Dollar Stretching Teens

Even 17 and 19-year-olds are now having to think before spending their hard earned money on polo-styled shirts, khakis shorts and low-rise denim jeans. With the rise of gas prices, minimum wage paying summer jobs and little to no allowance, these soon to be college kids are feeling the pinch of the penny.

“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 the teen spending,’ said Holly Guthrie, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia.” This insert was taken from www.bloomberg.com.