Clothing sales are spiking even higher than 2019 levels - in part because roughly a quarter of consumers are a new size post-quarantine

• Spending on clothes is skyrocketing past pre-pandemic levels.
• According to Bank of America research, clothes-buying is up 35% compared to 2019.
• The increase is due in part to pandemic-related weight-fluctuations, according to Levi's CEO.

Spending on clothes is skyrocketing, fueled by a desire to get dressed up again - and pandemic-related weight changes.

After taking a nosedive in the early months of the pandemic, spending on clothing is topping even pre-pandemic levels: It's up 35% compared to two years ago, according to Bank of America research.

"People are looking to get out and about again," Fokke de Jong, Suitsupply's founder and CEO told Insider earlier this year following the company's ad campaign promoting a raunchy "new normal." "Parallels to the Roaring 20s are being drawn on a regular basis."

-Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) June 24, 2021

Some retailers started to see a shift in purchasing behavior back in February. Urban Outfitters CEO Richard Hayne said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call in March that the company saw a shift away from "casual, at-home, comfortable" clothes and toward items like dresses - what he called "'going-out'-type apparel."

Sonia Syngal, the CEO of Gap, said earlier this year that the company is very optimistic about a return to dressing to impress, forecasting what she called a "peacocking effect" that will happen as people emerge from the pandemic.

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But it's more than just a long-dormant desire to look good that's fueling the surge in clothes shopping.

According to a February poll conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association, 61% of US adults experienced undesired weight fluctuations during the pandemic, with 42% reporting they gained more weight than they'd anticipated.

Those who gained weight added an average of 29 pounds during the pandemic, the survey found.

Levi's CEO Chip Bergh said in an interview with the Associated Press earlier this month that he's seen the pandemic-era looser fits "taking hold." Bergh said that weight fluctuations during pandemic lockdowns mean some people aren't fitting into their clothes like they used to - in fact, Bergh estimated that more than 25% of consumers are now a new size.

"The number of people who are in a new size is pretty staggering," he said. "Some people gained weight during the pandemic, and many people lost weight. But both on the men's side of the business and women's side."