Women across Australia are refusing to wear more than $1.5 billion worth of clothing they collectively own, due to sweat marks, stains, odour and fit.
This came from research commissioned by Nivea, which shows Australian women are often relying on a small group of trusted outfits while leaving much of their wardrobe untouched.
In the past three years, half of Australian women (49 per cent) estimate they have spent between $101 and $500 on clothes they have never worn, almost one in five (19 per cent) between $501 and $2,000, and almost one in ten (9 per cent) more than $2,000.
Scaled across Australia’s approximately five million women aged 18 to 45, that equates conservatively to more than $1.5 billion in unworn clothing, and a hidden financial cost to wardrobe uncertainty.
Overall, 91 per cent of women own clothes they have never worn, and 41 per cent are saving items for a specific occasion.
More women dress to hide parts of their body (36 per cent) than to express their personal style (30 per cent).
Only 27 per cent of women feel most confident wearing the latest trends.
One in three wear black specifically to avoid visible sweat marks.
At a breakfast event hosted by Nivea, fashion stylist Jess Pecoraro said the findings reflect what she sees every day with clients.
"Every woman I work with has a wardrobe full of clothes she loves and a much smaller rotation of clothes she actually wears,” Pecoraro said.
"That gap isn't about taste or having the wrong things. It's about confidence. Real, practical, daily confidence. The kind that comes from knowing you can wear what you love without spending the whole day managing how you look or worrying about what might go wrong.
"Most women don't get dressed for a runway or red carpet. They get dressed for work, school drop-off, meetings, dinners and everyday life. When confidence in how those clothes will perform disappears, wardrobes shrink. Women start defaulting to the same trusted pieces over and over again."
Nivea Australia GM of marketing and e-commerce, Kate Hensley, added that this research highlights the gap between what women own and what they actually feel comfortable wearing.
“What this research shows is that practical concerns such as sweat marks, stains and odour continue to influence what women choose to wear every day,” Hensley said.
“When women feel comfortable and reassured in what they're wearing, they're more likely to wear what they love. Confidence often follows from there."
The research was conducted by Palladium Insights on behalf of Nivea via an online survey of 1,016 Australian women aged 18–45, with fieldwork conducted 23–27 April 2026.