How many clothes is TOO many? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

How many clothes is TOO many?

jussie

Veteran

Hi Fabbies,

I have just done a major closet tidy up. On the positive side things are not as squashed now, and I cleaned out approx 10 items that aren't useful any more.
However, I did a count and I now have 143 items of clothing. This number doesn't include my lounge/exercise tracksuit capsule. It does include puffers however.
I live in a four-season climate, and work 2 days per week, when I need professional clothing. The rest of the time is a mixture of neat casual and lounging clothes. I need proper dressy clothes about once a month.
Here are the main insights I gleaned:

1) The biggest clothing category is 20 woven blouses. This surprised me, because often I feel like I don't have a nice top to wear!! I think this is because I halfheartedly like most of these tops.... but don't LOVE many of them..... Oh dear. I can honestly say I only love 4 of them.

2) The second biggest category is 12 woollen jumpers.. but the good news is I am wearing all of these fairly regularly. So no problems there.

3) 6 pairs of jeans: This is about perfect for my lifestyle. Love each of them :).

4) Jackets/vests/coats/blazers: 16. I love all of these. YAY!

Cardigans and button-down shirts: I have quite a few of these, but I do wear and genuinely like all of them. Again, yay.

Tee- shirts: 17 altogether. Sounds like a lot doesn't it? Maybe I could pass on a few of these. I love 10 of them. Hmm...

Anyway, sorry for such a lot of thinking out loud... I wonder is 143 items just way too much? Am I realistically going to get proper amounts of wear out of each of these before they go out of style? I would be curious to know how many items other people have... especially in the woven blouse category.

I'm inclined to blame the four-season climate for having so many clothes.

Thanks to anyone who reads!

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

General

104 replies

Latest reply was from louterrence

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I have not counted what is in my closet but guess there is at least that much. This is not including the things that are waiting to be sold. I just went through all my jeans and trousers yesterday and removed about 12 - still leaving about as much. Well, to answer your question, I think too much is when you can't keep track of what you have, forget about your favorite pieces, feel overwhelmed and/or your closet and getting dressed is no longer a pleasure.

cindysmith

Veteran

I think that there's no set number of clothes that's right or wrong. I'm afraid to count the number of items I have in my wardrobe because I'm sure it's a frightfully large number.

It would all depend on your needs. Like, I probably have 3X more garments than I NEED, but I have space for them all and they're not crowded or spread across multiple locations.

As for woven tops, I have exactly 2. Both were acquired recently. Wait, make that 3. I have a really long button-up shirt tunic dress thingie that's woven. But I don't have need for a lot of woven tops, and I find them hard to fit right. I much prefer knits, they're much more forgiving on my shoulders and arms.

I wish I had an actual answer for you about how many clothes is too much clothing. The best I can say is that it's a very individual thing, and you'll probably know it when you see it.

Anonymous

I like Shevia’s answer , because of course there is no right answer . I personally know I have too much when pieces are going unworn for too long and I’ve lost interest in them before they have had much wear . Having a lot of clothes is not a badge of honour ( something that took me too many years to fully grasp ) .

jussie

Veteran

Shevia: Thanks for your comments. I do feel like I lose track a little bit of what I have, which is a concern. Keeping it tidier and less cramped might help with that though. I am relieved to hear that my collection doesn't sound too horrifically grandiose lol.

Cindy: 2 woven blouses?! Gosh. But I hear what you are saying... they are HARD to fit. I think that's why even though I have so many I don't really like a lot of them, because the fit is barely acceptable but not great. I think you are right that how many clothes is best really does depend on storage considerations... I mean if you have a large walk-in closet and everything is neatly arranged where you can see it all then really what's the harm in having a large number? My problem probably stems from poor storage as much as anything. If things were stored neatly in order I would not have been unaware of the number of woven tops I have!

LisaP: thanks for your response. I also feel concerned that some items are just not getting worn much due to the sheer number of competing items. And I feel a bit wasteful about that. Also I see the problem as being having things that I don't actually like much in there! I totally agree with you, it takes some time to work out how many items we actually NEED vs. how many pretty things we see at the shops or online..

Runcarla

Veteran

I'm probably on the minimal side with about 60 items for 4 seasons (not counting sports gear or under clothes). Add footwear, hats, mitts, and scarves and the number would be closer to 100. I recently purged 2 worn jeans, and just promoted 2 different pair into higher rotation. I don't feel the need to replace since I have enough bottoms to prevent laundry bottlenecks or boredom with outfit repetition. (I do have a high tolerance for repetition.).

Others have given you some ideas about what is too much. I would repeat that is you can't see your stuff 'cause everything is squished tight, or if you haven't worn a garment at least once in the past year + or -, you might want to do a little 'curating' of your closet.

jussie

Veteran

Runcarla: 60 items sounds fantastic for four seasons. You really must be quite decisive. Getting dressed must be quite a quick process for you. Yes, I need to be more vigilant in making sure I am storing things so that I can see them properly! For some reason I don't repeat my outfits much but I think if I went through all my old WIWs and chose the absolute best ones and repeated those it would be a good idea....

Anonymous

Jussie - an question ( interesting to me , anyways ) arises from your comment about rarely repeating outfits : are you rarely repeating because you don’t love the outfit / pieces ? Or because you are hesitant to wear the same things too often ? And why is that ?

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Shevia’s answer is right on the money, and I kind of hate it because I really want there to be an absolute right answer. There never is. It’s all subjective, depending so much on individual needs, climate, and even personality.

I try to do a wardrobe audit every 6 months or so, and my most recent one is here, if you want to see someone’s hard numbers:
https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....ni-edition

Almost time for another one. I’ll probably do it after I get back from vacation in mid-August, and have settled on any NAS purchases.

jussie

Veteran

lisaP: I don't mind being seen in the same items, that's not the trouble. More just that I am not in love with a lot of my outfits... There have been some that I have LOVED though. So I should possibly repeat them frequently rather than constantly experimenting. That would be an interesting exercise. Also, because I have a lot of items I am never FORCED to repeat...so I don't tend to. Other than for work, which is a bit different.

jussie

Veteran

Jenn: Thanks so much for that link to your past post. approx 100 items seems like a good number to me, because I think you would actually wear most of it to it's full capacity before getting sick of it. And I think a person could update each year without feeling the guilts as much if things were getting worn to the max each season.

Anonymous

Something I took away from Angie is that you should love everything you wear . Not every item is going to send you over the moon for the same reason , but they all should be pretty close to 10’s . I weeded out everything that wasn’t a 9 or better (this took me awhile but I did it ) and I didn’t miss a single piece I got rid of . It made me appreciate what I had , motivated me to wear all of what was left , and helped me be a better shopper . I still feel as well dressed as I did with a bigger wardrobe .

jussie

Veteran

Lisa P: that's such a great idea. It must feel fab to go into your wardrobe and see a row of 10's hanging up there! I really might take this idea on board. Although for me currently I don't think 10 is realistic... maybe 8+!
It might get tricky though with, say, an item that looks like a 9 when styled in exactly the right outfit, but doesn't look that great in any other combo.. does that make sense? A lot of my clothes are like that...

Sal

Veteran

I have about 100 including shoes but not gear, lingerie or accessories. It works for me - we do have four seasons but I don't need lots of true summer or true winter pieces.

I also agree with Shevia- and the others. I would not look to edit too ruthlessly but he targeted about new additions. No more woven tops unless you remove two for each new addition?

I do have a handful of items I don't really love and I am slowly removing them. I am okay keeping a top I like that is rarely worn and only goes with one bottom if I still like it.

Maybe make yourself wear some of the tops and see how you go- you might edit them out or you might find combinations that you do really love.

Greyscale

Veteran

I have close to 200, which is probably too much. I love almost all of it. It's carefully curated and I've built up my wardrobe carefully over time. But it's too much because I don't have enough days to wear it all.

I keep buying professional clothes because I had a sudden intense need for them (a full month of job interviews) so one challenge is to wear those more often going forward. Or sell them, I suppose. But I think I'll have more use for them next year.

Kate

Veteran

Interesting question, and I love Shevia’s answer. I probably have as many items as you do, jussie, if not more, but they fall into distinct camps.

I love everything in the fall/winter side of my closet, and but love very few things in the spring/ (not that we have much of anything that resembles spring anymore) summer side. That reflects my love of fall and winter weather and my loathing for our relentless and lengthy season of heat and humidity.

I do have a quartet of Madewell Courier shirts I like, a structured sleeveless mock tee and two pairs of cropped lightweight trousers that make me feel pulled together, and my new high waisted, wide legged Sweaty Betty pants that I love. I could set fire to the rest of it and not give a rat’s a-s. Of course, then I’d pretty much be half dressed most of the time. I’d prefer to be inside, lips down on the floor in the ac, likely pantless, based on my summer wardrobe, waiting for fall to roll around.

L'Abeille

Veteran

I can't comment as to my wardrobe numbers, and frankly I'm afraid to count! But I skew more classic than trendy, so I will wear silhouettes that please me whether they are "in" or not, and have kept items until they came back into fashion.

I wanted to chime in about repeat wears of the same outfit. I used to pride myself on never repeating an outfit without a significant tweak (apart from those FFBOs for when I slept in or was sick). I enjoy the challenge of putting together an outfit, and it's a creative outlet for me. That has changed in the past year, though. I still love doing it, but I'm no longer averse to doing identical repeats.

I think I've figured out why. It started with taking lots of WIW pics (just for me, on my phone). In the last year I have started moving these to a private Pinterest board to free up space. Looking at tons of outfit pics in a row, it quickly jumps out that some are 10's, and some are 4's. So I decided I would rather repeat the 10's. I think it's upped my game on the new-outfit days too, by training my eye to a higher standard.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Hi Jussie, I do count, and have been trying to edit in preparation for our move into the new house which is almost finished in our back yard, having subdivided the original section. We have chosen the person to build the new walk-in-wardrobe recently, very exciting! It will be my first ever W-I-W.
I have posted several outfits this year in the oldies challenge and just for opinions where I had been vacillating about getting rid of things. I think I get issues with having liked the things when I bought them, and then often I still like them, because I'm not fickle with clothes. And TBH I am a bit shocked at the turnover and wastage that I can see happening on this forum for some Fabbers. Some may be cultural, North Americans vs Kiwis/Aussies. Some may be related to some self-hatred? I have worked extremely hard on self-acceptance psychologically.
But still liking items is not the only reason I have too many clothes. I didn't stop buying even although I worked hard on reducing purchase numbers. My post-YLF purchases ( past 18 months) have mostly been better and got better wear.
I cannot physically wear the 135 clothing items ( does not count sleepwear, underwear and swim wear) and 44 pairs of shoes in a year easily. Not when I am wearing my favourites and clocking up 30+ wears for them. So should I get rid of the less favourite when I still like them? This is my dilemma.

Jessikams

(website)

Veteran

Such a good question. My answer at the moment is “any number is ok as long as you KNOW what you have and use everything somewhat regularly.” It’s all too easy to have t-shirts wedged into corners and forget all about them.

Jane

Veteran

Such a good questions and such a good thread of responses! I think about this a lot too. I like variety and I definitely get bored with clothes, and I love retail. I am in a 4 season climate.

I keep 60 plastic hangers, 8 skirt hangers, 2 scarf hangers and 4 felted / non slip hangers. I keep jeans folded, and coats (several) are hung on the pink hangers, as well as two gear tops. So if I go over this, I feel uneasy. I have a small wardrobe, and a holding zone in the attic. I am nodding with Runcarla. I wash frequently. I change my bag most days and my coat most days in winter.

I have read Shoppingbrake, which was informative and interesting. Very helpful for when I thought my wardrobe hobby might be getting too much! It had a formula for the number of clothes that you need. I can't recall what it was, but I do keep a general list of what I have and what I might need.

I aspire to have a 8/9/10 out of 10 wardrobe. It is work in progress, and I journey I am enjoying! I feel bad about getting bored with my clothes but as I keep a low level of items, I would think it is inevitable. And too much choice for me is frustrating as I can't wear my carefully chosen items in sufficient frequency.

Staysfit

Veteran

I clearly have a medium to large four season wardrobe. I know people who have larger wardrobes than mine, but maybe not too many here on the forum. I love everything in my closet, and keep only what makes me happy. I wear everything in my closet each season including my formal capsule although it gets the least use. I experimentally tracked my wears in the fall and winter. It wasn’t easy, and I don’t plan to do this regularly, but I found that I rarely repeated an entire outfit. My most repeated items are my jeans and my shoes. The next most repeated are toppers. I have a large shoe collection, but I still end up with favorites every season. Some go unused except for special occasions. I have thought about eliminating future purchases of shoes that would go with only one outfit unless it is for a unique special occasion like DD’s wedding. I have no way to predict what shoe will be a favorite at the time of purchase so I probably purchase more shoes than I should in an effort to find one that is very comfortable. I usually need to wear them for several weeks before I can tell and by then it’s too late to return them. Trying them on for many hours in my house has never worked well enough. I have slowly been reducing my shoe collection based on what I learned from my tracking data and because they take up a lot of space. I enjoy having a larger wardrobe. My professional role puts me in a variety of environments and situations. The flexibility my large wardrobe offers over four seasons provides the functionality I need while also allowing me to maintain an polished look. I think it’s the correct size now, but I haven’t counted recently. My guess is that there are over 200 items not counting gear, coats or shoes.

jussie

Veteran

Sal: I like your idea of only allowing a new piece in if you remove 2 old pieces. Tough love! This would be a good plan for my woven tops. For me, I think around 120 items altogether would be a good number. It would mean most items got at least a decent amount of wear, and I think I could create outfits more quickly and easily. Thanks for your response.
Greyscale: nothing wrong with your large wardrobe at all. If you love most of it then that’s great. I think mine is problematic because I just don’t have adequate space to store it properly, and too many of the items don’t co-ordinate well together, leading to frustration. Also there quite a few items in there I simply don’t like that much....
Kate: interesting that your closet favors cooler weather... don’t you become frustrated with not enough for the warm seasons though?? Or does repeating a lot get you through?
La’beille: I love your idea of repeating the tens! I mean, otherwise why do we bother taking the pictures of them in the first place?
Jenni NZ: you’re a delightful person from what I can tell, and you mustn’t feel bad about treating yourself to new clothing, or passing on things you don’t like that much. You’re in no danger of becoming vain and wasteful! I can tell by your posts. I agree that the whole idea of trends is pretty strange. Why we do it to ourselves I don’t even know to be honest.....
Jessikams: thanks for your thoughtful response. Each persons happy place wardrobe wise will be different, but for me I think I’m coming to a point where less will make me happier.
Jane: thanks for the tip about shoppingbrake. Your wiws are so beautiful! I can see you are a careful shopper.
Staysfit: I envy your marvellous wardrobe and sense of style. If you have room to store it then I say enjoy! I only find that for me 143 is too many because I’m not wearing quite a bit of it at all, and finding the amount of mediocre options in there bothersome. Work situation puts a big impact on this too, if you’re being seen by a lot of colleagues at a high status professional level, full-time, then I think it’s natural you would want a pretty decent range of polished outfits.

LaPed

Veteran

I mull over this pretty constantly. I'm very drawn to ideals such as zero-waste or the old adage "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." It's challenging for me because I have perfectionist tendencies, which means it's hard for me not to think about "upgrading" my belongings until I find just the right one. A mentality that goes like: "Well, I haven't found the perfect black skirt, so three imperfect ones will do, but when I find *the one* the other three will all go to the thrift shop." It may count as a form of minimalism on the internet, but in real life it's awfully wasteful, that churn! I'd like to get better at making do with one imperfect item -- or, even better, doing without the imperfect versions altogether (that is, not buying them in the first place) and waiting for the perfect version to come along. Committed relationships vs wanton ones... Sounds like you're in a similar boat with woven tops.

How many items are in my wardrobe? Depends what you count. For actual seen-in-public clothes, I'm probably around 100, but I have pretty substantial capsules of chore clothes and backcountry gear that are equally important, just not very curated, though they tend towards higher turnover than my street clothes as they are worn 'til they literally fall apart at the seams. Like you, I usually work two days a week, but sometimes more, and sometimes I'm teaching classes outdoors where I need to wear gear anyway, so it is difficult for me, at this point, to nail down a work uniform that I don't have to think about. I usually only need two "good" outfits a week, but sometimes I need five. I think I would find it hard to make five work outfits for at least three, if not four, distinct seasons, with fewer than 100 pieces -- although I'm sure it's possible.

Runcarla

Veteran

I like to shop for clothes - A LOT! It is recreational for me. HOWEVER, for the amount of time I spend in stores (I shop bricks and mortar) I have little to show because I don't feel compelled to bring everything I see or try on, home to my closet. It needs to be a '10' and I have to LOVE it.

I've discovered that online shopping doesn't give me the same satisfaction. I want to touch the fabrics, read the labels, see the colours, examine the fabrication, etc. I look at all my shopping as research/reconnaissance. I also like to 'play' with my clothes: wash, fold, and hang them. Mend and polish them. Make outfits out of them. Fashion is tactile as well as visual, for me.

I've tried to be fussy and like Lisap, a big take-away from Angie is the idea of LOVING my clothes - not just an outfit, but individual items. I've done some editing since I retired, and my current closet (and the outfits Imcreat from it) resembles my Pinterest inspo board for the first time. It has taken me 5 years to achieve this! My outfits are comparable to MOTG outfits and either casual or dressy casual for the most part.

As a funny aside, I took an outfit pic yesterday, only to realize that it was nearly identical (different footwear) to an outfit I had posted about 2-3 weeks ago, so no sense in posting a new WIW. I guess it is a flagship or signiture outfit for me - Tank top or t-shirt, cropped trousers, jacket topper, sneakers and striped tote style bag.

Faith

This was a great read! I Really enjoyed the comments and suggestions!

Anonymous

JUSSIE- thank you so much for this post and for everyone’s responses. I really want to take time pouring over this post and doing some pondering. Today is an all day drive home up the US East Coast so I will have to wait for tonight. But it is timely- as I noted in LISAPs post. We are downsizing to move so now is a great time to weed out so as to not pack and move it.
Til later- thanks

SarahD8

Veteran

Really great post and responses. I am struck by Staysfit’s comment that she knows people with larger wardrobes but not here on the forum. At first it seems like a paradox, but I wonder if having clothes/style as a hobby results in paring down because you are really engaging with your clothes and thinking about what works etc. Maybe some people have larger wardrobes simply from lack of attention.

Jussie from your comments on the thread two experiments occur to me:
- put the items you don’t really like (say, anything less than an 8) in a holding zone and see what it’s like to get dressed without them. Do some of these items actually serve a purpose in your wardrobe or are they just cluttering up your view of your favorites?
-take those outfits featuring items that only look good in 1 combination and see if you can in fact tweak them - if you can make more outfits with that item by swapping out another element of the outfit. (And, think about whether the happiness factor of those limited outfits is high enough that you want to re-wear them, or if you would prefer instead having more versatile pieces in your closet.)

My wardrobe (including “presentable in public” clothing and footwear) probably hovers in the range of 130-150 items. I think that is probably about right for me.

This discussion is making me think of the Swedish word “lagom” which roughly translates as “just the right amount.” (Culturally, that just right amount is assumed to be somewhat modest.) We are all searching for a lagom wardrobe it seems.

Anonymous

Haha - Kate! I'm kinda with you on that. Although I do not like AC in summer and wish the whole situation would just go away . I too used to pride myself on never having to wear the same outfit twice in a summer - back in my 20's and 30's ...and now I cringe at that .

Regarding the perceived waste and churn associated with keeping a smaller wardrobe and not hanging on to unworn clothes for very long....what is the difference between having unworn clothes hanging in your closet for years on end vs donating mistakes/changes in fit/changes in style to someone who WILL wear them? At least the churn is directed usefully. I'm a big editor and closet-cleanout fanatic, and although I do produce more turnover than some may feel comfortable with, those numbers are decreasing with each season as I get better at buying less and buying purposefully. And now I'm totally curious enough to go and count my clothes......;)

Barbara Diane

Veteran

I love Shevia’s answer.

I wear items in cycles so I don’t mind keeping things that are currently rarely worn.

If I only wore 10’s I’d be naked every day. I think some people are more effusive than others, or have different standards. For me a 10 is love at first sight. Which is rare for me. Or occasionally an item I am hesitant about but grow to love.

Having a right sized wardrobe for me is having items I like to cover my needs from casual to dressy across seasons without laundry panic. Enough variety to keep me happy and not so many items that almost everything doesn’t gets a lot of wear. Some of the more memorable items get less wear than more basic ones because, well, they are memorable

Cardiff girl

Veteran

I find the responses to this really interesting.I don’t think that there is a magic number of clothes to own .Everyones lifestyle and clothing needs are individual.However I do think that a 4season climate with its built in unpredictability means more clothes than a steady climate.l also think having an interest in clothing as we all do here on YLF also means that some of us have larger wardrobes than strictly necessary but it is our hobby and something that we enjoy.l used to feel under pressure to get rid of stuff regularly but I don’t any more ,if I still like it and it fits even if I haven’t worn it for ages I hang onto it knowing that it’s time will probably come.l m also older than you Jussie so have had more time to shop!The one thing that I have let go of is the guilt,there are worse things in the world than not wearing all your clothes all of the time so if you still like them ,keep them.

12…4