Three month minimal wardrobe test

[dojpros]

Following with interest to the extent possible. I unfortunately have to run three wardrobes:

1. Jacket and tie for court (matching suit for some court)

2. Business casual for work on Fridays and all days during the summer unless in court. (collared shirt/slacks or khakis)

3. Non Work causal (slim jeans, t-shirts, slacks, some non dress collared shirts, some hiking style pants by First Ascent/ Prana etc.

I can say this as someone who has too many clothes

a. I am now on the 1 in 2 out rule.
b. If I have not worn it in 1 yr and 1 day, it is gone
c. Moving away from the quality of intersection of quality/value to a buy quality/cry once model
d. Moving away from made in China toward made in the USA etc. when possible. This is very tough to do
as some segments of clothing have almost entirely shifted to China. And candidly, the quality coming out of China is often quite good.
e. Unless it is underwear or socks, or clothes/gear for a travel opportunity of a lifetime that presented itself with a very narrow time window,NEVER pay retail. 25% with free shipping bare minimum.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

May I suggest that you take the daily approach of selecting "the most worn out" of available DD clothes, subject to an "unless the event calls for something sharper" exception ....... Finding myself with too many clothes in far too many categories, I take a "pick on the weakest link" approach in the hopes of wearing something out sooner rather than later.

We're definitely on the same page . Yes, stick to "the shallow end of the pool", keep the good gear good, and drop in one of the duplicates as a direct replacement when needed .

I think this spectrum layout, with the corresponding items adjacent to each other on the rail, is going to make for neater logic, even if it doesn't make for neater hanging. It also gives an "at a glance" view of what options are available for whatever the day has instore.

If the grey trousers are in the wash, and I need to smarten up, the next in line is going to be the tan cords, with whatever tops are adjacent. If I'm only nipping out for shopping, or spending the afternoon at a family BBQ, the same logic applies at the other end of the rail - if the blue jeans are in the wash, it's the tan chinos with whatever's either side.

No wading through trying to mix and match. No decision fatigue. What you need is staring back at you already paired up, one trouser to three or four tops.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Following with interest to the extent possible. I unfortunately have to run three wardrobes:

1. Jacket and tie for court (matching suit for some court)

2. Business casual for work on Fridays and all days during the summer unless in court. (collared shirt/slacks or khakis)

3. Non Work causal (slim jeans, t-shirts, slacks, some non dress collared shirts, some hiking style pants by First Ascent/ Prana etc.

I can say this as someone who has too many clothes

a. I am now on the 1 in 2 out rule.
b. If I have not worn it in 1 yr and 1 day, it is gone
c. Moving away from the quality of intersection of quality/value to a buy quality/cry once model
d. Moving away from made in China toward made in the USA etc. when possible. This is very tough to do
as some segments of clothing have almost entirely shifted to China. And candidly, the quality coming out of China is often quite good.
e. Unless it is underwear or socks, or clothes/gear for a travel opportunity of a lifetime that presented itself with a very narrow time window,NEVER pay retail. 25% with free shipping bare minimum.

I reckon this "formality spectrum" and interwoven rail concept would work for you too, albeit you might need three suits where my pin stripe trousers are, and an extra two pairs of business casual grade, or whatever.

My wardrobe was very similar to an extent, about 5 to 7 years ago. Four suits in varying formality, office wear, "night out with the lads" clothes, regular daily clothes, "mucking in on the shop floor" wear, and gardening or "fixing up the boat on the weekend" wear. Ocassionally running out of something of one type, and having to pinch something from the next tier up.

 

[Doc4]

I can say this as someone who has too many clothes

a. I am now on the 1 in 2 out rule.
b. If I have not worn it in 1 yr and 1 day, it is gone

I agree with the 2-out for 1-in rule. Although for me, it's more of "2-out and 0-in" while I work on getting my collection out of "way too many" and down to "a lot but manageable".

I'm not fond of the "not worn in a year" rule for me. I prefer (as mentioned in a post above responding to the OP) to hold most of my items in a category "in reserve" and focus on a small number of items that I will wear over and over until they start to wear out and then replace them from the "reserve". This will take well more than one year to finish using up the reserve (go see the "3017" thread in shave soaps for an idea of the timeframe hahaha) so I accept that lots of my clothes won't see the light of day until it's their "turn" in the spotlight of regular use.

This means I start to wear stuff out and discard items faster (even if the end result is arguably the same time either way.)

That being said, I won't bother waiting a year to discard items that I regret and don't see myself wanting to wear. They can go now.

e. Unless it is underwear or socks, or clothes/gear for a travel opportunity of a lifetime that presented itself with a very narrow time window,NEVER pay retail. 25% with free shipping bare minimum.

Sort of ... balance this with the buy-once-cry-once for "quality" idea. Of course, you save 100% of the cost of everything you don't buy. So ... unless you are running low on a particular item and don't have enough to get by and actually need some ... maybe just don't buy any.

 

[Doc4]

As for the slobbing out, loungewear, "don't want to face the world" clothing, that's purely chosen for comfort. Jersey shorts, fleece trousers, tee shirts, big comfy jumpers. Some might be demoted items, but many won't.

I take a different approach. I don't so much consider them "lounge wear" as I consider them "work clothes" ... for mowing the lawn, gardening, chopping wood ... painting the fence. Basically, if I don't mind getting big slops of paint on them, they don't belong in this category.

Or holes from sparks from a yardwaste-burning bonfire. (I have a longsleeve t-shirt that I used for that ... and it looks like I was on the losing end of a machine gun barrage.)

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I take a different approach. I don't so much consider them "lounge wear" as I consider them "work clothes" ... for mowing the lawn, gardening, chopping wood ... painting the fence. Basically, if I don't mind getting big slops of paint on them, they don't belong in this category.

Or holes from sparks from a yardwaste-burning bonfire. (I have a longsleeve t-shirt that I used for that ... and it looks like I was on the losing end of a machine gun barrage.)

Will you get out of my head!!! (j/k)

I was just making a brew, and thinking I need to add another pair of trousers at the scruffy end of the spectrum. I've still got two pairs of Dickies cargo pants from when I was working, and a similar pair of Helly Hanson. One of those, and matching shirts (Swanndri, padded shirt etc), for busy about the house/garden would be in order.

I have good health days, and bad health days. The bad health days are the loungewear, slobbing out clothes. I'm NOT slobbing out, I just can't function. But then on days where the brainstem IS working, I don't want to be racking up mileage on the daily decents.

I'm drifting somewhat away from "minimal", but still being massively more organised, and adopting your "save it till it's needed" approach for the reserve as you call it. I reckon I'll still be well under half of what's currently in there, and wearing things out one at a time, instead of the old routine of everything migrating to the grey area, where "nothing is good enough to go out in, nor bad enough to do decorating in"

 

[Doc4]

I have good health days, and bad health days. The bad health days are the loungewear, slobbing out clothes. I'm NOT slobbing out, I just can't function.

I am sorry to hear that. Certainly your "slobbing" clothing has a different purpose than mine. For me I'd still be wearing "demoted" items rather than "purpose bought" for this. But hey, to each his own.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I am sorry to hear that. Certainly your "slobbing" clothing has a different purpose than mine. For me I'd still be wearing "demoted" items rather than "purpose bought" for this. But hey, to each his own.

Cheers Doc. Yeah, on the down days I essentially need clothes I can sleep in (at the drop of a hat), and yet still open the door in, without scaring the postman

I have those three pairs of heavy duty cargos, plus another two pairs of hiking trousers stashed away somewhere, and several upper body items of workwear or outdoorsy stuff that wasn't in the original count. I might as well make some use of it, and not mangle the shopping uniform

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I just did a quick recount, and I think my initial numbers were way off. The 7 pairs of trousers that will be staying in the wardrobe, means that (and this shocked me) 14 pairs won't be. That's not counting suits or jogging bottoms.

Some of those, at least two pairs, are ones I've been wringing the last dregs of life out of. Many (two dress, two hiking, two jeans, one cords) are almost direct duplicates of ones that are scheduled to stay, so they'll be kept as spares. The rest need bagging up ready for when the charity shops reopen. Office type shirts particularly. I've easily got enough for a two week rota... but don't work.

As to the spares, they might take some time to get around to, but not all my clothing is high quality/hard wearing. Some is, some isn't. It's not infeasible that some of the spares could be getting a place in the line up within the next 18-24 months. Losing the occasional battle with gravity might rob a couple of pairs from me too.

Once this new system has been put together and proven, I need to get the spares out of sight, not just bump them down the rail a bit.

I'm glad there's been some input on this thread, as I was a little apprehensive that it might not have been relevant to many people, so thank you to all that have participated so far.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I completely emptied the wardrobe today, and started putting it all back in on this interwoven system. Starting with the trousers in the correct sequence, and then putting all the shirts (long sleeve, short sleeve, and polo) in between the relevant trousers, even though there's more than the allotted amount between certain pairs of trousers. This lets me see where the bulk of the duplication lies, and where things are already at the right quantities. I can deal with the excess duplication later, and choose what's to stay, what's to go, and what's to be put to one side till needed. In time, it will also highlight where the shortfalls are, so I'm not just buying a nice shirt, but the RIGHT shirt i.e. that matches the two flanking trousers.

It's working really well, and is making things MUCH clearer.

I also made a decision on the whites. There's three white button up shirts. A stripey weave dress/office shirt, a casual collared shirt, and a grandad collar shirt. I have very few light coloured shirts, so I'll let these stay in there. Even though it's not often I wear a white shirt, they can be useful on hotter days, where my usual darker shirts will be catching the rays and increasing the heat. I also have three t-shirts what are a little bit yellowed, one long sleeve and two short, but these will be getting dyed espresso brown.

I've also decided that all the long sleeved t-shirts, will go in the drawer with almost all the short sleeved ones. They can be used as loungewear, worn with jeans or shorts, or worn as a base layer. They're better off NOT being hung interwoven and paired. I haven't decided what total quantity to aim for there yet.

 

[Doc4]

I also made a decision on the whites.

A while ago I decided (regarding my dress shirts for work) that I'd predominantly wear my white shirts during the height of summer and early fall, when my tan is at its darkest. Then, as my skin begins to take on its winter pale, away go the white shirts for almost all occasions, replaced by coloured or striped options.

So dress shirt washing day is either basically all whites ... or basically no whites at all. Depending on the time of year.

 

[MichaelUK]

I have too many clothes. Far too many. This comes from ..... <SNIP>

Trainers, Tracksuit bottoms's + a footy shirt covers every occasion, all year round.

Add in a hoodie for nights out, or if its really cold.

Matching tracksuit top for formal occasions / court appearances with an accessorised baseball cap

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Trainers, Tracksuit bottoms's + a footy shirt covers every occasion, all year round.

Add in a hoodie for nights out, or if its really cold.

Matching tracksuit top for formal occasions / court appearances with an accessorised baseball cap

Hoodies are something I do have, two Help4heroes ones. One or two baseball caps too. I'm sorely lacking in the tracksuit and footie shirt department though

 

[AimlessWanderer]

A while ago I decided (regarding my dress shirts for work) that I'd predominantly wear my white shirts during the height of summer and early fall, when my tan is at its darkest. Then, as my skin begins to take on its winter pale, away go the white shirts for almost all occasions, replaced by coloured or striped options.

So dress shirt washing day is either basically all whites ... or basically no whites at all. Depending on the time of year.

That's why I kept three I'd still be selective when I wore them though.

I use nasal snuff. I won't be doing that with a white shirt on. I also won't typically wear a white shirt if going out for a meal, or wearing sun cream.

 

[MichaelUK]

I have always kept at least one black polo shirt and one white linen shirt in my wardrobe, as they are very adaptable.

thick striped polo shirts work well too for many occasions, as do boat shoes and penny loafers.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I have always kept at least one black polo shirt and one white linen shirt in my wardrobe, as they are very adaptable.

thick striped polo shirts work well too for many occasions, as do boat shoes and penny loafers.

Yup. I do have a couple of plain black polo shirts, three plain black v-neck t-shirts, and a black crew neck long sleeved t-shirt too. Other polo shirts are 1x blue horizontal stripe, 1x salmon pink, 1x light green, and a couple of blue ones with Help4Heroes logos (I do have a few H4H things).

I've got a good array of footwear. Hiking boots, trainers (always black), black/brown two-tone deck shoes, brown slip-ons, leather sandals, plimsols, dress shoes, dress ankle length boots, steel toed brogues, wellies... all events covered.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Yup. I do have a couple of plain black polo shirts, three plain black v-neck t-shirts, and a black crew neck long sleeved t-shirt too.

Oh, and a plain black V neck pullover with nothing underneath works well too.

 

[ShaverAZ]

I've got too many clothes, but I'm retired and have all the time in the world to wear them all. If I put my mind to it, I don't have to do laundry for several weeks (except for sox & underwear). I've been accumulating t-shirts for decades. I think the as-new Joe Camels will go to E-Bay, since they're classics. But I worked for a company for almost 15 years that gave out quarterly award T-Shirts to the outstanding dep't performance. I've got T-Shirts dept's and also a bale of them from idea awards. Oyher subsequent jobs also had t-shirts, and I also accumulated a bale of various colored t-shirts with pockets, as well as a bunch'a polo shirts. Thn I've got sport shirts & dress shirts in the wear rotation, now, too. I live in the desert & wear mainly shorts year 'round, but chinos and jeans round out the wardrobe.

The only thing I need to be rid of is a 40 year old Harris Tweed sportcoat that's too small. I'll get another someday, since it goes well with chinos & jeans ...

I don't have any suits, since it would be folly to wear one in the 110º Arizona summer heat. Those who do have rocks in their head & are from somewhere else.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I've got too many clothes, but I'm retired and have all the time in the world to wear them all. If I put my mind to it, I don't have to do laundry for several weeks (except for sox & underwear). I've been accumulating t-shirts for decades. I think the as-new Joe Camels will go to E-Bay, since they're classics. But I worked for a company for almost 15 years that gave out quarterly award T-Shirts to the outstanding dep't performance. I've got T-Shirts dept's and also a bale of them from idea awards. Oyher subsequent jobs also had t-shirts, and I also accumulated a bale of various colored t-shirts with pockets, as well as a bunch'a polo shirts. Thn I've got sport shirts & dress shirts in the wear rotation, now, too. I live in the desert & wear mainly shorts year 'round, but chinos and jeans round out the wardrobe.

The only thing I need to be rid of is a 40 year old Harris Tweed sportcoat that's too small. I'll get another someday, since it goes well with chinos & jeans ...

I don't have any suits, since it would be folly to wear one in the 110º Arizona summer heat. Those who do have rocks in their head & are from somewhere else.

You're the second person to mention smalls. I unashamedly have a lot. No regrets. No intention to cut down. If I haven't got at least 20 of each, I'm going shopping.

As to t-shirts, I've left two in the wardrobe which have buttoned neck, for decoration, not function. There might be 10 more regular tees in the drawer, along with 6 long sleeved tees which I decided not to hang back up.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Most things have gone back in the wardrobe for now, but in the new sequence. The long sleeved t-shirts didn't, they've gone in a drawer. 10 pairs of trousers, 8 shirts, and a few other tops haven't gone back in either. They need sorting into reserve and donate piles later.

As I was loading stuff back into the right place, I noticed some stuff wasn't there... and wasn't in the laundry basket either. After some head scratching and hunting, I eventually found them lurking in a weekend bag that I hadn't unpacked since the beginning of the year. I need to get those washed and put into the line up. I obviously managed without them, but given the choice, I'd rather have those than something else.

The spaces between pairs of trousers are currently too full with tops. I didn't stop at just shirts and polo shirts, but did pullovers, and sweatshirts too. A little more jiggery pokery and fine tuning is still required. I need to make sure the layers all work with each other, and might need to do some trying on.

I'm also number crunching wear time duration. If there's three pairs of "3 day" trousers, there needs to be nine "1 day" summer tops there, and however many warmer options, depending if they're worn next to the skin or not.

I want this all sorted so that I'm working with just the streamlined line up from 1st June, but I reckon I'm approaching halfway there now. The spectrum layout is definitely working too. The two pairs of trousers at either end have about the right number of upper garment options, and the overcrowding is mostly in the middle. This is good, because I'm likely to get spares of the most used items, but not the least used.