Here's Why Men's Clothing Is Better Quality Than Women's

The mystery has been solved.

If you live on the planet Earth, you've noticed that men's clothing tends to run slightly cheaper than women's clothing.

BuzzFeed / gap.com

I know what you're thinking: "If women's clothing costs more, it must also be made of higher quality with better materials, right?" Wrong.

Walk through a popular chain store and you'll notice that women's items usually feel a little flimsier than clothes in the guy's section.

BuzzFeed / gap.com

WTF?

So why is women's clothing MORE expensive and LESS well-made than men's?

BuzzFeed / hm.com

"It all has to do with clothing patterns and a brand's budget," Sara Qaddoura, former curator of e-commerce at London-based fashion startup Not Just A Label, told BuzzFeed. "Affordable clothing brands usually have an allotted amount of money to spend on menswear and womenswear." Menswear will usually involve fewer clothing templates (or patterns) because they offer fewer style options.

For womenswear, however, manufacturers use TONS of templates.

viaspatterns.com

There are templates for dropped-waist dresses, strapless dresses, tunics, A-lines, sheaths — and we're only talking dresses here! Since the templates can get expensive, there may be less money left over in the budget to invest in materials.

The result: Women get more silhouette options that are cheaply made.

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc / Getty Images

And men continue to shop their staples (coats, blazers, crew neck sweaters, etc.) that are made to last longer...with better materials...for less money.

To find out which items you should actually be buying in the men's department, go here.