The Underwear Index is a strange but telling recession sign.
It’s based on a simple observation: Men stop buying underwear when money gets tight.

Interestingly, during economic downturns not all spending stops at expensive items.

Sometimes, even cheap essentials get pushed down the priority list.

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Why?
Because underwear is a need, not a want.
It’s inexpensive, regularly replaced, and usually steady in sales.

So when sales dip, economists sound the alarm.

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It means people aren’t just skipping luxuries.
They’re pressing pause on purchases that are private, basic, and invisible to others. Ditto for socks.
That’s a powerful sign of low consumer confidence.

When economic stress hits, people skip what doesn’t show—like underwear.

That’s what makes this cutback powerful.
It shows low confidence—not just in today’s paycheck, but in tomorrow’s too.

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Economist Alan Greenspan tracked this behavior.
To him, a slump in underwear sales meant the economy was in real trouble.
Why? Because it showed that households were tightening budgets.

Hanes, the underwear company, break their sales into two categories: innerwear and activewear.

Looking back at the 2008 recession, GDP and activewear sales rose and fell in sync.

But underwear? A different story.

Greenspan suggested three key patterns for underwear during a downturn:

Sales drop earlier than outerwear.
The dip is steeper—people cut back more drastically.
Recovery takes longer.

And the 2008 charts back this theory up.
Underwear sales quietly slid before the crash, then took a nosedive—exactly as Greenspan predicted.

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When even the basics wait—you know people are worried.

During recessions, this kind of behavior pops up everywhere.
✔ People repair instead of replace.
✔ They wait on new clothes, new shoes—even fresh boxers.
✔ Wants go first. But soon, some needs follow.

And that’s what makes this index interesting: It shows how people feel about their financial future.

Fun Fact: The Big Mac Index compares burger prices in different countries to show how strong each currency is.