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A 30 Wears Project

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Between December and now, I added 10 new items to my closet, which is a lot for me, especially given that several of them were statement pieces. I stand by those purchases, but I admit I'm feeling a little overwhelmed,

After taking a serious look at my wears spreadsheet, I've decided to embark on a JenniNZ-style 30 wears project to actively mix and remix the pieces I already have. (Yes, 30 is a somewhat arbitrary number, but it feels good.)

My goal is to have every item in my closet (with a few exceptions) reach 30 lifetime wears by the end of the year.

Exceptions include:

accessories (including bags), gear, and sleepwear, all of which I'm no longer actively tracking
weather-specific items for snow and rain
items in the holding zone
items purchased in 2023 (I don't expect 30 total wears in a single year)

With the exceptions removed, 41 items fall into the under-30 category right now (the list below includes those bought this year). That's more than half my 79-piece wardrobe! The least worn of these has 3 wears, the most worn has 28.

I've rearranged my closet to help showcase the underutilized pieces, and I think the challenge will result in some fun pattern-mixing and an opportunity to get more enjoyment out of my wardrobe. I'm honestly not totally sure the ultimate goal is possible, since it would require wearing an average of 2-3 underutilized items per day for the rest of the year, but the attempt will surely be illuminating.

If any other trackers would like to join me, you're more than welcome. Otherwise, I'll be posting updates as the year goes on!

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24 replies

Latest reply was from Star

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Wow. Impressive, Jenn. You are so organized with your tracking! I'm curious if there are any commonalities between the things you wear more often and/or the things you reach for less often.

I tracked for a while years ago but had stopped for a long time. But I began to track again in December. I don't have my wardrobe on a spreadsheet because I'm hopeless with those, but I do have most things in Finds and have been tracking wears there. It's a bit clumsy, but also interesting to see what I'm wearing as a collection. (I count wears in the notes for each item.) It's immediately apparent to me that some things get a TON of wear and others languish. Right now, my blazers mostly languish. But I know from my experience last year that the minute I go back to classroom teaching, I'll be wearing them multiple times a week. So it's tricky.

There are items purchased in the fall that have more than 30 wears just since December! (My indoor loafers. This might explain why you're not tracking accessories, LOL.) And items I've barely worn at all -- mainly older items. They're in my wardrobe but unworn. Other than out of season items, these are mostly, if I'm honest, older items. Or dressier items. Or my structured jackets. Anyway. It's all food for thought. Makes me realize that some of those older items, even if I still like them, perhaps should go -- they are not working well in rotation with other things.

Since I haven't been tracking historically, I won't know which items have already had 30 lifetime wears -- though I can guess. Sometimes, though, my own results surprise me, when I track.

And I do find that tracking itself encourages me to try new combinations, so that is probably useful.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Suz, your recently-worn collection is almost the size of my whole wardrobe! It really goes to show you how much of a difference varying weather and variety needs make to what wardrobe size feels right.

As a note, I AM tracking footwear. I didn't count shoes as an accessory - just hats, bags, scarves, belts, etc. I'm seriously not concerned about any of the footwear, though. It's exceptionally rare that a pair of shoes doesn't hit 30 wears in the first year for me. I can think of one pair in my current wardrobe, and that's just they're a bit dressier than my normal.

For me, anything solid tends to go immediately into heavy rotation and prints, as much as I love them, take longer to rack up the wears. You can see it in the closet pic above. Also, the less color, the more I wear it. Really, that's just the divide between essentials and statements, though.

Helena

Veteran

Jenn, this is really cool and I'm excited to see how you go with it! I noticed what you just said there ... it looks like the less-worn pieces are more colorful and statement-ish ... so it could be totally legitimate that they are less worn. But I always love these challenges as a great way to spark creativity. Will follow with interest!

Bonnie

Veteran

Love looking at the photo of your wardrobe. I track wears but I like variety and have a larger wardrobe than yours. My challenge this year deals only with tops. I'm trying to wear them 7-9 times each. I'll get 28 to 36 wears each in four years and won't get bored wearing the same things over and over. Bottoms and shoes are not a problem since I have smaller capsules of each and don't mind wearing them a lot. My toppers are many, unmanageable, and out of control so I'm just going to stop buying them for while.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Thank you for the shoutout! I did start the 30 wears project because of you though, originally? I learned about it from you on YLF soon after I joined in early 2017. Before that I had determined myself to try to wear everything at least 20 times and get cost per wear down to under $5.
Anyway I am still trying with a much bigger wardrobe than you at currently about 146 pieces ( bags not included).
It’s nearly the end of our summer, a cold and wet summer this year that has included floods and a cyclone, so not wearing the hot weather clothing so much except for the lovely 2 weeks in Thailand! So of my 49 “summer” clothing items not shoes have worn 38 of them in Jan/Feb, and of the 17 “summer” shoes have worn 9 of them in Jan/Feb.
You can see despite my efforts I still have too many clothes and shoes. The dresses and the dressier sandals are the ones missing out. Even though I have deliberately worn some dresses to work that I might not have before.
Weather is so relevant. My lovely kaftan for over swimsuit was worn 22 times before this summer but a whopping 10 times in 2 weeks in Thailand at resorts. Suddenly it is past 30 wears.

Sal

Veteran

Hi Jenn

I have data from nine months of tracking - I will join you in the challenge. I have given a realistic estimate of wears prior to my challenge and I will review how long my list is.

My exceptions would be a couple of occasion wear dresses and heels. I am not planning to add more but I do seem to sneak one in every year.....

I am still tracking gear but I plan to stop at 12 months as it's pretty consistent and as long as I do one in one out I will be fine unless I change sports and exercise requirements.

I agree it's a good way to mix things up and also stop overbuying in the favourite categories.

Style Fan

Veteran

I will follow this and see what you discover. You have a beautifully curated wardrobe.

Jonesy

Veteran

Your closet is so gorgeous! Everything looks so touchable and luxurious! I applaud your efforts, and will be cheering you on, though I am the furthest thing from a tracker ever :).

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Helena, at the very least, it will be a good way to remind myself that I don't constantly need to be adding more statements.

Bonnie, I find it really hard to get a ton of wears out of all except the most basic tops, too. I've started to become more conscious of how much I'm willing to spend on them for that reason.

JenniNZ, yeah, I think I might be the one who first talked about #30wears on the forum, but I've been more tangentially aware of it in my own wardrobe than consciously working to add wears to specific items. I hear you on the travel pieces! We are doing 3.5 weeks in Europe with just carry-ons soon and I'm sure everything in that capsule will come home well-worn!

Sal, I would have excepted the occasion-wear pieces as well if I had anything super-special, but I don't right now. I tracked gear for a while, but everything's so far over 30 wears now that it just doesn't seem worth it. Same for bags. Glad to have you joining in!

Style Fan, I'm hoping this will encourage me to really wear all the lovely things I have instead of constantly reaching for the same jeans and black top.

Jonesy, honestly, I've always wanted to have this sort of luxe, touchable, print-rich wardrobe and I love seeing it all in my closet. Now to truly embrace it! (she says, literally wearing a plain black blouse and blue jeans)

LJP

Veteran

Oh my - nicely spaced things on wooden hangers . It’s like a dream closet . I think 30 wears over the lifetime of a garment is still a good goal , and I bet I’m not there with a lot of my summer clothes ……which is ridiculous right there . This is good inspiration for managing my summer closet : if I spend so much thought and money on clothes why don’t I treat this more seriously ??

Jessikams

(website)

Veteran

I’m thinking along similar lines of “using what I have for all it’s worth”. When we move into our new place this summer, I’m going to put just the bare minimum in my bedroom closet, everything else in another room, and see which items I need to go and retrieve. Then wear them and wear them until they wear out. Then replace with another item from the closet, instead of buying new. That’s the idea anyway!

Irina

Veteran

Interesting to see all your clothes on the hangers, kind a whole color story.

Honestly, I don’t fully grasp the idea of 30 wears. Clothes in my wardrobe has different purposes and it affects the frequency of use. I bought pile lined tracks pants in December and wore them more than a dozen times since but wore my culottes 3 times only, it’s office/ outing wear and I have less occasion to wear it. Also, it needs dressier boots. I don’t think I would be able to push myself to wear items like that more often since it’s not their function. I don’t think this concept works for me but I will be cheering you on your journey.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

That is impressive. I always admire your restraint and discipline with your wardrobe!

As someone with a wardrobe on the more maximal side of the spectrum, I pretty much just admire these challenges from afar. I don’t track wears, but I also tend not to be a person who wears the same thing over and over on repeat — most of my items do get worn, but fewer times in a year than someone with a tighter wardrobe. Some things aren’t being worn currently, but some of that is because I don’t like how they fit at the moment, but a few pounds difference may change that. Some things seem a little harder to style now, post-pandemic, since some habits and styles have shifted. I do need an edit!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

LOL, Jenn! You are so right about wardrobe size! I'm not maximal but definitely not minimal, either. Having said that...what's in the "worn since December1" capsule is pretty much my entire rotation of winter ready clothes. Once the weather turns warmer and I switch out to my spring/ summer closet, I'll do a count of unworn and barely worn items and compare to my most-worn.

Like you, I'm sure I'll see that I wore essentials the most, even where I have options (i.e. 4 pair of blue jeans). For me, that's okay -- as Irina says, I don't expect all my clothes to do the same heavy lifting. I still need (most of) them. Even items I only wear 3 times per year -- if I'm missing them and I feel a wardrobe hole (i.e. I can't make the outfits I want) then, well, I want to keep them if I have the space.

I'm a bit surprised in a way that your beautiful statement items get less wear, because I truly associate you with them. When I think of your signature outfits, I think of a (mostly) neutral background with one amazing texture rick and colourful and paterned statement piece.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Mind blown. Will consider this post after I am far more awake . Really your closet looks beautiful though.

Runcarla

Veteran

In my year end review, I crunched some numbers and sorted the items I track by # of wears (see photo below). Since January, I’ve been targeting the lesser worn items that are 1 yr+ and have challenged myself to get them into rotation, and/or identify why they don’t get worn as much as other items (and maybe accept that?)

The older and less worn garments (see Finds below) seem to be dressier or season/weather specific. It’s unlikely that I’ll get 30 wears in 2023 alone, but I’m not likely to pass them on either - or not yet, anyway.

*generally, I find garments ‘last’ longer than 30 wears, but I just edited a cotton sweater from 2022 with 37 wears due to excessive pilling and wear at the elbows. I have the same sweater in 2 other colours with 20 and 12 wears respectively, and alas, they are showing signs of following suit and thus will likely be one-year-wonders.

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Sisi

Veteran

Exciting challenge! I am tempted to join, but I am too much of an instinctive dresser, as soon as I set myself a rule, I break it.
I will follow with interest though.
And yes, I confirm that it was you who mentioned the 30 wears thing for the first time here on YLF (since then I have been using this concept as a guideline - thank you Jenn!).

Joy

Veteran

I am on year 2 of not buying anything new. It is Lent so no buying at all. I will follow your progress. 30 wears seems reasonable. Like Suz I reorganize the closet in sping and fall to bring climate friendly clothes nearer but keep some cold weather things handy for trips and quick mountain excursions. I look forward to those clothes again. You are so organized and so is your closet.

rachylou

Veteran

Looks fun!

I’m pondering 10 new items. I’m toning down in my dotage… lol, I’m actually not sure what I’d do with 10 new items, lol. But of course my wardrobe is already 10x a million.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

What Jonesy said!

Not a tracker, but cheering you on

Minaminu

Veteran

Jenn, I like how restraint and varied your wardrobe is (not only in colour, but also in texture!). I started tracking and although I don't have as much data as other fabbers, it has helped me so much to identify items that I either should try to wear or donate.

Sal

Veteran

I did a bit of a deep dive last night (this is of limited interest to most people) into my tracking and realised that 62/80 general clothing pieces have less than 30 wears.

All my casual shoes are over, and any gear that is over a year old does as well.

Dresses, blouses and skirts are the ones that are over represented in the under 30 wears category - especially for things that are over 2 years old. Most of my pants, sweaters, tees, toppers get there by two years, but not the dresses, blouses and skirts. Only one dress, two blouses and no skirts!

The useful information I get out of this is to have some caution in adding new skirts, woven blouses and dresses in. I did "know" that about some of my party dresses, but I was a little surprised about my blouses and other work or casual dresses.

So this makes me want to join in on the challenge even more Jenn as it is clear I have a lot of lovely things with a lot of wear left in them!

Anonymous

Definitely a good goal!
Won't be joining (yet) since I just started tracking, but it's been an interesting exercize so far.

Star

Veteran

I have two years of tracking information. Unfortunately I have sized myself out of a lot of my clothes in this period. So not all my clothes are wearable currently. You did inspire me to review my Wardrobe notes though and see what I can wear that is not being worn enough. Tracking does help in this regard for sure.