The Great American Apparel Dieters End The Year With New Insights Regarding Shopping

One year later and a new outlook on the lifestyles of the shopping obsessed. The Great American Apparel Diet finds strength in numbers to overcome a year of no clothing purchases, while the women who take on the challenge find new aspects of their personalities and rebel from the temptations of online shopping e-mails. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) September 24, 2010 - The Great American Apparel Dieters End the Year with New Insights Regarding Shopping

In the past year over 150 women from 12 countries around the world bonded over abstaining from purchasing clothing on The Great American Apparel Diet. The diet officially ended earlier this month on Sept. 1st 2010. A second round of dieters 150+ dieters from around the world have committed to a shopping fast until August 31st 2011

Now, after the dust has settled and the year has ended several themes and reflections from the first group have surfaced. "I have learned that a woman is more than the clothes on her back," says one woman. "We have enough clothing in our closets to last a lifetime." Sentiments like these are prevalent among the accomplished dieters as are strategies to stay on the wagon. "You must completely "opt out" from the online barrage of direct mail taunts from retailers. It's sick the way they try to tempt you through your in-box," says one woman from Florida who has had a problem with online shopping most of her adult life and has continued to blog about online shopping throughout the year.

Some of the consistent themes and revelations from the dieters on the blog in the last year are as follows.
1. Shopping is a time suck. Without it you have so much more free time to do and focus on other things.
2. Joining a group to abstain from shopping together can be a great motivator.
3. Buying more clothes will never lead to happiness. It will land you in debt and with a full closet of clothes you rarely wear.
4. A garment's best feature should never be it's price-sales suck you in and often lead to clothes you wouldn't otherwise buy.
5. Online shopping can be dangerous. If you have trouble finding things that fit in a store finding them online is almost impossible.
6. Shopping is largely based on impulse and not need.
7. Shopping can be like an itch. The more you scratch it, the more you scratch it.
8. Shopping adds up, you don't realize this until you step away for a while and stop doing it.
9. Trends change so quickly and there is a reason for that, so you buy more, more, more.
10. Enough is never enough when you are in the shopping cycle. It's a sickness.
11. It's easier to deal with what you're wearing on the outside instead of how you're feeling on the inside. Sometimes people shop to cure other ailments other than need.
12. Shopping is often wrought with difficult emotions including: guilt, worry, want, excitement, insecurity, and a concern about body image, weight and debt.
13. Spending has gotten out of control.

The group of women is made up of mostly upper middle class moms, career women and entrepreneurs. Demographically, the majority of participants are in their 30s or 40s with a few in their teens and 70s. The bloggers share a community that is filled with humor, wit and sound advice. Weekly polls on the blog ask questions such as "If you could shop anywhere today where would it be." Or "If you could buy one item of apparel this afternoon what would it be." Members share their thoughts on books, social movements, culture and their struggles with keeping their money in their wallets.

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