There’s a small minority of people who do that -- not 20% of the population, but large enough to influence statistics. I wouldn't be surprised if that was 20% of women between 15 and 45-year-old. They also buy clothes that they never wear (other than trying). I’ve seen estimates as high as for some people, they never wear 40% of the clothes that they buy before disposing of them.

On the other end, I’m also surprised by the “one-year” thing: most of my clothes are more than five-year-old and they are fine. For underwear and t-shirts, I typically wear them once a week.

> On the other end, I’m also surprised by the “one-year” thing: most of my clothes are more than five-year-old and they are fine.

Because these are the minority of clothes despite being used by the majority of people in the example I gave, changing the timeframe doesn't really change the average. Changing the example to use a 5 year timeframe, for instance, only changes the average to 4.92.

> not 20% of the population

Right, and it also ought to be less than 80% that buys clothes no more often than once per year or per 5 years. Both extremes are exaggerated to not have to insert more tiers than needed into the example.

They don't. They cycle through the same 3-7 sets of clothes until they go threadbare, and ignore everything else in their closet unless they need something for a special occasion.

Knowing people like that would depend on your social circle.

Anyway, it's just an example to show how that number can be easily influenced by a small minority. The real numbers are going to be different.