Some gender tidbits about my favorite garment:

• During WWII, women's jeans had their zippers along the right side, while men's opened in the front. (Wikipedia)
• Some men apparently resent the lack of ultra-low cut jeans for men, and buy women's jeans instead, according to a poll by "LowRiseJeans" (2002) (n = 79 over five years).
• Cotton, Inc claims ( Read more... )

The holiday season in the United States brings a renewed interest in stories impacting the retail industry to mainstream media outlets. Reflecting this, two stories about gender differences in the ways men and women shop made the news this week.

CNN Money (2007) reported on the "Online Holiday Shopping Survey" by GSI Commerce (n = 2,818, online ( Read more... )

Gender differences in footwear purchases are the stuff of gender legend, but few cited sources can be found to back these claims up. According to a CBC documentary "High Heel Confidential", 3/25/2007), the average North American woman owns 30 pairs of shoes, and buys 6 new pair every year. However, Sally Brook, writing for The Sun (UK, 2006) ( Read more... )

How do men and women shop for clothes? Hayhoe et al (2000) found that female college were also more apt to purchase clothes, whereas males purchased electronics, food, and entertainment. Men may purchase clothing for themselves less often because others purchase it for them: John Peters (1989) found that mothers shopped with sons for clothing more ( Read more... )

The Today Show's Jean Chatzsky reported yesterday on differences in men's and women's holiday shopping habits, based on BizRate Research's 2006 report. Men apparently feel more pressure to get the "right" gift than women, which Chatzsky suggests is a result of putting off shopping until the last minute. This is consistent with findings by Fischer ( Read more... )

Dittmar, Beatty, and Friese (1995) examined the differences in impulse buying between men and women. They found a much smaller gender effect than anticipated, and instead found that the greatest predictor was self-esteem at time of purchase. A 2006 report on internet buying habits reported by Lynn Russo found much larger differences in the way ( Read more... )