Teens skip $50 jeans in gas, job squeeze
The financial pressures of adults are finally catching up with American teenagers. With summer jobs dried up, gas prices topping $4 a gallon and parents out of spare cash, teens are cooling it on spending for clothes.
"I've had to cut down on a bunch of stuff because I don't like spending my own money," said 14-year-old Haley McClelland from Waldwick, New Jersey, as she shopped at the nearby Paramus Park mall. She said her parents are "more careful" about what they give her.
Teens like Haley are among the last American consumers to cut back. Even as adults trimmed purchases, the kids managed to prop up revenue for Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and American eagle Outfitters Inc. because of handouts from parents and part-time jobs, said Adrienne Tennant, an analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. in Arlington, Va.
Spending by 13- to 17-year-olds is important because in at least the past two years it has been rising faster than total apparel sales. The adolescent demographic accounted for $27 billion, or 14 percent, of the $192.7 billion of clothing purchases in the 12 months through April, according to market research firm NPD Group Inc.
At the same time, teen spending in the period rose just 2.9 percent, after a 12 percent gain between May 2006 and April 2007.
"There is absolutely a slowdown in teen spending," said Holly Guthrie, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia.
Retailers dependent on that group are feeling the pinch. First-quarter net income at American eagle plunged 44 percent because of discounting, and the retailer may post its annual profit drop in five years. Same-store sales have fallen for the past two quarters. At Gap Inc.'s Old Navy chain, sales in May were off 25 percent from a year earlier. Abercrombie's same-store sales dropped in five of the past six quarters.
"While we believe the teen customer has slightly more discretionary income than their parents, they're still impacted by the sluggish economy," Richard Brooks, chief executive officer of Zumiez Inc.
That company's 309 stores sell skateboarding and beach clothes, such as $39.95 Billabong bikini bottoms, and are geared to 12- to-24-year-olds. In May, the retailer reported its first quarterly profit drop since going public in 2005.
Looking forward, U.S. teen spring fashion budgets may be reaching the lowest level in seven years, based on results of a survey of 5,000 youngsters by Piper Jaffray Cos. in Minneapolis.
Teenagers said in April they would spend $1,183 on fashion this year, 19 percent less than last year and down 23 percent from 2006, according to survey authors Jeffrey Klinefelter and Neely Tamminga, Piper's retail analysts.
"Gas is the main thing right now," said Pete McCullough, a 19-year-old from Oradell, N.J., who can't afford the designer clothing he favors. "Just coming to the mall costs $4." McCullough said he earns what he spends, juggling school with construction work.
Add to that the biggest jump in joblessness among youths in at least 60 years, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Unemployment among those between the ages of 16 and 19 soared to 18.7 percent in May from 15.4 percent in April, the government said. It was the biggest one-month increase since Labor began collecting statistics in 1948. Overall unemployment is 5.5 percent.
Parents reluctant to pay for nice-to-have wardrobe additions, such as $49.50 Abercrombie jeans, are also cutting into sales. Hurt by sliding home values and rising food and energy costs, parents said they would spend 28 percent less on their teens this year, Piper Jaffray's survey showed. Klinefelter estimates that heads of middle-income households provide as much as half of teen spending money.