Take for example Gap. It's an easy place to compare the differences between men & women easily and on a middle ground (not uber-cheap but not really high quality either). I went to the "shirts + blouses" section for women and the "shirts" section for men. And I came up with some examples...
Here is a women's blouse and a men's shirt. Both are things that you could wear to somewhat dressed up occasions (the top with a skirt/trousers/nice jeans, the shirt with chinos/dark jeans). What I found in the women's category however was the large majority (if not all blouses) were either polyester, rayon, or a blend of the two. Whereas in the men's section it was 100% cotton for all but 1 shirt (one that included lycra that I suggest no male ever wear). Onto denim...
Extra crazy. Literally every pair of men's denim was 100% cotton (and I wouldn't want it any other way...stretch would be WEIRD). Conversely every pair of women's denim...if you could even call it that, had a combo of three fabrics, some cotton, a percentage of lycra and a percentage of polyester or rayon. Can't a girl just get some real denim, and maybe for a pair of skinnie's 1% of lycra or spandex for the purpose of being able to move.
I find it interesting that women can be such shoppers, yet we're getting duped without realizing it. Yes sometimes we can't all afford silk everything, but I know (based on years of buying at J.Crew factory stores) that you can get silk for cheap. The problem that Gap and other stores might see with that is a smaller profit. This is me ranting, but I think it's a fascinating topic.
Thanks to a few men for getting me thinking about this with all of their selvedge denim, cotton shirts and wonderful shoes... the men of The Midwestyle and Indigo & Cotton in Charleston.
photos via Gap.com
