Nearly five years since the pandemic hit, many people still haven\u2019t finished refreshing their Covid-era closets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many did so over the holidays, taking advantage of this season\u2019s competitive discounts<\/a> to buy a few things for themselves<\/a> alongside gifts for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis was a very solid holiday season for retailers,\u201d said Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail consultancy GlobalData. \u201cConsumers dug deep and boosted spending. Retailers also worked hard to secure trade by offering discounts that were slightly more generous than last year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clothing, footwear and jewelry posted some of the biggest spending growth, according to recent data from Visa<\/a> and Mastercard<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that they\u2019re coming back into the office, they feel like they\u2019ve lost their complete style identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clothes and accessories jumped 5% this season on Visa\u2019s card network. On Mastercard\u2019s, apparel spending rose 3.6% \u2014 on par with electronics at 3.7% \u2014 and even more steeply online, for a 6.7% uptick. Adobe said e-commerce discounts, which peaked above 23% off list prices this holiday season, helped drive online clothing sales nearly 10% above last year\u2019s levels, topping out at $45.6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One reason, industry experts said, is that employers like Amazon and JPMorgan are still ordering staff back to their desks after the pandemic, when many people got used to taking meetings in sweatpants at least a few days a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI definitely have seen a major uptick in my clients that are looking for back-to-the-office outfits,\u201d said Avri Lauren, an Illinois-based stylist. She estimated that over a quarter of them ask for her help putting together outfits for work and said the trend has accelerated over the last four months or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow that they\u2019re coming back into the office, they feel like they\u2019ve lost their complete style identity,\u201d Lauren said. She added that her clients are willing to splurge on staples they can wear multiple times a week, and she\u2019s seen strong interest in brands that market their products\u2019 quality and sustainability such as Everlane and Reformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retail analyst Jane Hali said brands have been adjusting to meet \u201ca surge in need of replacement\u201d of certain garments as customers continue \u201cbuilding their wardrobes, whether it be to go out or go to work.\u201d Some have been pushing items that can be worn in multiple settings, she added: \u201cIt\u2019s not like a typical sweater.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon and JPMorgan were the latest big companies to bang the return-to-office drum in 2025, with the tech giant\u2019s five-day mandate taking effect this month<\/a> and the bank reportedly moving in the same direction<\/a>, according to Bloomberg. Citigroup, Walmart and UPS have also tightened their in-office requirements over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the corporate crackdown has met some resistance, with some workplace trends analysts finding employees popping into their offices for just a few hours<\/a> \u2014 banking a badge swipe but otherwise spending much of their workdays at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even RTO-mandated shoppers who are refreshing their wardrobes may be doing so cautiously, one or two purchases at a time. \u201cUnderneath the headline number, the results were somewhat mixed,\u201d Saunders cautioned. \u201cNot every retailer found success over the holidays, and we will see some polarized earnings when retailers report next month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some major retailers headed into the holidays sounding cautiously optimistic. Gap raised its outlook for the year after touting a strong start to the season<\/a>. Nordstrom said it saw shoppers snag more clothes and shoes in the third quarter after it added more items under $100<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many retailers have been careful not to raise prices so high that they lose customers to ultracheap online rivals like Shein<\/a> and others, opting to absorb much of the impact of supply-chain snarls and other costs \u2014 or cutting corners on quality<\/a> to protect their margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clothing prices have held remarkably steady amid the past few years\u2019 inflation roller coaster, rising just 1.1% \u2014 and footwear just 0.7% \u2014 from November 2023 to November 2024, behind the 2.7% rate for consumer prices overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not every retailer found success over the holidays, and we will see some polarized earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the meantime, shoppers are embracing new ways of buying clothes, shoes and accessories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those purchases remain especially popular on \u201cbuy now, pay later\u201d installment loans. Clothing was the top spending category on Afterpay from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 last year, the service told NBC News. On rival BNPL provider Affirm, fashion and beauty came in at No. 2 for sales volume for the first quarter of fiscal 2025, behind the broad general merchandise segment \u2014 with a 15% uptick beating both electronics and travel and ticketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n