Era of Cheap Apparel May Be Ending for U.S.

For decades, declining prices have helped American consumers spend less on one critical part of every family’s budget: clothing. But those days may be ending.

The government reported this week that consumer prices for apparel rose 0.6 percent in 2013. That is hardly rampant inflation, but it was the third consecutive year that apparel prices increased. Before 2011, those prices had risen in only two of the previous 13 years.