Trousers are “flying out the door” at Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice charity shops

When Forget Me Not compared their sales for the three-month period July to September 2022 with the same period last year, they noticed that sales of women's trousers are up by 100 per cent.

Generally sales are up by 22 per cent, reflecting a trend seen by many charity shops during the cost of living crisis - an increased number and wider range of people are visiting Forget Me Not's charity shops. But the fact that women's trousers are so much higher is a bit of a puzzle.

Andrea Kay, Trading Manager at Forget Me Not said: “When I first saw the figures for women’s trousers I thought maybe there was a mistake, so I checked them and checked them again and it’s true- women’s trousers are flying out the door! The figures are aggregated data from all 13 of our shops across West Yorkshire so it’s not as if it’s just one person buying lots of women’s trousers from one shop. We’re puzzled by it – the rest of our women’s clothes sales are up too - by 27%, which you might expect due to the cost of living crisis. But what's going on with women’s trousers? Answers on a postcard please!”

Forget Me Not’s data also suggest that the cost of living crisis has led to more men crossing the door of charity shops - sales of men's clothing are up by 45 per cent, with the biggest growth in men's tops at 70 per cent.

Andrea said, “We are definitely seeing more men buying clothes in our shops than before. A 45 per cent increase in men's clothing sales- that's a big jump! Some of the increase is women buying for the men in their lives, but more men enjoying a rummage in our shops is a very welcome development. We're curious to know if it's just West Yorkshire men who are doing this or if it's a national trend.”