How do you decide when it's time to retire a garment because of wear? - YouLookFab Forum

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How do you decide when it's time to retire a garment because of wear?

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Notsaf asked this in my January Thoughts thread, and I'm curious what others have to say.

Here's what I look for:

Unrepairable holes - I get these on the thighs of pants or, sometimes, around pockets. Jersey knits often get pinprick holes. Sweaters can get moth damage. I do repair some small holes, especially if I love an item. Sometimes, I admit, a repairable hole is an excuse to pass something on when I'm ready to let go. This is my number one reason for cycling pieces out.

Weakening of fibers, change of shape - This can happen from a lot of wash cycles, even when you wash in cold water and air dry (that just slows down the process). Fabric gets thin, necklines stretch out, nylon or spandex stretch fibers start breaking and poking out from the weave, elastic loses its stretchiness.

Staining or dinginess - I've been known to overdye really well-loved pieces, but sometimes, it's not worth it, especially for something I no longer love.

Loss of structural integrity - This is mostly for shoes, but maybe bags as well. At some point, shoes no longer offer the support they should and my feet tell me about it. Bags can also lose structure.

These are the big ones, but I'm sure there are things I'm missing. Pilling sweaters is a big one, I'm sure, but I'm usually willing to deal with that.

General

30 replies

Latest reply was from notsaf

Synne

Veteran

It's terrible that I haven't discarded a single item becouse of wear. That says a lot about the state of my wardrobe.

I do remember having to retire a beloved cornflower blue wool coat, about ten years ago. It was worn so much the fabric had rubbed through in the armpits (!). In retrospect I could have made an effort to mend that coat. Still miss it. Never found a replacement.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

YES, Jenn. All these things.

I wear shoes out FAST. Lots of walking, and they are white

By RETIRE, do you mean that items are recycled or passed on to a second home to be worn again?

I pass on gently used items to DFS Seattle so that they have an excellent second life, or can fetch good money for the non-profit in their sales. Not worn out at all.

Sal

Veteran

Mine would be similar to yours Jenn.

Number one for me would be staining - coffee, oil etc or sometimes dinginess. I do make several attempts to fix but often can be unsuccessful.

Number two would be loss of shape or structure - skinny jeans that have stretched out, sweaters, tees etc. Knits or items with stretch fall to this.

I do sometimes have to resew up seams - my Noa Noa skirt needs a small repair. I know it is at the point where it is the tightest too especially after a wash.

I wear clothes that are imperfect - but not for every occasion. Working from home, hanging out at the beach, going to the rugby, at the gym - I am happy to wear worn clothes with small holes or colour changes. To many social occasions (dinners/weddings etc) or on days where I am in the public at work I am much more fussy - so my occasion wear and work capsule need to be in a more pristine condition).

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Angie, because it's due to wear, I assumed notsaf meant items sent for recycling. I have also passed on items in good condition in a number of ways--usually thrift shops or selling online. The reasons for that vary from fit and comfort to a change in tastes or lifestyle to just not having made as great a decision as I thought I did. When my mom passed away, we donated her work wardrobe to an organization that helps women recently released from prison, similar to DFS, and the perfect landing spot for professional clothing.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Aha, got it Jenn.

I've also recycled items when I can't rid of a mouldy, damp or chemical odour.

JAileen

Veteran

Stains, pilling*, fading, loss of elasticity, bad fit or annoying fit, etc. Unless something seems really awful, I donate to my non profit’s thrift store. I also donate to the homeless.

*Pilling on sweaters I can fix. I mean pilling on tees.

Joy

Veteran

What you do makes sense. I get rid of mostly knit pieces. I wear lots of cross body bags that accelerate pilling on tops or even coats. My biggest reason for letting something go is that I am tired of it or poor fit. Occasionally there are shopping mistakes or I am done with a color. One time I got rid of all reds that were not tomato red. That simplified getting dressed. Another time I got rid of brown, but I missed it and have added a little back in.

Runcarla

Veteran

Holes - the seat of pants wear thin and break through at my sitz bones

Weakened fibres, change shape - clothes get ‘flabby’. A 2 yo sweater I just set aside due to a food stain I could not remove, had also changed shape recently - it felt one size too big, and fit weirdly low under the arms all of a sudden (despite cold water wash and hang to dry) A cycle in the dryer didn’t improve matters.

Staining, dinginess - an apron has helped, but sometimes things get flung around at dinner time! DH’s golf shorts were disgusting due to staining from sunscreen after just one summer (and he ruined a leather couch - sitting on it with the stuff on his legs.)

Loss of structural integrity - I haven’t experienced this so much, except with running shoes. My shoes develop holes before they become irrevocably broken down. When I retired, I removed a lot of cards from my wallet. It was so stretched out that the remaining cards kept falling out. I bought a new wallet and donated the old one.

I detest piling, but I’ve had two sweaters (years apart) that pilled, but where it didn’t detract from my affection for the sweater. Funnily enough they were both wool/acrylic mixes.

And I will add SHININESS - I like textured fabrics (velvet, corduroy, brocade) and sometimes the pile gets worn down or off, and the area becomes ‘shiny’ from wear. This happens to wool jackets and coats (elbows, seat) and other textured garments at contact points. Some wear is okay, but after a point, it just looks sad.

I skim off certain items/fabrics - my sister makes rag rugs, and I LOVE one she made for me. Now I’m saving up discards so that I can make one myself. The rest goes to a non-profit that collects from my home quarterly. Shoes go in the garbage.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Stains, fading, white items that get dingy, irreparable holes, stretching/loss of shape, worn spots in fabric (edges of sleeves on a jacket, for example), shininess like Carla mentions. Worn out elastic. Excessive pilling. For shoes, it’s excessive wear on soles, soles that come apart and refuse to stay re-glued, and leather that gets so scuffed I feel shabby in it. Covered heels that get damaged.

rachylou

Veteran

I hang on to dead clothes. When my left knee starts tweaking, I yield re shoes... this unfortunately comes at about three months for shoes that get a lot of wear. When fabric starts unraveling, tees becomes see-through and sweaters become a shapeless matted ball of fuzz that depilling can’t help... then I let Lilypup lie on them for a year, and THEN I toss them. Or not. Lol.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I sadly retire jeans after they get holes (where there shouldn't be any). T-shirts get dingy, knits misshapen, and shoes wear out and there is nothing to be done but give them to recycling. Actually the thrift stores I know have deals with recyclers and get paid by the kilo so it is one of their streams of income.

Bijou

Veteran

All of these. Fading, stains, ripped (lace caught on door handles), pulled (loose weave tweed can be horrendous for this) and misshapen. To me - misshapen or seams ripping are absolutely the worst.

I do like wearing things out. My most favourite sandals died on me this year and whilst I was sad to part with them, I really like that they were used up and my number of wears would have been 100 plus over the years that I had them.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Those are all good reasons to recycle clothes or let them go to the dogs.

I have two things I’m about to recycle:
I’m very disappointed that my long-sleeved blackberry tee has a hole for no apparent reason. It’s only three years old. Grrr.
My “owl” sweater dress (so named by La Ped, who thought the pockets look like owls) is stretched out and feels like a sack. No fun. It also probably only got to around 30 wears, over a period of maybe 8 years.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Reason 1: threads poking through trousers. First happened with my beloved 2013 olive pants by about 2016, the pants which started my olive phase. They had been worn and worn. Seems to happen around 40-50 wears. I send to the clothing bin which is either rags recycling or a not- so- great thrift store. Just happened with cropped navy pants, 55 wears. It seems to be when there is elastane in the mix.
Reason 2: holes. I do repair holes but want them to not look too obvious. Holes and obvious repairs make me feel poor.
Reason 3: wear on shoes. I ditched the 2017 coral sandals, 30 wears, for this reason. They still looked OK on top but I hated the backs. I am still annoyed how short a time they lasted.

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Cardiff girl

Veteran

These all seem like very valid reasons to let something go.l tend to demote worn items to gardening duty and only get rid when they totally fall apart.l do give better quality items to Charity but not if heavily worn but these are usually things that I am letting go for reasons other than wear.

Helena

Veteran

Yes to your list Jenn, plus Angie's addition. I recycle items through our municipal textile recycling program in these conditions and just hope to goodness they actually DO get recycled and not dumped! (I think the odds on this are always improving, if not perfect)

nemosmom

Veteran

All of these! I have demoted favorite tees to sleepwear even with holes and staining. Some are so hard to let go of!

We have a textile recycling bin not too far from home, so most damaged-beyond-wearability pieces go there.

I have tried to re-bond soles of sneakers to eek a bit more wear out of them, but it doesn't always work.

Irina

Veteran

Mostly, I retire a garment for fabric fading. I wear a lot of dark colors and fading shows. I try my best to keep my white cotton shirts bright but they eventually will get dull and I have to retire them at this point.
These items are still in a good shape and perhaps fading or yellowing is only obvious to me. I donate it. I don't have doubts they will find a good home.
I walk a lot and my shoes don't last long. I take them to cobbler for repairs, use show shine products but a some point it is just too much damage.
I don't mind when my bags get a bit of wrinkles or marks. But I retire them if there is a damage on the handles. And I can't stand faded suede - after one unfortunate experience, I avoid suede bags now.

Gail

Veteran

Stains, pilling and shoes when they suffer scuffs that cannot be removed.

Lesley

Veteran

That about sums it up! I think some old, worn items have a quality of just not falling nicely anymore, which I chalk up to changing shape and thinning out of fibers. I don't overthink it. When I don't like how an item falls anymore, it's done.

Anonymous

Fabrics that get too thin, damaged shoes, stains, and runs in tights are the main ones.

ChristelJ

Veteran

More than once I've had jeans that ripped where the pocket attaches on the rear, even though the fit was not tight. So disappointing when the denim on the rest of the jeans is not worn.

I am with runcarla about the rag rugs! Currently making my first one out of worn sheets. For crafty types, the possibilities for projects made from our discards is endless.

JAileen

Veteran

I want to add, that depending on the item, I might allow more wear. For gardening, for example, I don’t mind ratty clothes with frayed edges, dinginess, etc. Also for birding. Functionality is more important. But for my version of dressy clothes, I like a more pristine look.

kellygirl

Veteran

You touched on all the key things! I used to get the tiny holes in t-shirts around the belt line and those were always rotated out pretty quickly. I think that's why I hardly ever buy them anymore--they just don't last for me. My closet is pretty well stocked so nothing except for jeans get hard wear and some of those seem to improve with age--at least the distressed style that I prefer. I have some dresses and pants that have lost shape or have not laundered well and those usually get culled at the end of the season.

rebekahphoto

Veteran

when its starting to look shabby, all of the things you mentioned, it will end up in the pile, for me I see the wearing out in the thighs for jeans, holes in knits, and faded or worn fabrics

especially shoes where the sole is worn out and not replaceable......

My super pet peeve is all the tiny pinholes I get in knit shirts around the belt line! it drives me mad, and I can never figure out the cause.... so I still do hang onto those maybe longer than I should, sometimes they get demoted to garden or studio wear....... the MR the other day said a shirt needed to go as he could see skin, lol......and of course its my favorite of all time......

Lesley

Veteran

Re: Tee shirt holes on the belt line: Do you wear them untucked, and do you have a stone countertop?

I found that this was the reason my tees were getting holes there--a little rub against the underside of the countertop while doing dishes! The tee was caught between the button on my jeans and the rough underside of the countertop. This happens less now that I tuck. And it happens less if I buy thicker tees!

LaPed

Veteran

For jeans, it's usually holes in the knees or seat. Sometimes I make cut-offs, but not all cuts lend themselves to being shorts.

Tees usually get demoted to sleepwear before they get tossed. The catalyst is usually stretched-out necks. Still comfortable and functional, but sloppy.

I did have one bunch of tees I had to toss because they developed a funky mildew odor that wouldn't wash or sun out, no matter how hard I tried.

I'm always a little hesitant about items with lots of spandex or other stretch fibers, because they do degrade quickly. Elastic waist too -- eventually they lose the elasticity. I guess you could undo the waistband and put in new elastic...

I'm not bothered by de-pilling my sweaters (most of my wool knits are thick outer layers that hold up well to being shaved), so I usually hang onto sweaters til they get holes (often at the elbows -- I should learn to darn them!).

I'd really like to be good enough with a sewing machine to put new linings in dress coats. The taffeta always shreds long before the wool wears out.

Shoes stymie me. I wear a lot of sneakers and other casual/gear shoes that can't be resoled, and it pains me how quickly I go through them (worn down tread is usually the culprit). At least the big athletic shoe companies are starting to address recycling...

smittie

Veteran

Pilling and snagging. It is mostly those little pills on thin merino or on t-shirts.

I am curious about the durability of elastic fibres. So maybe it’s just the combo of natural/Lycra that’s the problem? I know my leggings stay elasticy forever.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

What you said!

Seriously, I agree with all your points.

With jeans -- it's holes. They could be patched, I guess, but not usually where I get them -- inner thighs.

I mend a lot of sweaters -- if the mend won't show and I love the knit, I'll do my best to fix it and keep wearing.

Tees are another matter. I wear them infrequently but even so, some develop those little pinpricks. Or the stained/ misshapen look. Ugh. Those go to rags.

I pass along a lot of shoes for serious wear. I often get new lifts put on shoes and sometimes new soles also (where possible) but as LaPed says, it's not easy with athletic footwear or fashion sneakers to do that. My sandals often look like Jenni's after a year's wear, despite good care.

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