I can’t remember which thread it was, but I was quite interested in Angie’s comment that she passes on items that are in pristine condition with the expectation that they will go live in someone else’s closet and continue to see wears. I understand that members of UK’s royalty and high vis celebrities do similar with their good quality, lightly worn garments. Angie, these celebrities, and other ‘regular’ folks aspire to a very high standard of day to day presentation that requires clothes in exceptionally fine repair.
I’m old school and with the exception of ‘mistakes’ I wear my clothes so hard, and so long, that they are rarely fit for resale at consignment or thrift. I DO have garments that have seen more than 100 wears and are still wearable. The life I live, and the style I present is relaxed, and even a little rumpled, so the patina of age is welcomed. When the shine was wearing off my silver Converse sneakers to reveal the plain grey canvas underneath, I was okay with it. In fact, I liked the effect more than the solid silver shine of the new item.
I do have a smaller collection of clothes. With 7 pairs of pants, I can get 52 wears a year out of each pair, though I wear some more than others. My 2 pair of white jeans are 2 years old, and get worn year round. I wore one of them 4 times last week, with different tops and shoes/boots before they went in the wash. They still look like new, so who knows how many wears I’ll get out of them? When I’m done with them, they will likely go to the rag trade or trash, since they won’t be fit for second hand.
I think both approaches have merit and I’m not going to feel any angst or judge how a person manages their closet. Since I love the thrill of the find at thrift, I’ll fully support folks who need to pass along their gently used clothes!
