What's your wardrobe worth?

Tuesday, 22 September 2009 06:33

The price of a nice piece of mahogany or pine effect wardrobe from IKEA or Habitat may be easy to guess, but how much would your clothes cost to replace?

Two-thirds of Brits have no idea about the cost of replacing their wardrobes - be they fashionistas with doors a-bulging, or utilitarian monk-types with a couple of suits and a pair of jeans.

Research from insurer Hiscox claims eight per cent of people spend between £200 and £400 on clothes a month - meaning over the years their addiction to fashion could be costly to replace.

The most expensive item in the average wardrobe is £293 and the average person polled said they splashed £916.56 a year on clothes, bags and shoes.

The average guess on a person's fashion collection was £2,838 - accounting for just three years spending.

Although the study may seem frivolous - lined to coincide with London Fashion Week - there is a serious side.

When people calculate the value of their contents for home insurance, they often fail to open the wardrobe.

Many who think they don't need contents insurance forget about the costs they would face re-clothing themselves if their rags, or riches, went up in smoke or got flooded out.

Some 27 per cent of people said they ignored clothes when totting up the value of their contents - focusing on TVs, laptops and so-called big ticket items.

Austyn Tusler, household insurance expert at Hiscox, said: "Many people may be underinsured when it comes to their wardrobes and, as quite often is the case, they could be underinsured when it comes to the rest of their household contents too."

He explained one Hiscox customer had given an estimate of £3,000 to cover her clothes and shoes - but when it was reviewed the true value came in at £25,000.

"When people consider their wardrobe, many think only of the current pieces they wear each season, rather than taking into account the wealth that has mounted up over the years," Mr Tusler mulled.

"It is important that people spend a bit of time totting up the costs of replacing their items to make sure their full wardrobe is covered. That way, in the unfortunate event that they have to make a claim, they will have enough insurance cover to bring their wardrobe back to its fashionable best."

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