Sharp Dressed Men

Toronto, ON - According to a new survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Mark's Work Wearhouse, almost half (45%) of men and women who have a male partner say the situation that best describes when they or their male partner primarily wears dress pants is "weddings, funerals, and very special occasions." One-quarter (23%) wears dress pants to "work everyday" and 7% to "business meetings on a regular basis." One in ten (11%) wear dress pants to "go out to dinner or to a show" and the same proportion (11%) "never" wear dress pants.

Given a list of six items, two-thirds (66%) of men who wear dress pants and women who have a male partner who wears dress pants say the first thing they put on with dress pants is a "dress shirt."

When it comes to cleaning dress pants, three in ten men who wear dress pants and women who have a male partner who wears dress pants say they "throw them in the washing machine" (31%) or say they "take them to the drycleaner regularly" (29%). Two in ten (22%) "take them to the drycleaner only when they're in extreme need of cleaning," and 8% "hand wash them for delicate treatment." One in ten (9%) men who wear dress pants and women who have a male partner who wears dress pants say they "don't do anything" to clean dress pants.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Mark's Work Wearhouse poll conducted from August 24th to August 26th, 2004. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 894 adult Canadian men and women with a male partner was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Almost half (45%) of men and women who have a male partner say the situation that best describes when they primarily wear dress pants is "weddings, funerals, and very special occasions." One-quarter (23%) say they wear dress pants to "work everyday." One in ten (11%) men and women who have a male partner say they wear dress pants to "go out to dinner or to a show," and 7% say they wear dress pants to "business meetings on a regular basis." One in ten (11%) say they "never" where dress pants and 2% say they "don't know" the situation that best describes when they primarily wear dress pants.

• Men living in Ontario (37%) are most likely to wear dress pants followed by those living in Quebec (25%), British Columbia (12%), Alberta (10%), Atlantic Canada (8%) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (7%).

• Those with an annual household income of $60,000 or more (40%) are more likely to wear dress pants than those with an income of $30,000 to $60,000 (35%) and those with an income of less than $30,000 (16%).

Given a list of six items, two-thirds (66%) of men who wear dress pants and women who have a male partner who wears dress pants say the first thing they or their male partner puts on with dress pants is a "dress shirt." Just 9% say a "polo top," 7% a "t-shirt," 7% "colour-coordinating socks," 6% a "suit jacket," and 3% "sport socks." Only 1% of respondents say "none of the above" and 1% say they "don't know" what would be the first thing they put on with dress pants.

• Those with an annual household income of $30,000 or greater (69%) are more likely than those with an income less than $30,000 (53%) to say the first thing they put on with dress pants is a "dress shirt."

Three in ten (31%) men who wear dress pants and women who have a male partner who wears dress pants say when it comes to cleaning dress pants they "throw them in the washing machine." The same proportion (29%) say they "take them to the drycleaner regularly," while two in ten (22%) say they "take them to the drycleaner only when they're in extreme need of cleaning." Just 8% of men who wear dress pants and women who have a male partner who wears dress pants say they "hand wash them for delicate treatment." One in ten (9%) "don't do anything" to clean dress pants and the remaining 1% "don't know" how they clean dress pants.

• Men 18-34 years of age or women of the same age who have a male partner who wears dress pants (39%) are more likely than those over the age of 34 (28%) to say that when it comes to cleaning dress pants they "throw them in the washing machine."

Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

Carla Flamer
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900