6/2012: Sylvie's wardobe stats

I was inspired by Kate's thread and NAS preparations to post a mid-year update on mine. Five months earlier. Warning: Wordy and geeky.

I have 126 items, which is an increase of 10. Biggest increase was in handbags: +4.

Belt 6
Blazer 2
Bootie 1
Boots:Ankle 3
Boots:Tall 4
Cardigan 12
Coat 4
Dress 17
Handbag 8
Jacket 1
Jeans 4
Leggings 5
Pants 3
Sandals 7
Shoes 5
Skirt 3
T-shirt 10
Tank 6
Top:Layering 3
Top:LongSleeves 7
Top:Sleeveless 11
Tunic 3
Turtleneck 1

I added 17 total items in the first half of 2012.. Most of my clothes were bought from 2010 onwards, as I started working on my wardrobe and found YLF at the end of that year. My pre-2010 clothes are about 20% of the wardrobe.

<2010 27
2010 28
2011 55
2012 17

My oldest item is a black silk top that I wore for career fairs and such in college. It cost $20 and is probably at $2-$3 CPW. It is a size larger than what I normally wear and I can see now that it doesn't fit right in the shoulders. Doing this analysis has convinced me that it is time to purge it.

My newest item hasn't arrived yet, but it's a Kate Spade quilted evening bag.

I have three unworn items - silver clutch purse, brown belt and green nexx blouse, purchased in February, May and June of this year, respectively. Ok, four if you include the not-yet-arrived purse.

I only have CPW info for 95 items. Of those, 4 are at >$100 CPW, 4 at $50-$100, 8 at $20-$50, 13 at $10-20, 19 at $5-10, 39 at $1-$5 and 8 at <$1. I'd love to see everything get down to <$1 CPW before being tossed, though that's a pipe dream for formal dresses.

Pre-2010 MVP: ATL black silk v-neck cardigan which is finally starting to wear out and has probably been worn 80-100 times. It's perfect and I'm desperate for a replacement.

Pre-2010 Runner Up: Black hooded raincoat by Jones NY. I've replaced the zipper pull and it's still going strong at <$1 CPW. Original price was $160 but I was lucky enough to get it on sale for $80.

MVP from 7/2011-6/2012: DKNY Mauve Trench at $0.83 CPW, ON Denim Jacket at $0.875 CPW, Coach green crossbody at $1.95 CPW, Gap Straights at $0.675 (will replace these at 50 cent mark), Gap men's belt at $0.34 CPW.

LVP from 7/2011-6/2012: 2 rayon tops at $4.34 CPW when I shrunk them by machine washing them. J. Crew blythe blouse that developed tears after 2 wearings and was returned. There are some other items to which I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt.

Budget: Still in the wardrobe investment stage. Based on the first six months of 2012, I'm on track to spend 2.5% of my pre-tax income this year.

That's probably enough analysis to bore anyone but if you want to know any other wardrobe stats, ask away!

13 years ago

Keix

Veteran

I recently started a spreadsheet to track my own wardrobe, so clearly I'm in the pro-geeky-stats camp. I love this and am very impressed by your detailed CPW stats.

Anonymous

Sylvie, I loved reading your numbers and report! Good job. I always wonder how others do their planning and budgeting.

goldenpig

(website)

Wow Sylvie. I love this! Especially how you were able to figure out what the stars of your closet are! Great job--are you a statistician or scientist? I wish I had the time to do this sort of detailed analysis of my CPW but then 1) I wouldn't have time to play with the kids and 2) I'd probably be horrified at how high my CPW is. So I think I'll just live in blissful ignorance for now, LOL! I think I know what my MVPs are but I don't have the hard data to back it up. It's fascinating though!

harmonica

I love to read this and you've come a long way! I like the way different strategies of CPW can be used in different way, both as getting items in rotation, purging, budgeting and shopping strategies.

ManidipaM

Wow! This is brilliant, Sylvie. And I'm terribly impressed that you managed (a) keep the numbers down (b) keep even the costs down in proportion to income in even the INVESTMENT phase of wardrobe building. This is truly inspirational.

How often and how many items at a time did you buy, if you don't mind my asking? Was there a lot more buying in the initial months that tapered off later? Or has it been slow and steady? Did you buy workhorses and/or basics first, big-ticket purchases up front...? Did the seasons influence your buying pattern (more shopping in the dominant season, or for the most challenging one)?

Sylvie

Thank you ladies! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

KL: If you're any sort of geek, I think you'll find the spreadsheet really useful.

Claire: I always wonder how everyone does their planning and budgeting as well. I've probably read all the ylf budget threads multiple times.

GP: I'm an engineering type and it doesn't take me that long to increment the numbers in the spreadsheet a few times at week. I usually do it during lunch at work. I admire how you're able to figure out your style and MVPs intuitively. Fashion isn't intuitive for me, so I'm approaching it via the familiar tools of analysis.

Harmonica: CPW has been so helpful in getting me to prioritize my wardrobe purchases. $16 sweater that pills after one wearing = not worth it. $50 blouse I love = worth it.

Manidipa: I don't mind you asking questions at all! I wish I had started tracking earlier so I had all the answers.

This is the second to third year of wardrobe building so it has been a little easier to keep costs down. I spent 0.81% of my pretax income in the last two months of 2011 and each of those months I bought 12-13 items.

Based on the past two years, it looks like I do most of my shopping Nov-Jan and Apr-Jul, which would correspond to the "cold" and "warm" seasons. Also, between Xmas sales and NAS, I've usually done so much buying I'm ready for a break in the other months.

Otherwise, the seasons don't affect my wardobe too much since most of it can be worn year round with appropriate (or no) layering. Only accessories such as shoes, scarves and coats are seasonal.

When I started, my shopping was not as organized as it is today and as I identified wardrobe holes, I would try to fill them. Here's a timeline of the major purchases without which my wardrobe wouldn't be the same.

Summer 2010: Four dresses of which three eventually became workhorses.

Fall-Winter 2010: Winter coat, two pairs of tall boots, a bunch of cardigans.

Spring 2011: More dresses, another pair of tall boots and some sleeveless woven blouses.

Summer 2011: Silk blend knit tops from NAS, which have become workhorse work tops. Three wool blend cardigans.

Fall 2011: Flat summer sandals and my trench coat.

Winter 2011: Lots of stuff here! Leggings, denim jacket, belts, a workhorse blazer, the perfect crossbody purse and perfect clutch purse. Nice scarves to replace my old and crappy scarves.

Spring 2011: Nexx blouses, Flat closed toe summer shoes (oxfords)

Summer 2011: Two dress purses + future NAS purchases.

I'm looking out for: replacement cardigans, a few "fun" belts, a few skirts to experiment with and some toppers - denim or pleather jacket, light weight coats.

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