Festive Fashion 🎅🥂
From Christmas sweaters and sparkly stockings to cozy PJs and duvet suits, nothing quite says indulgent dressing like the holiday season. But what looks are the most popular?
In this report, we take a deep dive into global attitudes toward festive fashion. We want to know who’s wearing what and, most importantly, in which countries we can find our fellow ugly Christmas sweater enthusiasts.
Let’s go!
Methodology.
Klarna’s Holiday survey was sent out online during October 2022 in collaboration with research agency Dynata to a representative sample of more than 17,540 consumers across 17 countries and 3 continents, with more than 1,000 respondents per country.
17,540 consumers
18-65 years old
Fix up, look sharp.
While of course, the holiday season is about spending time with loved ones, there’s nothing wrong with putting a little effort into your look. It’s your time to shine. ✨
Festive flex.
1 in 4 people worldwide will be leveling up their look over the holidays this year.
26%
will be shopping for new wardrobe treats.
The Irish (44%)
are four times as likely to update their holiday aesthetic than the Finns (11%).
Younger generations are the most likely to splash out on new garms.
According to our findings, age has a more substantial impact than gender when shopping for new holiday garms.
Gen Z’ers (44%)
are more than four times as likely to shop for new clothing than Baby Boomers (9%).
Vibe check.
Cozy, smart, or casual? What vibe are you most likely to go for?
Here’s what we found:
Festive fashion is most likely to be worn by:
UK, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Norway
These nations prefer to keep it casual:
US, Canada, Ireland, and Australia
And these guys go for something in between with smart casual:
Netherlands, Belgium, France, Poland, Spain, Finland.
Material Matters 🧵
When it comes to festive fabrics, quality is key. But what materials do certain countries covert?
Although you might expect plush, luxurious fabrics like cashmere, silk, and velvet to be the top choice for Christmas fits, we found that:
Cotton
is the most popular fabric with 16 out of 18 countries putting it first.
Wool
Is the top choice for Italy and Finland.
Mesh
Is the least popular fabric choice — unless you’re Italian, where 39% of shoppers will be hoping to level up their look with a little meshwear.
Head-to-toe.
At 37% festive garments are the most popular items to buy, shortly followed by shoes and casual wear.
37%
festive garments are the most popular items to buy, shortly followed by shoes and casual wear.
Ugly Christmas Sweaters.
Whether you love them or absolutely despise them, nothing says festive fashion quite like ugly Christmas sweaters. But what makes an ugly Christmas sweater ugly? Generally speaking, it just means the gaudier the embellishments the better — knitwear covered in tinsel, candy canes, Santas, elves, presents, and sometimes even fairy lights.
It’s a love-hate thing.
7 out of 17 countries — the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Belgium — are in favor of Ugly Christmas Sweaters, but no one loves them as much as the Irish.
47%
are in favor of Ugly Christmas Sweaters on a global average, ranging from 58% in Ireland to 34% in Finland.
The beauty of youth.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the younger you are the likelier it is that you’re pro ugly sweaters.
68%
of Gen Z’ers love Ugly Christmas Sweaters…
22%
…while far fewer Baby Boomers say the same.
Things are about to get ugly. 🎄
Winning the Ugly Christmas Sweater competition might be significantly harder than it was last year.
+17%
Make space! The size of this year’s global Ugly Christmas Sweater party is set to increase by 17% compared to last year.
Christmas Day celebrations <3 Ugly Christmas Sweaters.
It makes sense that the majority of ugly sweater lovers would choose to wear theirs on Christmas day (86% globally)… right?
94%
the Portuguese fans are most in favor of wearing one on Christmas day…
67%
…while in Norway every third person (who are positive to them in general) said they wouldn’t wear one on the big day.
For the bad-taste brigade, Christmas day is a time for tacky solidarity 🕊️
Even though the younger generations have a more widespread fanbase, there is clear generational alignment among those that embrace the peak festive fashion piece. If you like them, you can also wear them on Christmas Day. And that is OK. Its ugly, but its OK.
+80%
there are apparently few things that unite generations as much as their love for Ugly Christmas Sweaters.
And that’s that.
Thirsty for more knowledge?
Make sure to check out the other reports available at Klarna Insights.