US Clothing Prices Fall in January

Prices refused to come down for many categories of goods in the US last month, but apparel wasn’t one of them.

In January, clothing prices fell 1.4 percent from the preceding month, according to data released Wednesday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The dip came despite an overall increase of 0.5 percent across all items in the consumer price index, a measure of the change in prices for goods paid by US consumers.

Inflation has proved stubbornly persistent in the US. Over the 12 months through January, prices increased 3 percent, as categories like food saw costs continue to tick up.

Clothing, however, has seen more modest increases. During the same 12-month period, apparel prices grew 0.4 percent.

The more measured rise in costs matches the historical trend for clothing over the past 30 years. In a special report on US apparel released last week ahead of New York Fashion Week, the BLS noted that after significant cost increases on clothing in the first half of the 20th century, prices plateaued. “Apparel prices in 2024 were essentially the same as in 1994,” it stated.

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