Though most women across the world don't actually get to wear everything they own, they absolutely refuse to throw out their clothes,according to survey . In Britain, women spend more than 1.6 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) on more than 500 million items of clothing they will never wear.
Placed on a clothes rail, the unworn clothes would stretch to 25,000 km, equivalent to four-and-a-half times the distance between London and New York.
Millions of purchases that seemed to be a good idea in the shop - whether they were a bargain or a design worn by a celebrity - have now turned out to be a waste. Rash buys are the main reason for the unworn clothing pile-up, according to 45 per cent of the women questioned.
Just one in eight women regularly clears out their wardrobes, while one in 50 delays the dreaded cleaning day for at least 10 years.
Jeans are the most common item of unworn clothes, with 88 percent saying they own at least one pair that they would never be seen out in. One in five women hoard up to six pairs of shoes that will never be worn. And almost everyone owns at least one top they "would not be seen dead in".
More than half of the women say that guilt over wasting the money keeps them from throwing out unwanted clothes. Some 17 per cent hoard particular styles in the hope of a fashion revival.
Men are not much better. They have 19 items of unworn clothing lurking in their wardrobes.
More than a third admit their unworn items are largely sales items.
Sue Leeson, a spokesman for shopping channel QVC - which carried out the survey - said: "Hoarding clothes is a form of nostalgia - but it's impractical."
"Finding out what you have already means that you can become a smart shopper and focus your wardrobe, buying key pieces that coordinate with each other properly."
