How large ($$) is the CD economy?

[ellbee]

Any "official" estimates out there?


Or is this something that's too difficult to track? Or something that nobody else but a handful of people really care about? :D


I dunno, maybe it's not huge in terms of percentage (unless we're talking something like size 15 heels :laughing: ), but I gotta imagine it's a pretty sizeable dollar amount, anyway.

[Kate Simmons]

Probably more of an individual thing and how much one is willing to spend. Is it tracked? Possibly but I doubt a company like Best Value Products would be willing to share it's sales figures. All I know is it's not cheap looking like a woman. :)

[josrphine]

I would tend to think that they do track, as when you get older into the CD ing you find out real quick that cheap stuff is the same as in male mode. I just bough a new wig , three inh heels black patten leather , and a couple of skirts. All at up scale department stores. It dose not pay to go cheap. I do lok very good for my age. Jo

[Meghan4now]

An interesting question. Let's ask Mr. Owl. One, two, three. CRUNCH
$300 million a year.

First, we only have estimates of the size of our population. Second, it depends on how you define the market. Underdressing, clothing, jewelry, prosthetics, wigs, water balloons, bird seed, olive oil? Plus if I but my wife clothing too, does that get counted in? What about stores, Suddenly Fem vs Victoria secrets, vs walmart.
?

And you have thrift store gals vs Nordstrom in terms of spend

[Amy Fakley]

It's often said that it's really unknown, how many crossdressers there are in the world, on account of its considered so shameful in our culture ... very few of us come out, and lots wouldn't even admit it in surveys. However, there's very few reasons for dudes to be buying breastforms.

I guarantee you that Amazon and google have a pretty good idea of how many of us are out there.

[Lacey New]

Hard to say but when I read about the generally positive shopping experiences of members here, I have to think that many retailers, Dress Barn, Lane Bryant, Chicos, Soma, etc are well aware of our presence and our buying power. Consider the fact that Herroom has a section of their website dedicated to lingerie for men. Also, go online sometime, pick a major department store like Macy's or Penney's and just look at the reviews for Vanity Fair panties. More than just a few reviewers identify themselves as male.

[Krisi]

Other than my wig, boobs and butt, everything I buy is from mainstream stores. JC Penny, Kohls, etc. so there's not a lot of "CD economy" there. Even the wig is from a mainstream wig vendor that sells primarily to women so it doesn't count.

While some men may wear their wife's panties or bra occasionally, I thing the number of males who crossdress on a regular basis and have a sizeable collection of female stuff (like many of us here) is very, very small. My guess would be less than one percent of the population.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Laura:hugs:, I have sure done my part over the years...:daydreaming:...

[redtea]

Considering how many of us are addicted to buying more, purging then buying more, or just collecting panties like a fiend I'd say pretty high, But still a drop in the bucket compared to women. The one thing that makes us valuable is that we absolutely spend more money on clothes than the average woman. We never window shop because it's not only embarrassing to just look at clothes with no context "for my GF" to back us up, But it's also really hard for lots of us (myself included) to just see something that triggers our pink fog and to just not buy it.

[Gwyneth]

We have a store here called Plato's Closet for teens. Resell store. Maybe we should start a CD's closet!

[ellbee]

Other than my wig, boobs and butt, everything I buy is from mainstream stores. JC Penny, Kohls, etc. so there's not a lot of "CD economy" there. Even the wig is from a mainstream wig vendor that sells primarily to women so it doesn't count.

Of course all that counts, IMO.


It doesn't matter *where* you're buying it from -- what matters is *who* you're buying it for!


And that's what I mean by "CD economy." :)

[missymegg]

I love shopping at Plato's Closet!

[Gwyneth]

You could pull off the teenage girl look!

- - - Updated - - -


Of course all that counts, IMO.


It doesn't matter *where* you're buying it from -- what matters is *who* you're buying it for!


And that's what I mean by "CD economy." :)

I think in my area a place that a guy could walk into and be helped without any worries could do ok. Nobody would get rich, but maybe a thought.

[Dana44]

I would say that it is big enough that the CD group probably kept thigh highs and tights in businesses until it came back.

[Tracy Irving]

I have bought way too many items I don't need and will never wear or use. Add in the fact that I have to spend the same amount on my wife that I do on me and it gets expensive!

[Alice_2014_B]

It hasn't been cheap for me personally, but I do find amazing deals at local thrift stores.
Doubt it's tracked mainstream, but I could be wrong.
:)

[NancySue]

Huge. I browse every catalog my wife receives. I'll see something and many times go to my computer and will order something. Amazon knows me well. As mentioned, I firmly believe we've kept Hanes, Berkshire and others, Payless shoes, Rago, etc in business. I know, over the years, I've contributed substantially to everything female from wigs to heels. It comes with the territory so be prepared $$ wise. Any regrets??? Nope. 👗👠💄😉

[susancheerleader]

I think I read someplace that AT LEAST 5% of this nations males cross dress.
So take that into consideration.

[JanetW]

That is a statistic I often wonder about. How rare are we? My guess is somewhere between 2-8 percent of males are CDs. Google probably has the raw data. Someone from a particular IP address who has searched CD related subjects or products several times could likely be tagged as a CD. The rest of the math would be straightforward.

[Gwyneth]

I have to agree with a previous poster (maybe not even on this thread), I think its way less than 1%. 5% might think of it or fantasize about being with a CD, but not be one.

[Teresa]

Laura,
I would say it's impossible to put a figure on it, there are so few TG shopping outlets and I would think most buy on line from normal shopping sites or retail outlets .Most of my stuff comes from charity shops. As for larger shoe sizes women's sizes are on the increase, a female SA was telling me recently that she had a friend who takes a UK size 12, most shops now carry UK 8 as standard and some up to 9. Many of the mail order outlets supply wide fit up to 9 so they are either catering for CDers but obviously there is a demand for GGs needing larger shoes.

I wonder if you've checked customer comments from women's clothes outlets on line, an increasing percentage are comments from male shoppers .Retailers must be aware of the increasing market as most now have a policy of training staff to deal with the TG community. When I walked through a Matalan store recently I was surprised at the number of men in the women's section, especially looking at heels .

[JanetW]

There are about 25,000 users on this site.
About 80 percent of those users are males in the US (a wild guess).
About 1 in 10 CDs are on this site (a very wild guess but probably within an order of magnitude).
That indicates about 200,000 male CDs in the US.
The 2014 US male population is about 120 million.

That suggests the US male population may be around .17 percent CDs

I think you may be right Guynbart.

Please feel free to critique this analysis or help refine it. Perhaps a moderator with access to more detailed info on this site could chime in. How many US male CD members are there? Not necessarily active.

[NancySue]

Statistics??? I believe that there are a whole lot more of us out there than will ever be known. No one will ever know how many of us there are because of the nature of how we are. Many are still behind closed doors, the DADT, those who wear underneath', sabbatical's, partial dressers, etc. No one will ever know. We're all over the map. If there was a survey, honestly...how many would tell the truth? My sense is...Not many...fearing social, marital and economic consequences. I'm guilty. For me, in this area revelation beyond my wife, would be political, social and economic disaster. Thus, non valid statistics. So, who cares? Not me. Let's see, skirt or dress??? Blonde or brunette? Heels or flats ? All of the above. 👗💄👠👡👜👙👝💅🕶

[sometimes_miss]

I think I read someplace that AT LEAST 5% of this nations males cross dress.
I think Kinsey had us at 2.5%, or one out of forty. Since I've been here, I've also read 5%, 10%, 20%, 25%, 50%, and 100%, with all kinds of bizarre reasoning to rationalize it. What we can see, is that it's easily a multiple million dollar industry, and I'm very thankful that there are now enough custom dressmakers that will make me whatever I want in my size. Shoes, well we're not there quite yet where I can order a pretty pair of anything I want in a men's size 16 'off the shelf', but there are cobblers somewhere that will do it.....for a price.

[Alice Torn]

The cast majority of my clothes are used, other than hose or panties, and heels. so i cannot possibly be tracked in my spending much/ Mostly thrift stores, and Ebay. I guess Ebay records everthing i buy.

[Meghan4now]

The question comes back to estimates on population. Often debated, and studies are actually poor. I like Lynne Conway ' approach. Long read, but worth it

http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TSprevalence.html

What I like about this is the cross correlation of data from studies and estimates to other traceable data in terms of reportable and recordable facts (i.e. number of grs surgeries per year). If you REALLY want to do an estimate of economy size, you could do something similar, but it might take a while to find the data. Perhaps her room or suddenly Fem had done a marketing study? But this would be valuable and guarded data.

[Dana44]

I know or a fact when the hosiery market flopped, men became the prime buyers and these were the CD groups. I think a lot of older fashion has been kept going by the large group of CDers worldwide. And you can tell by the trans support industry that has sprung up.

[Stephanie47]

Does the figure include dollars when my daughter bought men's jeans because they had pockets? Or, men's shoes when they were sturdier? Or, the men's graphic tee shirts that I buy for my wife?

Me? As a retiree with more than enough men's clothing left over from my working days the only clothes I have bought are women's. I thumbed through my eBay purchases and that only amounted to a little less than $400. There were many bargains, especially dresses. I was also aghast that I purchased since January 1 of this year 21 slips! Yikes! Compulsive disorder? Collector? My total does not include purchases from JC Penny and Macy's and Essential Apparel. I think CD purchases probably helps plus size women's stores' bottom line than stores catering to smaller sizes. How about all those larger size shoes from Payless?

[reinasblack]

Correction from real statistics .There are 1.4 Million transgender in the USA alone and its expected to double in the near future.