Survey Methodology

Why the Lifestyle Monitor™ exists and what it is intended to do for you

In our effort to provide meaningful information to cotton market decision-makers, we’ve found that there is greater interest in information focusing on the future rather than the past. Needless to say, insights on these future attitudes and behaviors are hard to come by and generally not very reliable.

We think we’ve broken new ground with the Lifestyle Monitor™. This ongoing research program utilizes a carefully constructed series of over 100 questions that tap into the attitudes and behavior of American consumers regarding clothing, performance, appearance, fashion, environment, home furnishings, soft goods shopping, fiber selection and numerous other topics.

The questionnaire is intentionally designed to engage the respondent. It probes day-to-day decisions we all must make as we decide how to dress ourselves and decorate our living space.

Methodology

Using the Internet, Bellomy Research (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) completes over 500 interviews per month with consumers between the ages of 13 and 70.

Through April 2010 over 70,000 interviews have been completed since the survey’s inception in 1994.

The Lifestyle Monitor data collection has been designed to provide an accurate snapshot of the U.S. population by collecting monthly data from a U.S. representatively balanced set of respondents. The respondent profile is distributed across six key demographic categories (age, region, ethnicity, marital status, income and education). Additionally, the respondents are 60% female to better represent the textile consumer. A quarter (25%) of respondents have a household income of less than $35,000 and over one-third (35%) have an income of $75,000 or more with a mean income for all respondents of approximately $60,000. Twenty-eight percent of the sample are college graduates. Fifty-eight percent own a house or condo, 28% rent, 14% live with parents, 71% are Caucasian, 14% are of Hispanic or Latino origin, 11% are African-American, and 8% are of other ethnic origins. The average household size is 3.1.