I have 460 items of things I can wear! I’ve shared percentages before but I’ve never shared actual numbers. This has been a deliberate choice and I’ve been reluctant to share the count for a long time though I started to examine why this was the case.
Why did I feel the need to hide the facts about my wardrobe?
Well, I guess I was a little afraid of what people think. There are a lot judgy peeps on the interwebs out there. Some of you probably think that I’m frivolous having wasted my money on so many clothes. Although I’ve always been responsible about my purchases and I’ve never bought anything I couldn’t afford or prioritized fashion over paying bills or necessary expenses, I can think of other better uses for that money. I think I’m also being wasteful and damaging the environment by overconsuming clothes that I don’t absolutely need.
But the truth is that people are going to think whatever they’re going to think anyway.
One of the whole points of this blog is to shed light on the data in the ordinary things and how can I do that if I don’t put any information out there? Sure, there are a few studies of people’s wardrobes over the years but it’s not really a serious research topic and the numbers can be wildly inaccurate if people are just guessing… I never would have thought I had this many clothes until I did a precise count and started tracking this info.
So, in the spirit of transparency and to give other people concrete numbers to react to…I’ve put up my info.
My initial reaction is that I have way too many clothes. Now, some of it is rather old (75% was purchased over 5 years ago) and I do still wear most of it. Still, I’m not a fashion blogger or a fashionista though I do like clothes. I also have a hard time letting go of things. They say you should get rid of things you haven’t worn in 6 months but I’ve found that I’ve taken a hiatus from wearing a piece for several years, then come back to it and started wearing it again.
What am I counting as a wardrobe item?
- I counted tops, bottoms such as pants and skirts, dresses, and outer layers such as coats, jackets, & cardigans
- Some people don’t count these but I included my pajamas and sleepwear, lounge clothes, and workout gear (I don’t distinguish between “home” and “going out” clothes because it’s not that much different and I’m not one those formal dressers that would be embarrassed to be caught the grocery store wearing sweats and yoga pants. Besides, it leaves a lot of room for cheating if you don’t count piece just because you typically wouldn’t wear them outside the house).
- I didn’t count accessories such as scarves, hats, sunglasses, or jewelry
- I didn’t count shoes or purses (hard goods as the donation store calls it)
- I also don’t count underwear… (so thongs not counted, whether you’re thinking of flipflops or underwear)
- Grey area: I counted camisoles, which could be lumped with undergarments though it could be worn as on it’s own like a tank top. I also count crop tops but not sports bras.
- Also, is it a scarf or a shawl? I don’t really wear shawls as outwear and mostly just use scarves as accessories so those aren’t counted.
- I also have a few multi-functional pieces that don’t fall nicely into a category. For example, I have cardigans that I can button up and wear like a top or wear unbuttoned on top of another shirt. So, should they be tops or outerwear? I also have a convertible skirt dress.
(My rule is that if I generally wear it like a top, bottom, dress, or outwear then that’s what I count it as.) - Count sets or items? Do a set of pajamas count as 1 or 2? What about suit sets? What about socks?
- I counted items separately if they can be worn separately without requiring the other garment. So, if I can wear the pajama top with other pajama bottoms and so forth, the set will count as 2 pieces. If the set is attached and can’t be physically separated, it counts as 1 item. As discussed above, I don’t count socks in the wardrobe as they are part of my undergarments (though I think a separate count on those is warranted.) However, if I were counting socks, I would count each pair as 1 (rather than each item) since I’m probably never going to wander around with just 1 sock.
This seems like a lot of extra work to define the count but also necessary, I think.
So, how many pieces do you have in your wardrobe, according to whatever definition makes sense for you?