This comes after two years of clothing prices rising faster than inflation.

He added that a more meaningful measure of clothing prices was the 4.6 percent increase over the latest 12 months.

Higher clothing prices for women are just one more item on a long list of biases in our "progressive" society.

The price of cotton jumped by 54.8% last year, prompting Next to increase its clothing prices by 8%.

But clothing prices had been heading down in previous months.

"Men's clothing prices have gone through the roof," he said.

Biggest of all was the 6.4% month-on-month surge in clothing prices, which followed a big increase the prior month.

But most of the increase was due to the second straight monthly increase in clothing prices.

When women's clothing prices kept rising, our industry suffered a loss of credibility.

Inflation fell sharply in December on the back of lower fuel and clothing prices.