Teens Skip $50 Jeans in Squeeze of Gas, Job Shortage
July 2 (Bloomberg) — The financial pressures of adults are finally catching up with American teenagers. Since summer jobs dried up, gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon and parents ran out of spare cash, teens have had to cool 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, who was shopping 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, Virginia.
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.