What's the oldest article of clothing that you still wear?

[elmwood]

I was just thinking about this yesterday night, as I was doing about eight loads of wash. (Procrastination, I know.)

I have a sweatshirt that I purchased during my sophomore year in high school (1982), with my high school seal on it. It's still in good condition, it still fits, and I still wear it on a regular basis. It's about 21 years old. I still have my old high school jacket, purchased during the first semester of my freshman year (1981), but I don't wear it anymore. Other than that, I still have a bunch of t-shirts from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

So, Dopers, what's the article of clothing that has been in your possession the longest, which you still wear on a regular basis?

[Broomstick]

My dad got a red and black check wool shirt/jacket when he was in high school for his birthday.

When I went to college he gave it to me.

It is in my closet waiting to have a hole on its shoulder patched (first hole ever, very small), but as soon as that's done I'll be wearing it again.

It's 58 years old June 13.

Damn good shirt!

[CrankyAsAnOldMan]

I just threw out a sweater that my mom remembers knitting for my dad when she was pregnant with me. Wore it up until last year, so that makes it over 30.

But the older article is a jacket that my dad found in an antique store. He wanted the hunting license sewn on it (dated 1948) but the dealer considered them a package deal. My dad took off the license and gave the jacket to me. It's pretty cool--completely reversable, canvas on one side, red wool on the other. There is a rust-colored stain on the canvas side which I assume isthe blood of a deer or pheasant or something.

[Enderw24]

My birthday suit!

c'mon. Someone had to say it. Might as well be me.

[samclem]

I still wear my 1979 Kentucky Fried Chicken Bluegrass Festival t-shirt. It is thread-bare, but I feel as frisky as I did then when I wear it. Louisville, KY. Wozzer, could I drink some beer back then!

[Burnt Sugar]

Well, pretty much off topic, but I had the same school uniform from grade 1 to grade 6. (Ages 5 to 11)

I stayed small. I still am. :shrugs:

[ftg]

I have a coat that goes back to at least 1969, maybe earlier. It is my "grunge coat" for working on the car in winter, etc. So grease stained and all that. Recently I fixed some holes, the zipper and even dyed it to hide the stains. Good for another 30+ years?

[friggae]

Right now actually, I'm wearing a shirt that I got in summer camp when I was about 7 years old. And I turn 22 tomorrow!

[Kayeby]

I have a Hornets sweatshirt that my parents bought me in primary school. I think it was Grade 5, so that would be about 9 years ago. I don't really wear it out often, unless I'm going for a sloppy look.

[Dragonblink]

I regularly wear clothes that my mother wore when she was my age, and she's thirty years older than I. I also have a coat that used to be my grandmother's, which I guess to be about fifty years old. It's strange realizing you're wearing something that's older than you are.

As for things that have actually been in my possession the longest, well, I'm only twenty-two, so it's highly unlikely that anything I got over about seven or eight years ago would fit me now.

The prize of my collection, though, is a watch that's over thirty years old -- a classic wideband sixties watch that my mother gave me -- complete with test answers still scrawled on the band in green pen.

[Tansu]

I have a pair of shoes that I used to wear to school when I was 13. Still wear 'em sometimes. I'm 27 now. That's the benefit of having lots of shoes - you spread out the wear so they last longer. I've gone up a few dress sizes since my teens, so I don't regularly wear many items of clothing that are more than 4 years old.

[Gunslinger]

This suit was made in the early 1960s, and sat on a shelf somewhere (still had the original tags!) until I bought it on ebay a few months ago.

[SwimmingRiddles]

I am quite into vintage clothes, so the oldest is up in the air. I have the dress I'm wearing here, which is probably mid fifties. I have an army jacket that I bought for $5, and though it has all the buttons removed, my father tells me it's probably Korean War era. Lots of clothes from the 60s: shirts, dresses. Oooh, there's my vintage bowling shirt I bought in Venice Beach that has the name "Moreen" [spelled that way] stiched over the cigarette pocket, and "Norka Mould and the Machine" on the back. I tend to get comments on that one. But my favorites are the family stuff. My mom gave me her pair of Osh Kosh Bygosh adult sized overalls, which I'm guessing date from the late seventies (I have a picture of her wearing them, holding me. I'm about 2 at the time, so from at least '82). I wore them out. The denim just fell apart. I then have this neato varigated green cardigan that I wear all the time. But my ultimate favorite belonged to my grandfather. It's a West Point sweater, black with yellow and beige piping. We don't know how or why he bought it; the man was never in the service, much less West Point. But it's warm and cuddly and neato looking. I'm thinking mid-50s, judging from the label. I love vintage stuff. It's like being in costume whenever I wear one, but a tad bit more socially acceptable.

[Squish]

The oldest item I have that I bought, myself, new: my L.L.Bean Blucher moccasins. They've worn like iron and they're almost as comfortable as bare feet.

[bernse]

Originally posted by friggae
Right now actually, I'm wearing a shirt that I got in summer camp when I was about 7 years old. And I turn 22 tomorrow!

Grow much?

[Ashtar]

When I was in about 6th grade, I got a long, black jacket from my older sister--it was originally from a swim team, but I think of it as kind of a fisherman's coat..it's black on the outside, red feaux-fur on the inside, with a hood. the material on the outside is some kind of plastic, it's waterproof, but breathable (Reminds me of vinyl, not sure what it is)

I'm gonna be 20 very soon, and I still wear that jacket every day. It's like a security blanket, of sorts..I look at that coat, and think of it as purely mine. I think I'm gonna put it on right now..

[tolyri]

I like to sleep in the tye dyed shirt my mom made me when I was about seven. It hung below my knees then, now it barely reaches my waist.

I just got married in the wedding dress my aunt wore in 1953. Not sure if that counts since I'll never wear it again, but I'm saving it for my twelve-year-old cousin.

[WSLer]

I have a London Fog coat that I got at a thrift store for $15 about 8 years ago. One day felt something in the lining and after various unsewings found a dry cleaning slip from February 1947! which is only 22 years before I was born. Still wear it occasionally, but not if it's windy and cold, 'cause the lining is pretty much done.

Also have a pair of Carolina Blue Nike hi-tops that I got back in December 1994 that I still regularly wear.

[Lissla Lissar]

I have a few shirts I got about eight years ago, that i still wear. Oldest iten of clothing I have that's wearable? Cream silk 1908 wedding dress. At least, it will be wearable if I ever get an Edwardian corset. Wearable without corset- black lace Twenties dress. I'm a vintage clothes person too.

[matt_mcl]

Mercy, I don't know. Hm. If I still have that _mcl-tartan shirt (i.e. didn't give it back to Dad), that was woven by my late grandmother and is pretty old.

[Jeep's Phoenix]

Oldest article of clothing that was purchased for me: a pair of Umbro soccer shorts my mom bought for me when I was in the fifth grade. (I'm a junior in college now).

Oldest article of clothing I own: My dad's denim jacket, purchased around 1974.

[Edward The Head]

Well I've got an old navy P coat that was a great uncle's. Probaboly 50 years old or more. I don't wear it though.

I've got some underwear that have to be at LEAST 7-8 years old and are probably older than that. They have been all around the world and I still wear them. They are getting pretty worn though and I have started to buy new stuff.

[Reuben]

I have a woolly jumper from my Grandfather that he had when he was a student at Cambridge in the early 1930s.

It's a really nice thick jumper, very warm. You would never guess it was around 70 years old; it certainly doesn't look it.

Oldest thing I bought and still wear... a woolly jacket from schooldays, let me see know that'd be c.15 years old.

[Eve]

Oldest article I bought new—a cotton sweatshirt that I bought about 1968, when I was 11. It's worn to a velvety consistency now, though I only wear it around the house on weekends.

Oldest, period—a silk chiffon dressing gown from about 1926. It's lavender and red, and has lavishly double-ruffled hems on the sleeves and bottom, using yards and yards of fabric. Just the thing for lounging around reading Snappy Stories and eating bon-bons.

[zoid]

I have a Polo shirt a gilr I was crazy in love with bought for me 13 years ago when I was in gradute school. Even though it was 8 years before I met my wife, I have never mentioned to her where it came from despite the fact that it's BRIGHT PINK!?

[Politzania]

Oldest iteam I still occasionally wear: short sleeve button down shirt - white with pink stars. Yes, it screams "Eighties!" 'cos that's when it was purchased.

Used to have a Navy pea coat - bought second hand, donno how old.

My prom dress was a vintage 60's [?] formal dress that I added a cape & ruffles to.

[Shirley Ujest]

I have a thing for antiques, resale, vintage stores.

I use to own ( not sure where it went) my dad's old hawaiian shirt that was from the 40's.

My old (female) boss gave me one of her old dresses that is from the fifties, with a mink collar and mink on the sleeves. Not very PETA, but I just love it.


The oldest thing I wear on a regular basis is my late grandmother's wedding ring - a simple band of white gold with markings. She married my grandfather in 1920. I also wear my mom's wedding ring ( doesn't fit her anymore) which is also a band of white gold) from 1948.

The only thing from my teen angst years that I just recently got rid of, and wore on a regular basis was a single pair of white cotton underpants. They were from 1980. After twenty years of weekly washings (and that monthly time thing) the thing was practically transparent ( except where my mom wrote on the waist band my name for camp.)

[StGermain]

I have riding boots that I bought in England about 20 years ago. They've been resoled, but they are still going strong.

StG

[dead0man]

My winter coat is a brown "bomber" jacket I got for christmas in of 1989 and a pair of cleats (shoes) that I got right after my 16th birthday (also 1989). The jakcet is very ratty and torn and stained, it has character. The cleats are in even worse shape, not much cleat on the right foot (dont put your foot on the ground going ~50mph) and had lube stuck in them by my boss when I was stationed in Florida. It actually keeps the water off of my right foot. My best baseball/softball glove was purchased when I was 13, but thats not really clothing. Until my last move, I had flannels from middle school(mid 80s).
dead0man

[PolishSausage]

An INXS tshirt for their KICK tour of '88.
Sometimes ya kick. Sometimes ya get kicked Maybe you had to be there.

~t

[Stephi]

I have a green army wool coat made in 1939 in Toronto. It has the factory label still attached, but I don't remember the name of the manufacturer. It's lined with canvas, and it has the name "Duncan" written on the inside pocket.