Study commissioned by Hubbub with support from Primark.
Research undertaken by the School of Design at the University of Leeds.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 2023
The following report provides an overview of a clothing durability study undertaken by the School of Design at the University of Leeds, commissioned by Hubbub in partnership with and with funding from Primark. This report is intended for audiences that have a general or professional knowledge and/or understanding of garment durability.
Environmental charity Hubbub, Primark and the School of Design at the University of Leeds partnered in 2022 to explore the relationship between garment durability and price. The purpose of the partnership was to understand whether shoppers can expect a higher level of garment durability if they spend more on their clothing, and whether low-cost garments are inherently less durable.
For the purposes of the study, durability refers to whether/how long an item of clothing remains functional and wearable, without requiring much maintenance or repair when faced with normal wear and washing.
The better the durability of the garment, both for its function and appearance, the longer it retains a level of customer satisfaction, and so it is more likely to remain in use. Dissatisfaction, which can be caused by shrinkage, fabric holes, fading, pilling, and the garments looking old and worn out, can lead to the garment no longer being used and/or ending up in waste streams.
To assess the durability of clothing across a range of price points, the team at the School of Design, University of Leeds, led by Dr. Mark
Sumner undertook a series of recognised tests in controlled laboratory conditions to determine the physical durability of three garment types – denim jeans, hoodies and t-shirts across women’s and menswear ranges. The comparative study assessed 65 garments sourced from high street, designer, and online retailers ranging from low to high price points during 2022.
Products selected for denim and hoodies categories reflect the lowest and highest priced garments in the product categories of each brand or retailer, while the t-shirts were all the lowest priced products for the brand or retailer. We have provided approximate price points to protect the brands’ identities.
There were nine samples of womenswear jeans, ranging from around £15 to just under £150. There were eight samples of menswear jeans, ranging from under £10 to just close to £100.
There were sixteen womenswear t-shirts ranging from under £5 to around £45, and seventeen menswear t-shirts across the same approximate price range.
Eight womenswear hoodies were tested, ranging
in price from around £5 up to around £125. Seven menswear hoodies ranging from around £15 to close to £75 were tested.
The garments’ performance was assessed against a series of industry-recognised standards, and an iterative process for analysis of the results was used to show how likely it would be for the owner to reject, return or stop wearing a garment.
The key findings from the study were:
The retail price of a garment cannot be used as an indicator for good or inferior durability.
The durability of both high and low priced garments ranged from excellent to very poor across the different garment categories and genders.
Hubbub polling in March 2023 explored public perceptions of durability and cost which found that the public in the UK expect garments at higher price points to last significantly longer than those at lower price points. For example, on average people expect 26 washes from a £10 t-shirt before it starts to break down/not look good, compared to 42 washes from a £100 t-shirt. They expected 30 washes from a £20 pair of jeans compared to 44 washes from a £100 pair of jeans.
It is clear that the public expect worse durability performance from lower cost items. This expectation may lead to poorer care for budget friendly clothing or may result in purchasing more than is required on the assumption that the garment won’t last.
The tests completed in this study were exhaustive, producing varied results demonstrating that fashion brands across all price points need to improve the durability of their clothing. For the public, the key implication from this research is that the same clothing care should be given to all garments regardless of price, to extend their life as much as possible.
There is no single test for assessing durability and there is no industry recognised testing protocol that provides an overall measure of physical durability. Therefore, this project developed a testing protocol and an assessment process based on current industry standards, the WRAP durability protocol, academic research, and over 30 years of expertise within the project team.
Establishing whether there is a connection between price and a garment’s durability is a complex process and requires a comparison of results across all the different tests used.
Individual tests assessed different attributes of garment durability. The significance of the different tests were determined for each garment type by the School of Design.
After individual tests were completed for each garment category, an iterative ranking process was applied to determine how durable the garment is likely to be perceived to be.
Denim jeans were tested across abrasion (likelihood for fabric to wear through to holes), seam strength, tensile strength (resistance to tearing/ripping of the fabric), fading, stability (resistance to shrinking or losing shape) and dry and wet rub (likelihood of cross-staining of colour during wear in dry and wet conditions). Denim underwent 30 wash and drying cycles, in line with WRAP’s durability protocol and were visually assessed at intervals of every five washes.
T-shirts underwent tests for pilling (bobbling of the fabric), stability (resistance to shrinking or losing shape), spirality (resistance to the garment twisting), burst strength (resistance to tearing/ripping of fabric) and colour fastness (staining of other garments during washing). The t-shirts were also graded for how they looked after multiple washing and drying cycles (visual assessment). T-shirts underwent extended wash and dry cycles to 56 washes, in line with WRAP’s durability protocol.
Hoodies, as with t-shirts, were tested for pilling, stability, spirality, burst strength and colour fastness, and they were graded after multiple washing and drying cycles (visual assessment). Hoodies underwent extended washing and dry cycles to 56 washes, in line with WRAP’s durability protocol.
Denim jeans
Hoodies
Overall, the project used 14 different tests, but because each test uses different metrics for measuring durability, the results cannot be simply added together to create a single score that reflects the general public’s likely satisfaction. Furthermore, across each category, some tests are more important than others in terms of likely customer satisfaction. For example, abrasion of denim (how quickly holes form in the fabric) has a bigger impact on satisfaction than tensile strength (resistance to tearing). As such, each test is weighted according to its likely significance for customer satisfaction based on available research and protocols.
The test methods were used to measure the maximum performance – or lifetime durability - of the product. To establish this, testing was taken to the point of failure or destruction of the garment, where appropriate.
A ranking system was created based on the weighted importance of tests for each garment category, which enables the School of Design to establish best, average, and poor garment performers. This ranking was then used to determine the relationship between garment price and garment durability.
The final ranking for each garment type is set out in the results, with analysis of the general trends observed.
For a detailed illustration of how one denim garment passed through the testing process and received its final ranking position, see Appendix A.
For both womenswear and menswear denim, the most expensive products (women’s jeans priced between £121 - £150 and men’s between £71-£90) performed best and therefore were ranked as most
1 Brand A £121 - £150
2 Brand B £21 - £30
3 Brand C £11 - £20
4 Brand D £31 - £50
However, a womenswear product costing between £91 - £120 performed very badly. Importantly, lower cost women’s jeans priced between £21-£30 and £11-£20 performed very well and were ranked
5 Brand B £31 - £50
6 Brand E £71 - £90
7 Brand C £11 - £20
Furthermore, the test results showed there was little difference in durability performance between the most expensive women’s denim jeans and the two lower priced products, even though the price difference is significant. The marginal difference in performance comes at a cost difference of over £100 between the garments ranked first and third.
8 Brand A £91 - £120
9 Brand F £11 - £20
1 Brand A £71 - £90
2 Brand G £51 - £70
3 Brand M £11 - £20
4 Brand H £21 - £30
5 Brand C £11 - £20
6 Brand C £10 or under
7 Brand M £10 or under
8 Brand D £31 - £50
As with the denim results, two of the more expensive garments – a women’s hoodie priced £111 - £130 and a men’s hoodie at £31-£50 were the most hard-wearing. But at the same time, one of the worst performing women’s garments was the second most expensive at £91 - £110, while the second, third and fourth best womenswear performers were £11-20 or £10 and under.
The menswear hoodies category shows some correlation between price and durability, with the more expensive garments generally performing better than the lower priced garments. But still there was variability. The most expensive garment was not the best, and the lowest priced garments weren’t the worst. Of the six garment types assessed, only menswear hoodies suggests that higher priced garments could be more durable than budget-friendly clothing.
1 Brand A £111 - £130
2 Brand F £11 - £20
3 Brand F £11 - £20
4 Brand C £10 or under
5 Brand C £10 or under
6 Brand A £91 - £110
7 Brand N £31 - £50
8 Brand J £11 - £20
1 Brand D £31 - £50
2 Brand P £31 - £50
3 Brand G £51 - £70
4 Brand G £31 - £50
5 Brand C £11 - £20
6 Brand C £11 - £20
7 Brand H £21 - £30
Like the ranked performance for denim jeans, the top three products for womenswear and menswear t-shirts varied in price point. Some of the most expensive garments had average to poor durability, such as a menswear t-shirt priced £36-£45 ranking at 9th of 17 items. Two out of the top three performing t-shirts for womenswear and menswear were lower priced products - costing under £5, or
The test data for the top three women and men’s garments showed that there was very little difference in their performance, but there were significant differences in the garment prices.
Across the 33 t-shirts tested, the results showed that price cannot be used as a predictor for a t-shirt’s durability, nor can price be used to indicate the difference in durability performance between garments. Spending twice as much on a t-shirt does not guarantee that the garment will be twice as durable, and in some cases, spending more results in buying a shirt which has a significantly inferior durability to lower priced products.
As outlined in this paper, the researchers designed an iterative ranking process to compare the durability of the tested garments. To bring this process to life, we will use the womenswear denim results to show how a pair of women’s jeans costing £11 - £20 were ranked in comparison to the other jeans. We have redacted the results of all but the representative garment.
On the following tables, results have been colour coded to help show the relative performance of each garment to the average test scores across all of the womenswear jeans. Green indicates that the test result for a pair of jeans is equal to or
above the average for all the womenswear jeans. Amber indicates a result that is marginally below the average and red indicates the test result is significantly below the overall average.
The weighting of each test indicates how important that test is in assessing the durability of the garment. The most important test reflects the aspect which has the most influence on customer satisfaction for that type of garment. This test is considered first in the ranking process. The less significant tests, which consider aspects of durability that have lower influence on customer satisfaction are weighted as less important.
In general, garment durability can be assessed through either wearer trials or laboratory testing. Due to the time needed to complete wearer trials along with challenges in controlling for consistency and ensuring objectivity, industry-recognised laboratory tests have been used for many years to measure different aspects of durability. These have been used for this study.
The laboratory tests represent wear in real life as closely as possible and provide a consistent way to compare the performance of different garments. The laboratory testing was combined with repeat washing/drying cycles in domestic washing machines to assess how garments are affected by laundry.
The garments tested were selected solely to represent a range of price points across clothing brands that are popular amongst UK shoppers.
It is important to note that, although the sample set for the project was one of the most extensive used in this type of research, it is a small sample in comparison to the huge number of garments sold daily across the UK clothing market. However, the findings of this project are in line with other comparable research projects.
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Abrasion results are considered first, as this is the most important durability attribute for denim products. Poor abrasion results indicate the fabric will thin and holes will form quickly due to normal wear and use. The first iteration of the ranking process, lists products in terms of the best to worst according to the abrasion results, as shown in the table below.
The next most important factor is seam strength, which determines how strong a seam is when pulled. Products with low seam strength can be susceptible to seam failure, such as stitch cracking and thread breakage.
The third iteration considers the fabric strength in the weft direction. Poor lead to fabric ripping during wear. The product has a below average weft strength. its superior abrasion performance (the important attribute) and good seam above the other garments with lower performance and/or seam strength.
Following the journey of a value pair of jeans, from Brand C, through the ranking of each test
fabric tensile weft strength can The Brand C strength. However, (the most strength keeps it lower abrasion strength.
Like weft strength, poor tensile warp strength can lead to fabric ripping during wear. The Brand C has a warp strength well above the average and is superior to all the other products, so it remains at its current position.
Fading involves assessing the visual appearance of the denim garments every 5th wash up to 30 washes. The level of fading tended to level off at different wash intervals across the products. The Brand C is a very dark denim and the customer would likely expect it to fade quickly. Therefore the fading didn’t affect the ranking position.
Stability testing assesses whether products shrink or grow. As the majority of garments had good stability, and the Brand C product shown didn’t show signs of shrinkage, this didn’t affect the ranking.
Finally, dry rub and wet rub refers to resistance to colour transfer in dry and wet conditions. There was not any significant difference in performance across all garments tested, so rub fastness did not alter the ranking.
