My husband and I have been together since we were 19 and I have bought him a few shirts here and there.
For years actually his mom still bought him the bulk of his clothes. Every Christmas he would get a stock of socks and underwear as well as shirts and pants. It was partly that shopping was her hobby and she never got out of the habit of picking stuff up for him when she saw a great deal.
I really really don’t care what he wears. I prefer naked.
Interestingly enough my dad really likes buying my mom clothes.
We tend to shop together because it’s nice to have a second set if eyes. I never buy clothes for him without him, though, unless it’s something he asked for as a gift.
Sure, at Christmas or on my birthday I might get a shirt or a tie, but no: I buy my clothes thankyouverymuch. I can’t imagine a world where those choices are made for me. I’m an adult after all.
My husband doesn’t shop. Except for some sports-related and concert/event/trip garb, I buy it all. Shoes are the biggest pain - I buy a pair, take them home and start cajoling him to try them on; he finally does and they typically don’t fit or feel right, mostly because he doesn’t really know what size he wears. Back they go, and we start again. It sometimes takes 4 or 5 instances to get the damn shoes and at the end neither of us can remember which size we ended up with.
I buy pretty much everything around here, but he does choose audio-visual equipment cuz that’s his department. Furniture, appliances, my car, stuff for the house, professional services, groceries and stuff is my department. I have a large span of control.
Probably not, but actually in my household my husband does more shopping for me (he has a better fashion sense than I do, and he’s NOT the colorblind one in the family) than I do for him (absolutely none).
Now, generally when we go shopping for clothes (for either of us) we are together, so there is input from both parties, but I am the one making the final decision for my own clothing.
Nice to know someone else has to play the dead shirt card.
I’m only allowed to “kill off” one of his beloved t-shirts per year, by marital decree, so I have to pick carefully. It was a hard slog at first, because there were quite a few offenders left over from college which were more hole than shirt.
Same goes for boxers, really, but those I just ninja into the scrap-rag pile when I do laundry.
“Honey, where’s my nice soft boxers?”
“I dunno, maybe the dryer ate them…[innocent face] lalala.”
Log another couple who shops together. He doesn’t verbalize opinions very well, so at first I bought his stuff when he wasn’t there, and he just never wore what he didn’t like. Even when I brought it up, he wouldn’t admit that he didn’t like it, it just never ever got taken out of the closet or cabinet.
So now he has to come with me to try things on, and I’ve learned to look for the particular facial expression that means “Dear God No.” It’s a very subtle expression - he doesn’t want to cause trouble or be a pain. I’ve tried for years now to get him to just admit that he didn’t like this or that damn article of clothing, but it’s not happening.
I tried also letting him buy his own clothes, but I quickly realized that would result in legal action from him walking around exposing himself in public. So this works for us.
I fail to understand how someone can care what they wear, yet never actually think about acquiring things to wear.
I’m very picky about clothes and hard to fit, so I don’t think CrazyCatLady has ever bought a garment for me. She hates buying clothes for herself so I’m pretty sure she’s OK with that.
I might buy my husband a tie. Maybe. Any thing with a size- no way. He’ll try on 4 pairs of pants in hte same style and size because " one might fit a little differently than the others. I can’t stand to even go shopping with him.
I am currently without a wife. But even when I had one (thirteen years of marriage), I can’t remember her buying a single stitch of clothing for me. The idea of someone shopping for my clothes seems completely alien.
I generally don’t buy clothes for my husband, but I do sometimes need to tell him when he needs some new ones, and I do occasionally veto something he brings home.
He’s not fashion unconcious, but sometimes just clueless. And I’m not a fashionista, by any means.
I think every new thing he’s had since we’ve been together, I bought. (Mostly b/c I thought–‘Oooh! he’d look cute in that!’
With the exception of some workpants (he’s an odd size and I can never remember it).
I swore I’d never be like this, but I have requested that he retires certain shirts from his wardrobe. (“You know, I thought about throwing this away, but I didn’t want to do that to you.” “Thank you, that would have made me crazy about where did that shirt go!” “You’re welcome. Throw it in the trash while I WATCH so I know it’s DEAD.”)
perfectparanoia, how old is your husband? My mom buys almost all of my dad’s clothes, and I’m under the (possibly false) impression that the older the husband is, the more common it is for the wife to buy his clothing. I don’t mean that older men care less than when they were younger and that someday these currently independent guys will abdicate the responsibility too, but that when they were born had an effect on their willingness to spend the time and effort to buy things themselves.
My husband is picky about his clothes, but hates shopping. He’ll only wear Levi’s, and all of his shirts have to have a front pocket, and no banding around the sleeves if it’s a T-shirt of golf shirt. He’s retired now, so I don’t have to shop for dress shirts and ties anymore, thank Og!
The only clothes I buy for my husband are gifts, or once in a while at his request. You know, of the type, “As long as you’re going to BigLocalMall, could you pick up some new socks for me?” and then when I say Sure he tells me the relevant details.
He doesn’t like shopping much, but being a computer geek most of his wardrobe is variations on a theme anyway. He can go into one of his usual stores, get what he needs, and be out in ten minutes. Possibly five if there’s no line at the cash register.
