“The average US consumer purchased 64 articles of clothing and seven pairs of shoes in 2008, down from 67 articles of clothing and eight pairs of shoes in 2007, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association.”
Wow! really? I buy maybe 5 items of clothing a year and one pair of shoes but only if i absolutely must. There are some greedy little fashion consumers out there! I recently asked a class of 1st year fashion students to tally up how many fashion items they owned under a few categories; footwear, jackets/coats, tops/knitwear, pants/jeans – and in a class of twenty there were 287 pairs of shoes, 184 Coats/jackets, 396 Tops/knitwear and 214 pants/jeans. I am torn between thinking “go the fashion industry!” and being horrified at myself and the world i live in. Looking at the quote above I suspect that these fashion students might be pretty mild compared to the average american consumer…
Holly McQuillan 
I just tallied up my 08 purchases and I bought 23 garments, 4 pairs of shoes, assorted accessories and lingerie. And that felt like a lot. AND I was in 2 weddings which required purchasing dresses/shoes/accessories. So 08 was above average for me.
Frightening stuff indeed. I’m delighted to find that I’m well under the average!