Women’s trousers “flying out the door” at West Yorkshire 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, as an increased number, as well as a wider range of people, are visiting Forget Me Not's charity shops.

But the significant higher sales of women's trousers is a bit of a puzzle to Andrea Kay, Trading Manager at Forget Me Not, who 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!”

The Forget Me Not charity shops, which has stores located in Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton and Mirfield, have also seen more men crossing their doors, with sales of men's clothing recorded as an increase of 45 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.”