THE UNDERWEAR BELLWETHER

The newest economic indicator might be in your underwear drawer, said Quentin Fottrell inMarketWatch​.com. American men’s apparel sales stayed mostly flat in 2012, except for “two garments some men continue to wear even after they’re falling apart”—underwear and socks. Sales for those essential but largely unseen items rose by 13 and 12 percent, respectively, and some analysts say that’s a good sign for the economy at large. “For men who don’t care so much about underwear, during lean times, they probably made do with what they had,” said Vicki Morwitz, a marketing professor at New York University. Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org, said that an improving economy is “the right time for men to get rid of all that holey underwear.” And that can lead to more economic activity—namely dating.