Selfie craze is changing the clothes we are buying

Once you've snapped and shared an outfit it's a crime to be seen in it again. Photo / Thinkstock

The selfie phenomenon is changing women's shopping habits, according to an industry expert.

Retail analyst Jamie Merriman said the obsession with posting pictures on social media websites means many young women feel under pressure constantly to refresh their wardrobe so they are not photographed in the same outfit too often.

Therefore rather than splashing out on statement dresses, they are more likely to buy cheaper tops and skirts that they can mix and match to create new looks - or throw out and quickly replace.

Miss Merriman, of investment company Sanford Bernstein, said young women are operating a "conveyor belt" system, selling items they have worn a few times on eBay to fund new purchases.

This is putting retailers under pressure to turn out new stock based on the latest trends more regularly.

Stores have often relied on sending big orders to Asia, where manufacturing is cheaper, but this can take months to turn around. So now some brands are looking to move production to Europe so they can shift stock more quickly.

"Faster is absolutely better because part of the selfie phenomenon is that women want changing trends, and current trends, quicker," Miss Merriman said.

Clodagh Pickavance, 23, a publicist for beauty companies, told the Financial Times: "I have made a conscious effort to start buying more skirts and tops rather than dresses, because at least then I can mix and match them and it looks like a new outfit".

Sheena Sauvaire, global marketing director at Topshop, said: "What we are seeing now with that younger Millennial [those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s] is that she is peacocking on social media. So this girl will spend less on certain items, but she'll still desire a great jacket, or a great top."

Retailers are developing apps to allow shoppers to buy items by clicking on images of them being worn on social media, rather than from a shop or web store.

"Buy buttons" make it easier to buy from Twitter, a Pinterest post, or even an Instagram photo.

- Daily Mail