Excursion Post: Gender Pricing in Bloomingdale's

I chose Bloomingdale’s department store for my shopping excursion because I was interested in the gender issues related to designer clothing. The high fashion industry has come under fire for a number of controversial reasons including lack of diversity in models, promoting unrealistic body images, and racially insensitive advertising. I was interested in pinpointing issues related to gender in a department store whose primary clientele consume designer goods. My excursion exposed another pervasive issue within the fashion industry which is known as ‘gender pricing.’

The clientele within the store was generally what I expected before entering. The women and men seemed chic and well put together, epitomizing the “young urban professional” appearance.  It was a sunny and warm day outside, so most of the women were in skirts or dresses. Some of them were even wearing high heels as they shopped. Most of the men wore dress shoes and form fitting button down or polo shirts and jeans. Only two men were wearing t-shirts and khaki shorts. According to the Bloomindale’s store directory, only one floor on the lower level was designated as the men’s department. The second, third, and fourth floors were all labeled as women’s departments. There were no men to be found on all three women’s departments of the store.  The only men’s department had both male and female shoppers, some of whom were couples shopping together. Not surprisingly, there were a much wider range of brands available to female shoppers than there were to male shoppers.

I have always had a fascination with designer clothing. I feel a strange excitement when I try to guess what a designer item might cost only to discover that the actual price is hundreds of dollars more than I would ever spend on a material good. I decided to compare the prices between men’s and women’s clothing. In order to draw fair conclusions about my observations, I decided to create a men’s outfit and an equivalent women’s outfit based on similar styles and colors from the same designers. Each outfit was comprised of Marc Jacob denim jeans, a white Burberry Brit polo tee, Salvatore Ferragamo shoes, a Michael Kors watch, Prada sunglasses, and a Dolce & Gabbana fragrance.  Although each item was almost exactly the same as the other, their prices were vastly differently. Every item category was consistently priced higher for women than for men except for the Michael Kors watch.

For example, both the men’s and women’s pairs of Marc Jacobs jeans were on sale and the original cost for each was $198 dollars. However, the men’s sale price was $118.80 dollars while the women’s sale price was $158! I suspect that the cost of the watch was higher for men ($180) than for women ($160) because expensive timepieces are typically a symbol of male wealth and power. The total cost of the women’s outfit was $1,656 and the total cost of the men’s outfit was $1,323. After this excursion, I was furious and disappointed by how much more women were expected to pay for clothing that was almost exactly the same as the men’s clothing. I saw not much more of a difference between their materials and styles other than the obvious difference in clothing sizes. I decided to do research on why women’s clothing costs more than men’s.

Marie Claire magazine published an article on March 15, 2012 entitled Why Women Pay More. According to the article, women are expected to pay higher tariffs on some of the highest volume items shipped into the United States. There is no rationale for why women must pay more other than historical biases. For example, the article states that “before the Civil War, cheap imported wool incurred a lower duty than finer wool so Southern slave owners could clothe their slaves cheaply.” When New York City lawyer Michael Cone uncovered that discriminatory garment tariffs existed, he decided to sue the government for discrimination. He urged clients to join his efforts and found support from large retailers such as Urban Outfitters and Steve Madden, yet many other clothing retailers avoided getting involved with the issue. Cone says, “"I think one of the reasons is that they were worried it would draw more attention to gender pricing— their gender pricing, which earns them untold millions and which inequitable tariffs alone cannot justify.”

The fashion industry has continually profited off the insecurities of men and women, first by promoting unrealistic and damaging images of beauty and then insisting that material goods are the way to achieving better self-esteem. However, self-esteem comes at a heavier price for women than for men. In a world where women are consistently paid less than men for the same amount of work, it is completely unreasonable for women to have to pay more for the same goods that are available to men. Gender pricing shows just how much each aspect of our lives is determined by our social statuses as men and women.