An Unseasonably Warm Question of the Day

Are you buying a new winter coat this year? I’m not. I probably have a few more weeks of wear out of my puffy vest + scarf + gloves combination, and then I’ll upgrade to the brown leather Charlotte Russe coat I bought at a thrift store in 2012. (This is the type of coat that will never fall apart, which means I will probably not buy a new coat until at least 2018.)

I’m also probably not going to buy any new sweaters this year. It would be fun to get a few more flannel shirts and layering tops, but that’s not really on the shopping list until after the holidays. Plus, it’s barely been cold enough to wear the sweaters I already have.

That’s the problem America’s retailers are currently facing. Sales of winter wear are down, and they’re worried it’s because of global climate change.

Jezebel just shared a WWD report indicating that sales — and stocks — are dropping as temperatures rise. (And yes, temperatures are rising. Yesterday, the BBC announced that “global temperatures are set to rise more than one degree above pre-industrial levels,” and they mean one degree Celsius, which is roughly 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit.)

So: are you buying a new winter coat this year? If you aren’t, is it because it isn’t cold enough, or because other global factors, such as cost-of-living, are also rising? As Jezebel notes, it might not be that we aren’t shopping for winter clothing; it just might be that we’re avoiding the higher-priced retailers:

Stores like Macy’s and Kohl’s have upped their promotional sales in response, while “off price” brands like TJ Maxx and Burlington remain unaffected.

Or, you know, we could all be satisfied with the coats and sweaters we have. But hey — that’s why this is our Question of the Day.

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