I'd agree with Isabel -- worn out doesn't really qualify as "churn" to me. I mean, technically, I suppose it is, yet surely it's reasonable to get rid of worn out clothing and purchase new unworn items if something is truly worn out.
Typically, lower quality items will wear out faster, though, so a whole closet of fast fashion finds might have to be fully replaced each year or two, and that does sound like churn.
I haven't properly analyzed what I mean by churn and maybe if I did, I would stop my hand-wringing. : ) I do know that I edit out about 1/4 to 1/3 of my closet each year. And buy an equivalent number of items. With a moderate to large sized wardrobe, that's quite a lot of purchases! I wonder if I can be more mindful of them, is all.
I've actually kept some records over the past year, but hadn't looked at them until now. Here's my chance. I just spent a few minutes looking over my records, and....
I "retired" (passed on or donated) a whopping 52 items this past year!! (And bought almost that many, though I'd have to review my count.) That's actually more than a third of my closet.
Having said that, here's the breakdown of those items:
- 19 were worn out, well past their prime. When I say worn out, I mean holes in knits, shiny, worn fabric on wovens, holes in jeans, worn down footwear that a cobbler can't revive, pilly, stretched out of shape knits, stains that won't come out, etc.
- 5 did not fit well (3 of these were shoes that had seemed okay at first, but turned out not to work.)
- 8 were what I would call "mistaken purchases." I only wore them a few times before realizing they were not going to work well for me. One of these I had kept in the closet for a few years before passing on because it was pricey enough that I felt I *should* be wearing it. But I wasn't, so I finally let it go. Most of these items were purchased on sale and all got at least 4 or 5 wears in their lifetime with me.)
- 7 were older items that didn't work as well with my new hair colour. These items had seen serious wear in the previous 2-5 years, so I don't think they were "wasted."
- 10 were well-worn items that were not "worn out" but I was tired of them or they felt dated. Most of these I gave to my stepdaughter.
- 3 ended up as loungewear.
On balance, I don't know if this constitutes a lot of churn or not. I guess I can work on eliminating the "mistaken purchases." I can't really stop things from wearing out except by wearing them less (which sort of defeats the purpose!)
I can also work on ensuring a better fit in shoes. And perhaps the other "well worn but not worn out" category is the one I should be watching.
I have to do a tally of purchases to date. I don't think I have bought quite this many items so my closet is a bit leaner this year.
