Since I have young kids,my clothes go through a lot of tugging and get stains.So I prefer quantity over quality for everyday clothes.I do buys a few good pairs of tops and bottoms for going out,when the hubby will be managing the kids.I would definitely spend more on pieces like winter coat,trench coat and shoes.Now that I am in my early thirties,I am definitely thinking about buying a few investment pieces.

I am edging towards quality but love variety which is why I thrift for all the supplemental accessories and unusual finds that I can afford to have fun with.
As I get older I know what my style is and some things will never change. I have 2 leather jackets (quality) and invested in 2 pairs of Frye boots. I will wear these items forever. As an artist I can get away with less classic and expensive things. I find that if you mix and match quality items with lesser items, it can work. I cannot wear cheap shoes- I have to buy quality footwear as an older woman and would advise younger women to think about taking care of your feet. I cannot imagine wearing shoes from H&M. There is no support at all.
Jewelry- I am not a big fan of dainty pieces- they disappear on me.I do like quality costume. Sometimes the cheaper pieces look plastic and too young. I love handcrafted real jewelry with a dramatic flair and will invest more in that as I get older.
I will also be wearing moto jackets and cons until I am 100!!

What an interesting thread. It's definitely a mix for me. If I had to choose one over the other & lost everything I would definitely go for Quality.

I find that I steer to quality more often the older I get. However, it's not that I spend more. For me, I MUST have the quality in shoes, jewelry & some basic workhorses in my wardrobe. Now that I have the room to see all of my clothes & jewelry at one time in my closet/studio --- I'm finding that i put in a separate area those things I reach for ALL the time. It's the natural fibers, well made pieces with good structure, handcrafted jewelry with natural stones, etc. I love to thrift shop & mix in some vintage pieces (mostly jewelry). Purses are more functional for me than anything & I find I'm using a variety of cross body bags more than anything as they are completely functional for me. Putting those items I wear most often in a separate area is really helping me to see what is the excess that I can purge more easily.

They say we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time --- the ironic thing is that I even notice it with my 16 yr. old. However, I think quantity is important as you are younger & figuring out your personal style.

Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. I'm gonna ramble a bit so, hang with me. In my recent pre-YLF days I had just given up fashion-wise. A few cheap (in every sense of the word) items that looked awful, didn't fit right, worn until they fell apart. I hated shopping, and convinced myself I just didn't care. Fast forward to beginning to care, realizing that deserve to look nice and beginning to make small steps. I had the beginnings of a wardrobe but was still flailing horribly. I remember being on vacation in Moscow and throwing away a pair of shoes before we left for the airport to come home because the soles had split clean through after all of the walking we did. The shoes were only a couple of months old.
Fast forward again to coming here. I am learning things every day. I am trying different things. Not spending a lot of money because I am still trying to find my style. One of the big epiphanies has been that quality isn't always about money sometimes it's about fit, it's about not settling for less than exactly what I want. Also what I consider to be quality is still evolving. There is quality costume jewelry, and there is crap fine jewelry. I'm willing to settle for less quality in order to be able to try out a bunch of different items/looks right now. But when I feel like I've found something that works and is going to become a permanent part of my style, I start to look for quality pieces that will become part of my wardrobe. I have spent money to have a $30 altered to make me feel amazing. (Granted, this is one of the perks of living in the country, I have a fabulous tailor that can make a cheap dress fit perfectly for about $15). I still feel like I'm on my journey and am at a middle of the road spot between the two.
Did any of that make sense?

When I was younger, just out of college, I had very little in my wardrobe and what I had was pretty shoddy. I had neither quality OR quantity! Then, as my career developed and I was earning more, I started collecting some nice items for work....quality over quantity. I had a small but well-working wardrobe that I supplemented each season..thoughtfully planned out purchases. Then I retired to be a SAHM and things went terribly, terribly wrong. I had no idea how to dress casually. I started collecting all sorts of clothes and most of it was cheap and ill-fitting. I actually went to quantity over quality because I could not justify spending any real money on "just casual" clothes.

I am actually back in my original mindset...quality over quantity. I am buying more thoughtfully and buying better quality items that round out my wardrobe. If there is a trend that looks appealing, I may try it in the lower end lines to see if I like it and if I do, then I may replace the cheaper item with a better quality version later on.

My personal taste runs towards quality rather than quantity, whether or not I actually do that depends on how you define quality. My sister, for instance buys lots of clothes, never spends more than $30 on any item and opshops a lot. Her wardrobe is packed and in a state of churn (ie lots in and lots out.) Compared to her I am a quality purchaser. ( I have bought items from target and Ezibuy this year for $50 and $60)

But compared to many of you I would be a quantity one, for similar reasons that others have identified
* as a SAHM I simply need a greater quantity of clothes because they get dirty quickly
* there is a greater likelihood of spending money on something and it being ruined - so less incentive to spend a lot
* it is hard to identify which items will be those ones that will give you great PPW. For instance about 8 years ago I bought a simple black dress that is still going strong now. It cost $40 and there was an almost identical dress, but in better fabric at $90 that I now wish I had got.

My exception is shoe spending. Because I have orthotics, even prior to YLF I have spent more on shoes to get ones specially for them. Since YLF I have added 2 pairs of boots (justified) and one pair of sandals (PPW remains to be seen) at quite high prices for me - $200 give or take.

I prefer cheaper jewelery. In an attempt by gift givers to give me real jewelery I have a couple of necklaces that are fine gold chains with a tiny pearl. Actually I prefer bigger, bolder black or colourful costume jewelry. Necklaces are lucky if they last a year with me though. I don't know if expensive ones would last longer.

I have always preferred quality over quantity, even when I was just a teenager. I am now at the point where I have both, which is obviously a nice luxury. However, I also bargain shop a lot. I was looking at my shoe collection today and I think I have more than 40 pairs of shoes and boots, and at least 18 of them are by one designer. However, I probably bought at least half those shoes at half price, and of my 18 pairs of shoes by the same designer, I think I got about 3/4 of them at about 60-75% off. It's always nicest when you can get quality at a very low price.

I also make a lot of my own jewelry, but even then I can't use glass or plastic beads. I only use real gemstones (mostly semi-precious, although I have worked with sapphires at times) and real pearls because I just like them so much better. Like Sveta, I also have to wear real metals (especially in my ears). Of course, being able to make my own jewelry does help to keep costs down, and if I ever do see an earring I love with wires that are made of a base metal, I can always swap those out for the real thing. I actually do this often for my mother, who has a lot of earrings with silvertone earwires.