My September Tracking Wrap-Up

I did my final numbers for the month, and came up with these wears:

3 out of 8 dresses (38%)
16 of 28 tops (57%)
8 out of 12 shoes (67%)
7 out of 13 toppers (54%)
3 out of 7 skirts (43%)
6 out of 7 pants/jeans (86%)
3 out of 7 handbags (43%)
1 out of 13 accessories (belts, scarves, and hats) (8%)

Overall (again, without gear/sleep/lounge), I wore 46 items, or 48% of my wardrobe.

My biggest repeats (besides my purse and gear items) were at 5-7 wears. I didn't wear any top more than three times. That feels like a lot less repeating than some of you (and I can't wait to see more wrap-up posts!), but I'm still only wearing less than half my wardrobe in a given month.

Some of the things I didn't wear were high-season items--summer dresses, snow boots, winter coats, pullover sweaters, etc. I didn't wear any of my scarves or hats, light or heavy. I didn't have an occasion for cocktail or business wear (I only have 1-2 options for each of these). Dresses and skirts were really out of favor this month, but I think that's because I'm a bit tired of them after wearing them all summer. Being able to wear pants felt novel.

Some things I learned:

I'm on Team Wear, and I repeat new items. I should probably do my buying in-season.
I enjoy my outfits most when they're functional for my day, and I enjoy them more when I associate them with something fun.
About half my wardrobe works for transitional weather. The other half is split about 50-50 between hot and cold. (This was a surprise to me...I thought most of my clothes were trans-seasonal).
It's more or less impossible to wear everything I own twice a month, but 30 wears over 2-3 years is pretty realistic.
No more lightweight scarves.

7 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

That’s seems to me to be a really good set of ratios, like you’re getting optimal use...

Jane

Interesting analysis, your assessment of 30 wears is helpful to me. Also your comment on lightweight scarfs. I see scarfs and think they will be ‘helpful’ but unless I really love them, they get little wear. I’m on team wear too.

Stagiaire Fash

Is the proportional split of your clothes between hot, cold, & transitional the same as the weather splits into those conditions? That makes sense.

Are you calculating 30 wears in 2-3 years based on a little over 1x per month? You’ve said before that there can be wide temp swings any time of year where you are, so that works there. I need to wash some summer sweaters & put them away, but I’m happy to be in a 4-season climate where wears are more clustered in a period of time for each item.

Sal

Good analysis. Your patterns were a bit like mine- lots of pants, tops 2-3 times, and quite a range of shoes ( I have 20 pairs of shoes).

Anonymous

Jenn, I will get to a September wrap up when I can see again, I had cataract surgery on one eye yesterday and am wearing a big fat patch on the eye. My specs do not fit very well over it to see to type with my other eye or to read my notes on what I wore. I do plan to continue to track during October because fall in finally here although today is to go from 40'sF to high 80's. Snow is forcast for next week. I want to track what I reach for and wear.for these conditions. Thank you for the challenge.

JAileen

I feel a sense of relief, not having to take a picture of my outfits, now. I didn’t count anything.

Jenn

(website)

rachylou, but everything will change when I move to California! The ratios will definitely skew way hotter.

Jane, I just love scarves---pure textile loveliness--but I guess I need to think through whether they'll actually get worn.

Fashintern, I'm just looking at sheer numbers. If I have about 30 tops and they're worn evenly, that's 1x per month. They're not worn evenly throughout the year, though, so seasonal things need to get worn 2-3x/month during their seasons, and that's pretty consistent with what I saw in the tracking.

Sal, I found I tend to repeat exact outfits, but varying shoes and accessories, and it makes them feel quite different (to me, at least).

Joy, I hope your surgery was successful, and take it easy while you heal!

JAileen, I'm kind of relieved about the pictures too, even though I always track data!

LaPed

I know *exactly* what you mean about the novelty of wearing jeans again when summer ends! I do the very same thing.

Suz

Me too re the jeans!!

It seems to me that your numbers confirm the intuitions that I've had just from looking at your WIWs. You wear your stuff, you wear it well, and you wear (most) of it pretty often.

Barbara Diane

Thanks for the challenge! Looks like you got good information from it.

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