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Men's suits are no longer suitable for measuring
Britain's inflation
Covid's influence can be seen in many other changes to this year's basket, too
It has survived 150 years of changing fashion, seen off the hippies
and spared many men the dilemma of deciding what to wear, but
the pandemic proved the final nail in the coffin. The men’s suit has
officially been retired from the male wardrobe. That’s the sartorial
verdict of the UK Office for National Statistics, which has removed
the menswear staple from the UK’s inflation basket, a collection of
more than 700 items that are updated annually to ensure it is
“representative of the goods and services that consumers typically
spend their money on.”
Changes in the prices of those items determine the consumer
prices index of inflation that is used by the Bank of England for
setting interest rates and by the government to update benefits.
The suit had been in the basket since the start in 1947. After an
increase in home working saw office attire gather dust in worker’s
wardrobes, the suit will now be replaced with a “men’s formal
jacket/blazer item.”...