Tracking Everything I Wore For 1 Year
andrenader.substack.com
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Clothing is not only functional, it can also help your appearance. Looking good does wonders for your mood. Sex appeal and all that. Unfortunately, aesthetics is positively correlated with price. I wish it wasn´t true. I can easily spot your outfit was cheaply made. I am talking about casual wear.
Premium labels really go the extra mile. Fast, cheap fashion cuts lots of corners.
I don't disagree that there's good fashion and shoddy fashion but I disagree "premium labels" is how to find good fashion. For me, And I know I'm in the minority here, I find any fashion that shows the branding to be horrible. A plain t-shirt that says nothing vs plain t-shirt with a tiny "Boss", "LV", "Gucci", "Prada" branding on it for 5x to 10x the cost really says "I hoping you'll like my because I'm wearing expensive clothing". It does not say "I have good fashion sense".
Taken to an extreme you get people covered in labels. This is not "good fashion"
https://img.5milesapp.com/image/upload/f_auto,t_i800/v150598...
But it is "premium labels"
I certainly agree that dressing well (different definitions of well) generally has positive outcomes. Much of my family is fine wearing dirty old soiled t-shirts with holes in them and it bugs me. Especially when I want to take them somewhere and they're clearly out of place in those clothes relative to the rest of the people around. At the same time they're all doing fine and no care.
> Sex appeal and all that
That's just nonsense. My wardrobe value has never exceeded ~GBP250. I buy new clothing probably once every 2-3 years and even then the average spend is around GBP40-60, usually when stuff has completely worn out. I've only owned one or two items of clothing that had a "label" and they were from TKMax.
As a bloke, despite cheaping out on my sartorial choices I've never had a problem with dates/sex/relationships. It's all about personality, not being a dick and maintaining some semblance of basic personal hygiene.
Most of the folks in tech, and commenting on this article are likely men in their twenties, and men in that age group do not care very much about their outfits. They also do not have good grooming habits, probably because no one thought to drill it into them at a young age. I have also noticed that if a person in engineering dresses well, he begins to stand out and attract negative attention and comments from his peers, which can discourage even tentative attempts at improving himself in this department (most men in the engineering side of this profession are somewhat shy and reserved to begin with).
For your mood perhaps. I find “good looking” clothing uncomfortable, which makes me feel like shit.
I don't care about fashion, even a little bit. I don't agree with grand-parent post that you need fancy clothes to attract a mate. I'm happy to buy 5 copies of exact same thing that fits me. But in terms of sheer physical comfort, I'm endlessly perplexed by casual fridays and even more so by e.g. people who change out of business casual clothes and into jeans the millisecond they're home (which is basically everyone I know, so I admit I'm clearly the exception:)
A tall lanky male, I find basic business-casual pants the most light weight, practical, not-in-my-way comfortable, well breathing, perfect temperature pants. Jeans are way too constraining and hard and inflexible! In 90% of the weather they put too much heat and pressure on my nether regions. In both cut and material, they were designed to be hard-wearing, not comfortable, so I assume it's psychology that has people prefer them. And most sweat pants don't breathe as well as my lightweight casual business dress pants either, and don't fit me around hips/waist - they either fall off, or are too tight.
The business-casual pants are "inappropriate" to wear at home, so I don't, but I put them on anytime we really go anywhere. People make fun that I'm "way over dressed", and fair enough, but for the life of me I don't understand what is "uncomfortable" about lightweight business casual pants and loose, not-tucked-in polo shirt.
(not to mention that "looking good" is not necessarily a button down shirt and dress pants to begin with, but that's another relevant conversation:)
I agree with your points. Business-casual pants are really comfortable. And you mentioned not-tucked-in polo shirt. Although I prefer basic t-shirts, the difference doesn’t matter in practice.
Personally I prefer some good premium jeans. Nudie and g-star are excellent choices. If you are in your twenties, definitely combine it with a button down shirt or a good hoodie. I didn´t mean people should show up in a suit, on the contrary. But, as a general comment to the other commentators, if you buy your jeans for 20 euro and your t-shirt for 5 euro at your convenience store, I bet you are not going to look well like you could. At least in The Netherlands, in my experience, it is hard to get a sweater for 50 euro with a premium look, at least outside of the sale cycle. Shopping during sale might help to get the better stuff.
I hope I’m confused by fashion vs formality. I’m referring to “real men” wear business suits idea that is prominent in media. One example [0]:
> Once you're past 30 or so, there's really no room for T-shirts outside of exercise and physical labor. It's time to show some maturity. The majority of your casual shirts should have collars. Your stepping-outside outfits should almost always be something that would look good if you threw a sports jacket on over them.
I guess it depends on the taste. I would say the opposite is true (perhaps excluding the most cheap things you can find, but not necessarily).
Of course more expensive stuff will likely last longer and in many cases will be more practical.
Depends on the label, you generally have to go really premium to genuinely get something either well made or particularly interesting.
> Clothing is not only functional, it can also help your appearance. Looking good does wonders for your mood. Sex appeal and all that.
I would bet good money this was written by a straight man, but have you ever considered there's also butch lesbians working in blue collar jobs that have wardrobes which are primarily composed of functional, rugged clothing, often in dark colors that don't meet your requirement of getting dates and having sex appeal?
not just one segment of society (straight cis male HN reading six figure job guys who don't put effort into dressing themselves) wears something other than what your societal expecations think they should to not be "shitty" and "cheap".
your comment itself is peak HN...
- 2 pairs of jeans, on rotate
- About 20 t-shirts
- 20-ish sets of underwear + socks
- About 3-4 sweaters/jumpers/hoodies
- 1 pair of boots
- 1 pair of worn out trainers
Einstein had it right:
"Albert Einstein reportedly bought several variations of the same grey suit so that he wouldn't have to waste time deciding what to wear each morning."
The only clothing I actually care about are my t-shirts. They all have graphic prints on them depicting things I care about. Mostly Films or Metal Bands.
Oddly, the worn-out trainers I wear I bought new on eBay several years ago, and it was only some time later that I realised they were limited edition Nike Cortezs that have since sky rocketed in price (for new-in-box) and now cost £500+ . I bought them because I liked the colour, and have practically worn them to death. Trainer/sneaker collectors must hate me now.
If you care about ethical production it's difficult to spend less.
> "Albert Einstein reportedly bought several variations of the same grey suit so that he wouldn't have to waste time deciding what to wear each morning."
This sounds incredibly joyless -- the aesthetic equivalent of eating huel for every meal.
Joyless for some, bliss for others.
Is it a requirement of ethical production that clothes don't last and must be regularly replaced??
You may like clothing, playing with what you wear may give you joy, but for some having to find clothes they feel comfortable wearing, then having each day to select something to wear, ensuring that they meet some criteria that will avoid negative perception from their community is nothing short of hell.
When I find something that fits well, is comfortable and reasonably inexpensive, I purchase a bunch of them and wear them daily for the next couple of years.
That depends on how you derive joy from it. My wardrobe is fully interchangeable and I generally pick what I wear at random. It's all carefully selected to be a reflection of my personal taste. Having a personal uniform makes me quite happy.
Personally I don't think it's zero sum, enjoying your meals won't make your immaterial pursuits less worthy, for example.
The fashion industry exists to sell more clothes, and I won't be part of it.
Funny, I looked at his $3,907.65 total estimate and though that it's quite low for an adult.
Consider though that OP used retail prices, not thrift shop.
The main reason for living this way is not to have to spend brain cycles deciding what to wear every day.
Side note, I think cost per wear should factor in laundry costs. I suppose you could consider that just part of overhead if everything is just wash & wear, but it would come into play if you had anything that needed special treatment (suits to dry cleaners or something).
Each spring, if a long-sleeve shirt is still the wrong way, it's time to get rid of it. Then I hang all remaining the wrong way for next fall/winter. Short sleeve get culled in late fall, with the rest reversed for next spring/summer.
Like the author, there are a few I hang on to, for practical (or sentimental) reasons. Sometimes I'll keep an disliked t-shirt around because I'll probably use it for grimy yard work at some point.
But I do agree with the practice for short-sleeved shirts (not t-shirts), except the time for culling is not late fall, but rather, if applicable, early afternoon. Somehow it's an item strictly reserved for middle-aged overweight bus drivers in my neck of the woods.
I live in a warm climate and have managed to transition to doing very little business travel anymore. But when I go someplace where it's too cold to wear shorts and t-shirt (or where I just want to wear something slightly more business appropriate) I often have to pack things that I might not have worn for a year or more.
I live in a 4-season state and I would be pretty interested to see if I, or people in general in my area, vary their average clothing color by the season. I would theorize the people get tanned in the summer, intentionally or not, varying by race quite a bit of course, and that skin tone change would influence average clothing color selections. Another theory is I notice I wear slightly warmer-brighter clothes in the winter, in an opposition to winter's dreariness, I almost feel compelled to wear a bright Hawaiian shirt if its snowing. A third theory is people would wear lighter colors around the peak of summer to limit solar heating. A fourth theory I have is summer heat seems most comfy in clothing that's tighter or looser than average for cooling reasons and middle of the road size would the minimum of comfort in the heat, whereas in the winter middle of the road tightness would seem the best balance of warmth and comfort. These theories could all be wrong, or right, of course.
A completely different side issue is over the years I accumulate more self-created uniforms and I wonder if that would show up in the data. I have a uniform of grungy old clothes resembling the color of used motor oil for changing oil or similar greasy repair jobs. I have exactly one set of grungy clothes I wear when I paint that are all stained up so I don't care if I stain them worse. I have exactly one set of clothes for lawnmowing/yardwork, the specific type of synthetic seems to clean up well from tree sap and the shoes are a grass-stained lost cause. I have a set of clothes specifically for shoveling/snowblowing that "tech" stuff that dries quickly because sweating and cold equals hypothermia, or at least extreme discomfort. Most people already have that set of clothes they wear to the gym or other exercise, of course.
“Was fascinating to see how color played a big part in wear rates as well. My theory here is simply that my household doesn’t own enough white clothing items so the “white load” of laundry is bi-weekly vs weekly for everything else.”
I don't have any friends (and I'm happy with this), so I have no reference: do people normally really spend this much on clothing!?
My entire wardrobe is worth around $150, and that's 70% socks.
Most of my clothes last a few years.
Thank you for more clarification, but I'm still curious if you feel this is about average for your social circle or area?
A basic sweater from Loro Piana can easily run a few k, but is absolutely worth the price.
Sky is the limit when it comes to outerwear, I’ve paid around $15k for a nice fur-lined coat. Worth it? Depends on the weather, sometimes I have doubts, but then the winter comes.
If you think historically, this is in the range of cost that a knight would have spent on his armour, so more in the range of the utility of a main battle tank in modern terms.
I’ve got extensive experience commissioning various garments in workshops around the world, buying furs from auctions and hunting around the world for fine fabrics.
An order of magnitude simply isn’t realistic, you could create something similar for 33-50% of the money if you were willing to accept a cheaper exterior fabric and a lesser grade of fur. Keep in mind that regardless of materials a well crafted coat will tend to cost a few thousand euros, fur lining requires significantly more work.
If you were to just walk up to a decent tailor and ask for a quote, it’s unlikely they’d give you a number below 10000 euros.
> That being said, do you have a link to see it?
Similar to this one, from a past collection https://it.loropiana.com/en/p/man/coats-and-trench/winter-vo...
Little signaling value outside of anonymous internet conversations, visually indistinguishable from the significantly cheaper (5k) cashmere version without fur, except for the colorway that some sales rep or a true enthusiast might recognize.
that doesn't seem possible. If you get a pair of pants, a shirt and shoes it's very likely you are already above $150. Never mind jackets, underwear and other stuff.
- $105 - 5 pairs of socks (purchased because of lifetime warranty and comfort)
- $15 - 5 boxers, purchased new
- $8 - 7 shirts (new on ebay)
- $10 - 1 pair of shoes (very lucky to find these in my size!)
- $5 - 2 pairs of shorts
- $5 - 2 pairs of pants
I do laundry about every 3-5 days.
That's like $10 at a thrift shop or garage sale. Used to live like that back when I was poor. Now that I'm rich I wear a white T-shirt and sweatpants 99.9% of the time since I have barely left the house in the last 2 and a half years.
I have a few pairs that predate having kids (so 20+ years) and they are still wearable.
I own about 4 mundane shirts, 3 pairs of pants. That's it. Not much to track for me.
I guess some people have a knack for detail about such things.
Guesstimating your costs: 5 shirts $20 to $40 each (guessing Sears costs) $100 to $200 annual cost or $0.27 to $0.55 daily costs for shirts.
Mine is a European perspective.
There’s a weird thrill I get in the morning knowing that this is one less decision.
I think the key is to find something that is not 100% cotton but rather 50% cotton/50% polyester. Looking at the material difference between the shirts I've purchased, the Gildan heather colors are 50/50 where as the the other colors are either 100% cotton or 90/10. By comparison, the Dickies heavyweight and Carhartt heavyweight are 50/50 and 60/40 material.
One good realization was recognizing the type of items I would immediately come to wherever they were clean. As well as the awesome potentially low cost per wear of items that can be worn multiple times per week (obvious in retrospect but nice to know that spending a little more for quality on shoes, pants, and jackets can be worth it).
Due to my carry-on-only lifestyle I own ~ one week of warm weather clothing, combined with a few warmer layers that I wear in colder weather. I wear almost the same thing every week, and I wear it until it's worn out, then replace it. I never own anything I don't wear.
It's so simple, and I waste so little time and money on my clothes. I am fashion conscious though: the little clothing I buy is usually designer or highly technical, and neutral colors which can be combined in many different ways and still match.
Kitchen ingredients? Houseplant watering schedules?
I might have to try out a project like this.
https://www.displayr.com/what-is-a-correlation-matrix/
Another example of this chart I saw recently was examining compound curse words on reddit:
https://colinmorris.github.io/blog/compound-curse-words#the-...
Rental expensive formal clothes for special occasions is obviously a thing. But as with many other things, the overhead of renting stuff for day to day use just doesn't work for most cases.