There are always macro trends going on in fashion and clothing tastes change every few years, however what I found interesting is that they compared technology

There are always macro trends going on in fashion and clothing tastes change every few years, however what I found interesting is that they compared technology spending vs clothing spending, but this isn't the right comparison. We are spending more on technology because it is essential for modern day life. First with the computer, then laptop, then ipod, and now the smart phone. From a limited budget increasing spending in one area will decrease it in another, but the other big question is how have spending habits changed over the past 30 years. Technology went up, clothing went down, but I'm certain other areas of spending also increased. Rent as a % of income most likely went up. Certainly debt as a % of income went up when you consider what's going on with school tuition, and that is a fairly recent trend of dramatically increasing rates over the past decade. Which would time well with many people who have graduated, with tremendous debt, now in the workforce earning money, but having greater expenses. So when you look at all of those factors combined I think essentially what you end up with is less disposable income. Then you consider how we decide to dispose of our income and you realize that the networked social world that is instantly available to you via a smartphone allows us to lifestyle shop from other people. Where before we did window shopping and focused more on our small community without access to global information, we are now life style shopping on instagram and so this has led to an increase in disposable income being spent for those other experiences.