouGov report said. This male microcosm is deeply active on social media — to discover new looks, no less — and visits physical stores weekly. This segment widens opportunities for retailers and brands to strengthen alternative revenue channels that might have been previously untapped and overlooked until recently.
“A particular segment of men stand out for their fashionable lifestyles and propensity to spend money on clothes. These fashionable, city-dwelling young men make up just one percent of the U.S. population but frequently spend more than $200 on clothes every three months, and two in five say they visit clothing stores weekly,” the report said.
The findings were part of a larger YouGov report, “The Face of Fashion: An Analysis of U.S. Consumer Perception Towards the Apparel and Footwear Sector.” YouGov extracted the data from its YouGov Cube platform — a “data vault” that includes 280,000 variables that is collated from more than 200,000 U.S. panelists.
The report defined “fashionable males” as Millennial (between the ages of 18 and 34), living in a city, cued into present trends, and who purchase a least a few new items every season, the report said. What’s particularly key about these consumers: they have $1,000 more in monthly, disposable income compared to the national average. This marks major opportunity for retailers and brands to build ongoing loyalty with the set for consistent revenue gains.
Unsurprisingly, the report found that these consumers are deeply digital-first in product investigation, comparison and purchasing. “That’s evident among fashionable young men, who are more likely to browse online (47 percent) than in-stores (41 percent) for their clothing,” the report said. According to the research, 32 percent of the set “saw something online and bought it online, 24 percent saw something online and bought in-store, and 13 percent saw something in-store and bought it online.”
What’s more, brands are able to attract these trend-savvy consumers with strategic, sponsored content. “Nearly three-quarters of this group engages with sponsored content — whether it be to get more information about a product, follow a brand on social media, share news about a product with friends or family, or buy the product,” the report said.
By being active in the social channels in which these fashionable males are deeply engaged, retailers and brands stand to gain not only valued attention from the set, but also dollars.
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