It sounds SO simple, but my attention span is that of a hummingbird's, and to watch a video of me would resemble one. Right now, I have 9 Google Chrome tabs open, 2 Excel sheets, 1 Word document; I'm in the middle of doing laundry (washing, folding), planning iftar, writing a paper, and figuring out when to leave the house to run some errands. And it's already 1:15 in the afternoon.
If nothing else gets done today, I wanted to share the first in what will be a series of informational graphics of "What Women Want" - what YOU, our readers, have been saying about shopping for modest clothing.
The purpose of this blog is to make shopping easier for women like you, who literally go to greater lengths to procure items with greater lengths - that being of longer hemlines, higher necklines, or ways to layer and style clothing - to ensure that you are stylishly dressed for American society without sacrificing your personal beliefs.
If you read about me here in Sweet Modesty's post from a few weeks ago, you've learned that my professional mission in life is to make modest clothing options more accessible to the average women.
How am I doing that? Ultimately, by providing marketing and data analysis services to apparel and brands, proving to them that a market exists for women like you, who are seeking modest clothes but don't want that "paper bag" look. You answered questions here, on the survey I started in 2012, on your shopping, fashion, and style experience. I'm still taking responses, so please provide your information!
Here is the first question - Which type of clothing do you have the hardest time shopping for?
Note that overwhelmingly, 36% of women - MORE THAN A THIRD - have the hardest time (characterized by most amount of time spent seeking clothing options) finding clothing for formal events. Understandably so, as a quick look at any "formal dress" section of a store, in-store or online, reveals that "formal" is synonymous with "revealing." Everything is a strapless, or body skimming, or "cocktail length" - that is, above the knee.
Close behind is casual clothing - your everyday, heading-to-brunch, running-errands, quick-coffee-stop wardrobe - is 26% of the challenge. This means that even for those tasks that take up a majority of our day, women shopping for clothing from Target, Gap, Forever 21, Anthropologie, H&M, Marshall's, and many many other stores, are spending a considerable amount of time finding something that is appropriate for their needs.
While this isn't necessarily a revelation for many of us, putting numbers behind our woes is a step towards a day when, similar to the maternity clothing industry, the options for modest clothing will increase to a point where they are status quo. Looking forward to that day.
For more updates on What Women Want, like us on Facebook and stay tuned for more results in the coming weeks!
