Clothes and the Economy

Boomers impacting an industry. We've predicted for years that retiring baby boomers will influence housing costs, health care costs, travel, luxury purchases, and so on. But clothing hasn't been much mentioned. Of course, we all know the logic: when you stop going to work every day, you end certain expenses or greatly reduce them. Lunch expense, solved. Gasoline or subway fare, much reduced. Clothing and shoes, drastically cut. Those are some of the considerations that boomer women used to take into account if they had the option of choosing when to work outside the home. Whole books and women's magazines were devoted to calculating the cost of "going to work." Sometimes, the calculations justified staying in the home for a while longer, or encouraged women to go back to school for the degree that would boost salary to put them on the winning side of the equation.

The same women are now forecasting personal finances in terms of retiring from that calculation. And for every personal finance concern, there's a market concern. In this case, how will boomer retirement impact the clothing industry? Textiles are measured mainly in global terms today, so it's not just a question about the U.S. economy. The whole of the concern is too large for this blog. So, we'll take it back down to the personal finance level.

Observation #1: Weekly trips to dry cleaners are over. Tom Bold was never accused of sartorial splendor at the technology firms he served but he did wear pressed shirts and trousers. They were tended by the neighborhood cleaner, with barely a break in almost 30 years. (Grad school years before that did not involve pressed clothing.) And as I have shifted activity from campus hallways to working at a distance, I have dropped dry cleaning needs from daily to just a couple of articles a month. This has meant a drop from $213.95/month to $28.27/month.

Observation #2: Sometimes we replace one expense with another. Now, I didn't say I was giving up clothes entirely. As I have aged I have become quite attached to the concept of being comfortable in clothing and currently seek to make a presentable appearance with as little fuss as possible. Enter Allie Coosh. That's not actually a name but a phonetic spelling of the French phrase, "to the bed," which is fitting because the designer started out in pajamas. In Dallas, Paulette Martsolf designs for comfort in, happily, mostly washable fabrics. (My dry cleaning dollars simply shifted to a new location: Allie Coosh.)

Retirement clothing: So, what clothing is actually required for retirement? Will we buy fewer clothes, or just different clothes? Will we clean them ourselves? Will we ever press a shirt again?

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

iWant

It's Friday, so I get to write about personal technology. Apple promises the iPhone G3 will be twice as fast as and half the cost of the original model that's barely a year old. iWant it. Soon, I'll be walking into the local Apple store for a trade-in.

For baby boomers, the iPhone is sleek and cool and a million miles ahead of the giant "mobile phones" we began carrying around 20 years ago. Back then, we were excited at the thought of ordering pizza from the car, for delivery straight to the park. In a wild advance in technology since then, I recently used my iPhone to access an online rubric to score an Internet course design while joining the evaluation team meeting via an extra cell phone. I could have done it all on the iPhone except that I'm accustomed to computing on two screens and that's essentially what I was mimicking in attending the meeting. Did I mention that I did this from the side of the highway because of traffic that prevented me from getting to the office by the appointed hour? Did I mention that my colleagues chuckled at my technology juggle because they've done the same in airports and train stations? Did I mention that I never go online while actually driving?

I am not represented in Apple's advertising, but I'm a user. iPhone and MacBook Pro at present. But I've been through mini Mac and other previous wonders. And, yes, there's still the video iPod that I insist on maintaining for air travel. I keep several G films on it, for the occasional loan to very young passengers near me. (I'm the sort of traveler who gets asked to sit next to the child flying alone.) If I keep the video iPod, I don't have to share my iPhone.

What I love about the iPhone:

• scrolling action in the calendar
• intuitive symbols for phone features
  
• highly readable SMS text
  
• intelligent keyboard
  

Not everyone likes the intelligent keyboard, which requires touching letters with your finger tip. Until you practice and get your speed up, it's slower than the traditional button keyboard. But that's what I like about it. I like being slowed down and stepping away from my QWERTY habits. (I do wonder who will serve up the first DVORAK option in miniature—ah, I just googled "mobile Dvorak keyboard" and got my answer. It takes some iTapTap and I won't be doing it, but you can check Richard Kasperowski's May 2008 blog for guidance.)

What I worry about:
Will Apple have an idea about what to do with my current unit?
Will my Contacts transfer to the G3 without a hitch? Calendar, too?
Will the G3 sync perfectly with my MacBook Pro?
Will the missing first iPhone confuse the sync?

PC to MAC ratio: Most of my computing is on PCs, which number three at home and are not to be confused with Tom Bold's three. In leaving a university post this year, I will leave a couple there, so my PC to MAC ratio has been pretty steep. I have envied colleagues who have led the MAC life completely. I'm more in the fan category, using MAC products as complements to my work. But I am a serious fan and finding iPhone more than just a complement.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

2011 is coming

The boomer identity: Baby boomers (everyone born in the U.S. between 1946 and 1964) form the largest generation cohort in history. Our impact has already been huge (we produced the baby boomlet, for example) and we will likely live longer than any previous generation. Barring a global disaster that affects longevity, we will work to retirement, retire, and then possibly work some more in ways that will influence the U.S. economy for the next half-century. Our housing and health care decisions will impact not just our own generation but the next one, too, both at the macro (economy and social supports) and micro (family and community) levels. In short, we will expect the next generations to support us, sometimes financially. And in a fashion reminiscent of our own coming-of-age in the 1950s and '60s and '70s, we will be loud and demanding.

2011 is coming: In conversation with a young relative, I asked when we would gather for her high school graduation. She said, "2011" and I exclaimed, "that's the start of boomer retirements—what a year!" And she had no clue as to what I was talking about. Will the first wave of boomer retirements eclipse her milestone of high school graduation? Of course not. But her rite of passage will be part of a very busy year because even though a lot of boomers will not be able to retire in 2011, even a fraction of them taking retirement will make news. 2011 is coming.

On a personal note: Call me Lida. It's a nickname, so if you want to know more about me you'll have to search my professional name, Mary Bold. What you'll find is my identity as a consultant and teacher and author. I work in the fields of higher ed assessment, distance learning, and family studies. The overlap for this column is my academic discipline, family studies. I come to the topic of demographics with an intense interest in how families operate and I take a socio-historical view of all things normative-adaptive. (That's a fancy way of saying that I do not think the family or society is in decline. I consider all changes to be adaptive, and I consider change inevitable.) And I come to the topic of boomer women with intense self-interest. I was 40 years old before I realized that most of my assumptions about health, wealth, and retirement were wrapped up in a "package deal" of spousal benefits. Of course, that package doesn't fit today's realities. I had to replace that generational mindset and look for new ways to navigate middle age and plan for retirement. I am adapting.

~ Lida