Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Quality and Care in Wardrobe Planning

We've been discussing the idea of cost-per-wear, and how this little equation can be used when making your wardrobe choices. However, you shouldn't think of cost-per-wear as the sole determiner of what to buy. There are other factors involved in building your wardrobe wisely.


The way cost-per-wear works is that the more you wear an item, the less you spend for each wearing. We've seen how this can make a more expensive item the better bargain in the long run. But two other things factor in to the economics of a small wardrobe: quality and care.

If you are interested in having a fully functional wardrobe, you need to start thinking about maximizing the number of times you can wear something. We're not talking about over-exposing the clothing in your closet. Rather, the idea is to have each article of clothing in some form of a rotation so that it gets worn regularly. Keeping an eye on quality and care will help you do this.

Quality will directly affect the longevity of the garment. The better the quality of the garment, the longer it will last. The longer it will last, the more wearings you can get out of it. This is how cashmere, at twice or three times the price of polyester (maybe more) will be a better bargain in the long run.

There is a sweet spot here, though, if you are interested in the economics of a small wardrobe. When the price of something reflects not only its quality but its label, you may be paying more for the brand name than you are for the quality. Just because something is designer does not always mean that it is quality. There are some appallingly "cheap" designer clothes out there that are outrageously pricey. Keep this in mind when you are planning out your wardrobe, and learn to spot quality independent of name or price.

Of course, properly caring for your garments will also help extend their life, improving that ol' cost-per-wear ratio. Proper cleaning and storage is definitely in order! However, the economic aspect of caring for your clothes doesn't stop there. Think also about how the type of care the garment requires will affect its overall cost to you. If something needs frequent dry cleaning, it will be more expensive to maintain than cotton that can be washed at home. Learn which items truly need dry cleaning (those that say Dry Clean ONLY), and those that can be washed by you with special attention (and many items can...you just need to know how!)

Tomorrow will be Q&A day, so come on back!

See you then...same blog time...same blog channel....

(For more information on wardrobe planning, or to sign up for my free e-zine, please visit my wardrobe planning website)

13 comments:

Lisa M. McLellan said...

I try never to buy dry clean only clothes because they seem to be more expensive to begin with anyway (probably because they are better quality) but then I hate paying more to clean it than it cost to buy it.
Babysitter, Nannies, and Au-pairs

Anonymous said...

Good advice. I purchased some trousers that were seemingly expensive at the cash register, but they are like the energizer bunny -- they keep going and going and going. They have turned out to be among my least expensive clothes when cost per wear is considered.

Darryl Pace

RobFromGa said...

Good factors to consider when making a purchase…
Seize the Day,
Rob
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Anonymous said...

good fabrics fall under "quality" for me. And clothes that aren't too high in maintenance gets my highest consideration

Anonymous said...

These cost-per-wear related posts have been great. Too often when we spend money on "lifestyle" items for ourselves, we simply consider the up-front cost and not the overall value of the purchase.

Keep up the great writing!

Craig Ernst

David J Parnell said...

This again is another good communication. Frequent dry cleaning does become very expensive and this should be a factor in any purchase...

David J. Parnell | Evolved Communication
The Effective Communication Blog

Matthew Shields said...

Hi , Jenn
That is very true I had not really thought of the costs associated with the maintainience of the cloths.
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Matthew Shields
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Lena Milukh said...

Hi Jennifer
It's so nice to have you on our course.Usually I have to spoil quite a few things before I learn how to look after similar ones.And here I can learn so many useful info.
Thanks
Reading and Decoding Body Language

Jennifer Skinner said...

Darryl-
Energizer bunny... I love it!

Lena-
Thank you! Glad to have you around, as well!

Jennifer

Robert Kaufer said...

To get in Q and A early, what about buying second hand???

Bob K

Learn How to Be A Do It Yourself Lawyer …

Kevin Hogan said...

excellent
kevin
www.kevinhogan.net

gr8skot said...

Great Stuff!

Scott Bell

www.scottalexanderbell.com

Midlife Dating Expert, Singles Workshop Conference Speaker said...

oh YES, delicates often just need hand washing.

and for all our lovely delicate femmy combo inner sex vixen lingerie... I like to use rose scented liquid soap or other thingies like that.

I want to SURROUND myself with femminess so I am in utter CONTRAST to all those lovely stolid masculine men, don't you Jennifer? You are so darling and feminine TOO!

All the best,

April Braswell

Online Dating Expert, Romance Coach, Relationship Coaching

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