365 days (!) of tracking my wears

(Prepare for a long read...)

Ok, this is insane. Without really noticing it, I have managed to track my wardrobe use for a YEAR. What was meant to be a one month experiment to see how often I wore what in my wardrobe, just ended up lasting. It became a daily journal of sorts, even if the format is dull and I basically plotted x-es in an Excel sheet every day.

I feel super anal for having completed this. I'm not the type to follow through with rigid habits unless they are convenient and I feel there is a big value in it, which... can be questioned in this case. What happened? The habit of recording what I was wearing snowballed and was sort of addictive, I have to admit. After a while, I just couldn't stop before a year had passed!

I'm embarrassed to publicly admit to this project, and feel like I should be spending my days on more worthwhile matters. I followed through with this because the recording took literal seconds out of my day. And the resulting data are fun - I like statistics! They are the ultimate proof that I don't need as many clothes as I think I do. That relates to a lot of us, at least in the developed world, I think, and is necessary for stopping overconsumption, being content with one's material posessions and not always chasing after something shiny and new.

Most worn items:

For illustrative purposes, not my exact items:

 
                                                           

112 times: Black Nikes (31% of the year!) - swap party find in 2017
89 times: Barbour wax jacket (24%) - bought new in 2018
66 times: Levi's 595 (35) and APC Jean Moulant (31) - 18% - thrifted in 2017/new in 2015
64 times: Black, short (34) and long puffer (30) - 18% combined - thrifted in 2013/2016
49 times: Navy Adidas sneakers (13%) - bought new in 2013
32 times: Wolverines boots (9%) - thrifted in 2014 (+ other shoes with the same number of wears: black oxfords, moccasins and winter boots)
32 times: Black faux-suede drawstring pants - thrifted in 2018
28 times: Grey wool sweater (now heavily mended, mostly worn around the house and on weekends) - thrifted in 2015.

The actual grey wool sweater:

Additional numbers:

• I wore jeans 200 times - 55% of the year! Blue/black jeans are definitely my workhorses.

• Close to half the year, I wore a long sleeve tee of some sort: bretons, thin woolens and basic cottons, mostly underneath knitwear and shirts. Not to overdo laundering, it actually makes sense to have a lot of these (I currently have 13).

• 166 times, I wore wool knitwear - a whooping 45 %! Nordic summer weather can call for wool, unfortunately. I guess this number is so high also because I have a lot of knitwear and feel like I should use it all.

• The category with the most number of items worn, was shirts and blouses with 32 items (worn 100 times). I want to declutter this category, but I enjoy wearing all of them and feel bad loading them off to the secondhand market. It's only really sustainable to wear something out, is my feeling these days. Even though it means having more than I would want. My strategy from here is to use five or so shirts in heavy rotation to wear them out, and then move on to the next five, as I have been doing somewhat the last year.

Thoughts after tracking my wardrobe:

• Even the most worn items don't actually get that much wear. There is unused potential here, considering that clothes can decay in the closet, in regards to quality and fashion. To wear (everyday) clothing at least 3 times a month is a goal for me (especially jeans, which don't need much washing). This equals 36 times in a year.

• I am splitting my wears way too much if the goal is to have a smaller wardrobe. 55 items were only worn once! 35 items were not worn at all. I don't want to discard the ones I didn't wear, though, since I have been keeping some things on hold to wear other things out. It's telling, though, that they have not been needed for a year of dressing myself - 10 of the unworn 35 are formal dresses.

• Related: I have a lot of duplicates, e.g. breton tees and striped blue shirts. My former strategy has worked, though, to wear only a selection of these to wear them out. A lot of items are close to the end of their life cycle and have to be downcycled. My climate fear won't get me sporting pit stains and funky smells in public - obviously.

• Amazingly, the Nikes are not completely worn out. They need new laces, and the heel linings are beginning to wear through (look at this mend hack, hah), but they are still going strong after all that wear. I probably bike more than I walk, though, so that might be the reason why they're not worn out.

• Now that I know (in numbers) how difficult it is to actually wear something out, I want to do the capsule wardrobe, to get better turnover. Not that the goal is to get rid of stuff for the sake of decluttering, but I would like less choice. I mend like a champ these days, though, so the most important thing is to stop the influx.

• I feel like I don't get to wear my favorites enough, which is also an argument for a capsule with my existing items. I want a wardrobe of workhorses! And maybe 20% colorful extras. On average, I wore 68 different items a month (!).

• #30wears is a slow fashion hashtag and concept fronted by Livia Firth. Only 14 of my items reached 30 wears in a year, mostly shoes, jeans and jackets. But considering that 30 means wearing something 2.5 times a month, maybe it's not so surprising? I wonder how much higher the number would be with a smaller capsule wardrobe.

• My goal is to not shop for the rest of the year, including second hand. But I'm longing for a floral silk blouse like this or something patterned, since I have a lot of basics and feel like my style is somewhat boring at the moment. For the time being, I'll try to be more conscious of wearing the colorful items I know I have in the back of my wardrobe, and see what happens with the alleged longing.

• I believe the main problem a lot of people have with keeping sustainable wardrobes, is that they buy replacements before an old duplicate has worn out. They start wearing the crispy new item, forgetting that they have an old, adequate item that serves the same function as the new one. The old item lingers and clutters the closet until a closet overhaul, then gets thrown out, causing the premature end of a garment's life cycle. Being conscious of this habit is the first step.

• I do get a kick out of frugality, but I need to constantly remind myself of that fact as to not get hooked on thrifting more beautiful/useful things, which is a hobby I enjoy. I'll try to get my "fix" thrifting for gifts. But does that just continue the consumption as a pleasurable hobby, an addiction I should try to kick?

In conclusion

One of the biggest benefits was that it kept me on track (pun intended) with the shopping fast. Seeing how rare most of the items were worn, made me unable to justify bringing new clothes into my wardrobe – even if my love for beautiful or interesting clothes remained. The cognitive dissonance just became too palpable.

I'm actually even pondering sending the data and my wardrobe inventory to a clothes ethnologist who has done so-called wardrobe studies. Maybe she could use it as a case study? Or maybe it's mostly interesting to me and my journey with slow fashion and climate fear.

The best and worst part is: I don't want to stop, I'm hooked on recording my sartorial life! Have you tried tracking what you wear?