2019 Numbers - YouLookFab Forum

Just a quick rundown of my numbers this year. By my tally, I culled 39 items this year, broken down as follows:

4 leggings
2 sweaters
7 shoes
1 casual dress
1 vintage skirt
3 pants
3 jeans
3 denim shorts
2 gear tops
1 swimsuit
2 dressy tops
3 casual tops
6 lounge tops
1 lounge bottom

Reasons included fit, fabrication, and wear-and-tear. Items were donated, sold, consigned, or recycled (taken to textile recycling at least, so I can cross my fingers they didn't end up in a landfill).

I added 37 items total, three of which are duds that I will probably pass along next year.

Pants - 4 (2 jeans, 1 chinos, 1 corduroys)
Sweaters/sweatshirts - 4 (1 cotton crewneck, 2 cotton v-necks, 1 hoodie)
Other tops - 2 (flannel shirt, striped turtleneck)
Summer tops - 1 (cotton camisole)
Shorts - 1 (chino)
Dressy items - 3 (vintage cocktail dress, drapey jumpsuit, floral camisole)
Footwear - 9 (insulated hiking boots, fleece-lined sneakers, new gear sandals, new trail runners, canvas sneakers, black oxfords, tan mary-janes, suede oxfords, shearling boots)
Gear - 4 (swimsuit, leggings, fleece ¼ zip, snow pants)
Lounge - 6 (2 pants and 4 camis; built a capsule of summer loungewear that didn’t exist before)
Duds - 3 (white oxford shirt, bike shorts, vintage jeans)

Eleven of these 37 items were secondhand, but two of those eleven have ended up in the holding zone (the vintage jeans and the oxford shirt). I had ridiculously good luck with Everlane this year, at seven items. I added very little for the summer season because hot weather was so slow in arriving and because I spent a good portion of July and August traveling. I am planning on adding two or three more items before the end of the year, including big-ticket coat and boots. You can see that I invest significantly more resources in cold-season clothing!

I didn't really check my numbers much throughout the year, just kept a running list in a Google Doc. So it's pretty remarkable to me how even my in's and out's have turned out to be.

5 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I'm impressed with how organically the numbers worked out! Even-stevens, so good editing and purchasing intuition.

Good job shopping for your dominant season and lifestyle.

Helena

Veteran

Awesome laPed ... I think writing it down creates mindfulness, even if you never referred to it again!

Runcarla

It is very interesting to me how many of us - regardless of closet size, style direction, or lifestyle have reported clothing acquisition numbers between 35-40! Although we all have different shopping habits, it’s roughly 3 items per month (9 items per quarter/season?) and seems to be 1/3 to 1/4 overall wardrobe size and close to one in - one out.

I wonder if it can be broken down to essentials/basics/wildcards or classic/trendy?

Sal

Yep I am in that range too!

Looks like a balanced group of additions La Ped - and it makes sense to shop for your dominant season and lifestyle. I hope you find the right coat and boots!

I have had duds this year too - one was a poor choice for me and one I ruined on about the fourth wear - and it was poor quality as well.

Jenn

You had a good footwear year!

It's really interesting how evenly your additions/retirements panned out. That seems like a good sign that you've honed in on the right size wardrobe for you!

LaPed

I almost always end up with 30-40 new things a year, which evens out to 8 - 10 per season. Less than 30 and I usually end up with a bigger haul the next year in order to catch up on replacements.

This was definitely the year of the shoe. I lucked into several barely-worn secondhand pairs at reasonable prices (especially since I had some consignment credits to use), mostly discontinued styles that I already knew I liked and always keep an eye out for. I'm hoping next year will be the year of the sandal. I could really use some casual and smart-casual leather sandals. Our weather wasn't very sandal-friendly this year (cool and damp), so I didn't feel any pressure to buy the less-than-perfect pairs I tried on.

I'd say most of what I added this year is in the Essentials category, with a few statements mixed in. I've been feeling for a while that my dressy capsule needed some more statement items, and all three occasion pieces were bought with that in mind (and yes, all three have gotten some wear this year!). Lounge and gear adds up to 9 Basics, plus very statement-y floral ski bibs.

My three rejects were due to a variety of reasons. The oxford shirt ended up being just a bit too tight through the shoulders; the vintage jeans blew out at the knees after one season of wear and aren't a good cut to turn into shorts; the bike shorts weren't really the right inseam for me -- I would've kept them if they were 2-3" longer.

nemosmom

Great tracking, LaPed! Sounds like you have your needs for your climate sorted!

Style Fan

Impressive tracking. I do find writing down my clothing purchases has made me more mindful as TG pointed out.

You know, I moved "back east" almost 4 years ago (christmas 2015) and this is the first year I've felt like I'm in maintenance mode rather than rebuilding mode. It's a nice feeling!

Someone, either here or on Instagram, pointed me to a blog post about how it takes three years to get acclimated to a new location after a big move. Seems like it held true for you!

Anonymous

Great tracking, and good to be in more or less one in one out mode!
I started to track the things I donated, but didn't follow through.

rachylou

Interesting! I see you got some dressy things and that you didn’t necessarily replace the pants you purged.

Yeah, I wear out pants faster than I can find suitable replacements. Also, my tolerance for low rises shrank dramatically this year which caused a bit of churn. I just don't have many tops to wear with low rise pants anymore.

Bijou

A year of getting 7 comfy shoes is a very good year in my book. Comfy shoes, other than sneakers and boots that generally work for me, can be quite tricky to find.

Suz

Excellent! Sounds like good wardrobe maintenance to me! These numbers are really consistent with my own, as others have said. You've done really well to hone in on those styles and makers and items that work particularly well for you.

Cardiff girl

If you only had 3 duds you ve done well.

Christina F.

Brava! This seems very focused to me.

I won't share my numbers--they're a bit embarrassing. I had good intentions but 2019 style just kind of resonated with me in a way that previous seasons didn't, and I overhauled a lot of stuff. I passed on a lot of items though so I think I've seen a set decrease.

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