Why Do Women’s Clothes Cost So Much? The Pink Tax and the Fashion Industry

Deodorant. Tampons. Soap. Clothes. These are all necessities of a modern existence; we cannot live life without these items. So then why is it, in a world that has not yet closed the gender pay gap, where women still make 82 cents for every dollar a man makes, that these products cost more if you are a woman? Why are tampons and pads taxed as ‘luxury goods’ instead of necessities, and why does Gucci charge women $290 more for the same shirt? 

Photo: Mikael Jansson via Fashion Editorials

Products ranging in use from personal hygiene, beauty, clothing, and even children’s toys cost more for women than they do for men. These products, which are often virtually identical in use and sometimes lower in quality are marked up for women for no reason other than marketing. Because these products are often pink when marketed to women, this difference has been dubbed the ‘pink tax’. 

On top of this upcharge for products like soap, deodorants, and razors, there are products that many women consume for which there is no male equivalent, like makeup and personal hygiene products like tampons and pads. 

Image via Pinterest

With some products, the solution is simple. Men’s razors are cheaper than women’s razors, and they are much higher in quality. Other than that, there really isn’t any difference, so the easy solution is to just buy men’s razors. Women shaving their legs wasn’t even the norm before razor companies decided to create an entirely new market for themselves by advertising to women in order to increase their profits, so why shell out extra money for a worse product? For most other products, however, women have no choice but to spend more money on the products that they need. 

Clothing and beauty is no different. Among designer brands, women’s clothing is regularly priced higher than men’s for extremely similar products, the difference in price being up to $1,000. The same butterfly patterned t-shirt from Valentino costs $595 in the men’s section and $650 in the women’s section. Any difference in cost of production, which many brands cite as the reason for this price discrepancy, is certainly minimal and does not account for this great of a difference. It is discrimination and capitalist opportunism, plain and simple. 

There is also a marked difference in quality between men’s and women’s clothing. Women’s jeans tend to be made from a thinner material and rip more easily. Women’s pants in general also have much smaller pockets or pockets sewed shut which, while not a quality issue, is certainly frustrating. 

Image: Levi’s courtesy of Setting Mind

Maybe it’s just that women’s jeans are tighter fitting, whereas men’s are sturdier pants that focus on quality rather than appearance. In fact, maybe this accounts for the quality discrepancy in all clothing. But why is it that the assumptions exist that men value quality, while women value appearance?

I buy both men’s and women’s pants. I actually tend to prefer men’s pants because I have narrow hips, so men’s cuts tend to flatter my shape more than many women’s do. However, this is not an option for many women with wider hips, shorter legs, or any other number of reasons. It also shouldn’t be necessary to venture into the men’s section in order to be sure you are buying a quality item. 

At the end of the day, there is a base assumption behind the production, marketing, and distribution of these products that women are more concerned with appearance, while men are concerned about quality. Only once this falsehood is laid to rest can we demand for a truly equal pricing in clothing.