I’d say the 20/80 rule applies: I wear about 20 % of my clothing about 80 % of the time.
About 20% of my clothes never get worn, or only once.
If I knew beforehand what clothes I was actually gonna wear, I would of course not have bought the other ones. But it seems to be largely trial and error what is going to get worn and what isn’t.
So far, I have deduced:
[ul]
[li]Clothes don’t get worn if I can’t wear them to the office, and/or I can’t do chores in them. I’m pretty much always either in the office or doing chores. [/li][li]party clothes don’t get worn. I love the idea of party clothes, but I never go to the kind of party where a person’d need party clothes. [/li][li]Clothes don’t get worn if I can’t bike in them to the office. It’s a ladylike Dutch bike, though. [/li][li]Clothes don’t get worn if I need a special complicated bra with them, or uncomfortable shoes. [/li][li]Winter clothes don’t get worn if they can’t be worn with thick black pantyhose and boots. [/li][li]If they are the kind of fabric that attracts cat hair.[/li][/ul]
What does not seem to make any difference:
[ul]
[li]Where I bought them. I have worn the hell out of some Goodwill clothes, and hardly worn more expensive ones, and vice versa. [/li][li]The size. Fit is most important, and the size seems to be a rather rough guideline.[/li][/ul]
How do you know beforehand if you are going to wear that article of clothing you plan to buy?
I flunk it too, but the important things you can do - a) can you see it fitting into a lot of different outfits of things you already have? b) does it fill a need, like you know you really want to get colored denim in maroon, olive, or gray because you have a lot of stuff you’d like to wear with it that you don’t want to wear with your normal dark wash jeans, yes, buy that, because you know you have a plan. c) fit fit fit fit fit.
I wear everything I buy. After 55 years you figure it out I guess. Casual wear for everything except when I need to wear a suit. So I buy 1) casual shirts, 2) jeans, and 3) suits.
Procrustus, you’re a guy, right? I noticed that guys don’t seem to have this particular problem. At most, they have to many novelty t-shirts.
It is funny that the men’s department at Goodwill hardly has any usable clothes. Men just seem to use up their clothes. Women clothes, on the other hand…
I’d like to say I don’t shop unless I need something, but that’s only been true since Goodwill went bankrupt and closed the buy by the pound store that I’ve been shopping at for three decades.
Clothes were cheap enough that I’d buy something if it looked close to fitting, or was something I thought I’d wear, or interesting and vintage. If it didn’t work out, I had no problems putting it in a bag and donating it back later.
My criteria is much like yours - Is it appropriate for the office? Is it good for walking the dogs? Is there a special occasion coming up (might be months in advance - I bought my company Christmas party dress in May). Does it look cozy and comfortable? Is it really good quality? Is it black? Or do I just think it is too good to pass by?
I have way too many clothes as it is. Some I will never wear again because I don’t fit anymore, some I hope to need again, like my riding pants, some I keep just for sentimental reasons, but will likely never wear, some just because I’m too lazy to sort and toss. I have space, and finding something I’d forgotten I still owned is often a happy little surprise.
Back in the day, I loved men’s vintage clothing. Beautiful, long wearing fabrics, well-made and timeless. Plus pockets. I wore men’s pants through most of my twenties and thirties.
Now it’s all polyester, cheaply made and quickly assembled.
I wear almost everything I buy, and I know because I keep lists. I record new purchases and track when I wore them and as part of what outfit. Occasionally I will identify something that just doesn’t get worn, and I will eliminate that entire category from future purchases. Fashion scarves? No, I don’t wear them, so I no longer buy them. Jackets with mandarin collars? I never know what to do with them.
If you track your purchases, you’ll develop a sense of what works for you and what doesn’t, and be able to make better choices.
I agree with you that source and size are both irrelevant. With the caveat that you may find a certain brand that works particularly well for you.
Back when I was a businessman, I would always buy shirts and ties together. It cut down on getting one or the other which wouldn’t match with anything.
I have learned that I don’t wear things that are not fairly soft. I used to buy button-down shirts because I liked the way they looked but I would hardly ever wear them. Now I stick to knit shirts. Basically I avoid clothes that look cute but that I will hardly ever wear because they are not soft enough. Blazers also fall into that category. I wear cardigan sweaters instead.
As a guy here, my current wardrobe is wearing out fast. I think my plan to replace it will be look at what I’m currently wearing and see if I can’t just re-order them. Problem solved!
In general I also wear everything I buy. The exceptions are because I have a clutter problem, and so occasionally things get buried (this is not restricted to clothes).
Another guy chiming in. I don’t think I’ve ever bought something and never worn it. I’ve got a suit that only really gets worn for job interviews. Party clothes like jackets and ties only get brought out once or twice a year. I’ve got a couple blue shirts that don’t get out much because when I wear jeans I want the shirt to be more of a contrast. And the novelty t-shirts are only for sleeping in.
I couldn’t really tell you why it happens that way. Maybe it’s just a functional approach; wear whatever’s clean and serviceable on a given day, and if I need to dress for a particular event I shop for it when I need it. The downside is that sometimes I don’t find what I need on short notice. And I don’t have anything I think I look particularly great in. I don’t have any good pictures of myself; I’d like to get have some taken, but don’t really know what to wear.
My biggest downfall is dresses that aren’t appropriate for the office. If I try on a dress that shows a bit too much skin, my husband will convince me to buy it, and then I’ll buy it and hardly ever run into an occasion where I need to wear a slutty dress.
That’s really the only thing I can think of. Maybe it’s because I don’t like shopping, so when I go clothes shopping, it’s because I’ve already discovered that I really need something like gray pants or thicker sweaters, and I can stay pretty focused on the end goal. Until my husband spots a slutty dress, of course.
Only the first and the (young, male) dark brown sat out the time. All the dark blue, dark gray ones saw constant use.
I wore out the dark blue London Fog overcoat (I still have the mint light gray one) and a leather jacket styled as a Tuxedo coat.
I still have the cheap polyester crap I wore in the early 70’s (no disco crap, however). It took a while for me to find washable woolen pants.
I love 100% cotton shirts, but still have the cotton/poly “Perma-Prest” shirts.
I never wore jeans or T-shirts. I have one pair of jeans (Salvation Army) which I use on the rare occasions I try to work on the house.
I find I still (45 years down the road) prefer button-down collars.
But males have much easier time than females.
There is an up side to being the “bland looking” ones; it is the female of the species which is saddled with showing bright colors.
I do have a couple of bright, knock-your-eyes-out purple shirts. I now realize that only black males are allowed this color. Sue me.
p.s. - it is great for “Meet me at the Gate!” dates. No need to hold sign: “I’m the old white guy with beard in a purple shirt” works every time.
First off, I know my tendencies. I wear jeans, not slacks. I wear collarless shirts. I wear things that layer. Anything I would buy to be “new” or “different” probably won’t get worn, so forget about it.
Then I watch my inner dialogue when I first see the thing. If the dialogue has an “if” in it, as in–I’ll wear that all the time IF I get the right bra, or I’d wear it IF I went to fancy parties–then forget it. It has to be something I’d step into right then, right there, and wear around the house. Because I live my life around the house.
Do you use a spreadsheet or an app for this? A lot of women I know rave about the app Stylebook, but others I know just use a spreadsheet. I am in the process of culling my clothes, so I might look to one of these tools. I need to Konmari the shit out of my clothes first, though. I’m on a no-buy for October and I’m challenging myself to shop in my own closet. If, at the end of the month, I haven’t worn something (or, for out-of-season clothes, know I won’t wear it in season, it’s getting donated or sold.