The 20%? - YouLookFab Forum

Back when I first started counting ‘wears’ it was to learn what ‘I wear this all the time’ really meant vis a vis my closet. Five years on, I’m still learning things from the data that gets churned out from this exercise.

With the second 4 month cycle ending, I decided to see if my pattern of wearing certain items matched up with the saying: ‘people wear 20% of their clothes, 80% of the time.’ This is what I discovered.

Tops: I have 24 tops. I randomly assigned them a designation of summer, winter, year round and the garments fell out evenly 8/8/8! 2 garments in the summer and winter categories cross into double digit wears, while the rest remained in single digits, 6 of the year round tops reached double digits, but 2 stood out with wear counts that were double the number of the rest. So, 6/24 tops would be my ‘20%’ (but really 25%) 80% of 8 months (240 days) would be 180 days - however the combined ‘wears’ of the 6 most worn tops is 107 - not even 50%!

Bottoms: between pants, shorts, and skirts - I have 15 different bottoms. 2 pairs of jeans and 2 pairs of shorts (26%) stand out as having significantly higher wear counts than any of the other bottoms however the132 wears/240 days is still only 55%.

I did a quick check of my 2023 numbers, and they are similar (very high wear #’s for 7 different tops (including a tie between identical, but different coloured sweaters), 2 pairs of jeans, and 2 shorts.

I have a modest wardrobe, and am an outfit repeater who doesn’t get bored with her clothes - so I’m surprised I don’t prove the adage that ‘people wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time.’

In conclusion, I’d say 25% of my clothes get worn 50% of the time! So, ‘yes’ I do have favourites I reach for more than others when I have a choice - however I also rotate through what I own as well.

3 weeks ago

Jenny H

Veteran

I love that you did this analysis! Does knowing the numbers make you want to change anything about your wardrobe?

Joy

My numbers are similar. I do keep certain pieces, usually tops, for when I need variety. These are the lest worn but kept for variety. The seasons bring changes that I do not expect. Some are worn only for very cold weather ( snow pants I am looking at you) otherwise I could do without them. We might have a week of extreme cold when I am tempted to buy more. That passes quickly, but they are on a mental list by then. I admire your small wardrobe. I wish I did not crave variety so much. It makes it hard to get rid of the less worn items. I reach first for the freshly cleaned items. I suppose they get the most wear, probably at least 20 per cent. The newest clothes get lots of wear too, because they are in style.

Dee

Interesting analysis, I suppose the 20/80% adage is more of a catchy tagline than actual accurate data although it does give some pause for thought on how we actually utilize the clothes we buy.

I saw another analysis where the person looked at what their typical activities were that they needed to dress for in a given timeframe i.e. leisure, sport, work etc.. broke it down into percentages and then found that their actual wardrobe percentages didn’t really align with what they needed to actually dress for. For instance being too heavy on dressy items but lacking office wear. I found this analysis rather helpful to avoid shopping for a fantasy life.

I’m far more pragmatic with my wardrobe now but I don’t tracks wears. I just have a gut feel for what my preferences are and try not to add unnecessary items (like more white tops lol) to my wardrobe when they aren’t something I would naturally reach for. I have to say that I’m quite satisfied with my current wardrobe despite not all of it getting worn very evenly or often. It makes me happy to know that some of my lesser worn pieces are still available to me should the need arise.

2 weeks ago

Sal

Interesting - because you have a relatively lean closet you have probably not got too many of those filler type pieces and your wear is spread more evenly.

And you are realistic with what you add in - I don’t think you shop for a fantasy life.

I haven’t looked at my data that way yet - my wear feels relatively consistent but I do have a handful of especially hardworking essentials.

Jaime

(website)

Very interesting! With your relatively small closet I might have thought that the distribution of wears would be more even. But I don't think less worn items are less valuable, assuming they are sometimes worn also.

Suz

My brain is spinning!

But I'm not surprised at all that your wears are spread far more evenly across items than the 20/80 adage suggests. As Sal said, your closet is lean and everything in it has to be hardworking. Plus, you do not buy for the fantasy life.

My closet is larger than yours but even so, more than 20% of my clothes are very hard working essentials, with some items, of course, working harder than others -- footwear, in particular, and some outerwear. However, unlike you, I also have qutie a number of rarely worn items. And that is much more true since the pandemic and since our move. I still haven't figured out what is "fantasy life" and what is "real life" in my new living situation, it seems.

Star

Interesting!
As you know I track wears but I have not done this type of analysis in detail. I definitely wear a small percentage of my wardrobe much more than the rest but I have always put it down to weight fluctuations ie. wearing what fits! I do have clothing in 3 sizes in wardrobe because of these fluctuations.
I thought that with a lean and current wardrobe like yours one would have a more equal spread of wears. Maybe it is weather related? My Spring and Autumn weight clothes get much less wear for sure.

April

Nice analysis, rc!

I think the 80/20 comes from the Pareto Principle which has been applied somewhat haphazardly to many realms (not because people are sloppy but because it tends to be true across realms).

Was it useful to find out that it doesn't apply to you and your wardrobe? Seems like it means you're using your wardrobe *extremely* efficiently.

cat2

Doing a quick bit of math, I think the ratio may be about right for my closet, but I don’t consider it a bug. My pants are the 20 percent that ground all my outfits, and get constant wear, and I use the tops to do a seasonal adjust: short sleeve tops, then long sleeve tops, then turtlenecks, lightweight sweaters and heavy sweaters. Tops are also how I vary the dressiness level.

Runcarla

@ Jenny H - the numbers (along with other numbers) have me believing that the size of my closet is right for me - I don’t feel a need to enlarge it or shrink it either. Like most interested in fashion, I want some variety. I wear my other clothes - just not with as high a frequency as my favourites.

@ Star - climate suitability is a factor. The 2 most worn summer tops are short sleeved linen, the most worn winter items were cotton turtleneck sweaters. I was surprised that the most worn top of all (both last year and this year) was a lightweight flannel button down!

@ April - it makes me think other people probably have better wear ratios as well, and one shouldn’t be disheartened when they read things like ‘people wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time.’

Lisa

I love a good wardrobe analysis. This was very interesting. It sounds like you have a tight wardrobe and as you've said you enjoy repeating favorite outfits. For myself, I have a larger sized wardrobe than I used too. After the pandemic I now have more capsules and their sizes changed.

My casual capsule got larger with WFH and I added a work travel capsule because my traveling increased as well. My business casual wardrobe is about the same size as before the pandemic, but I wear less of it now with WFH. I haven't culled it down, because I do still use it, just not as often. The one thing I do try to do, is not buy any clothing that is only for work, since it's a rarely used capsule.

My wardrobe is also larger than in the past because I moved from a 4 season climate with pretty consistent seasons, to a 4 season climate with a shorter winter and longer summer, and I'm still sorting through my needs. I've expanded my summer capsule to accommodate heavier use but I haven't culled the winter capsule yet. Since I do still travel for family, friends, and work and they are in colder states, I don't want to purge too fast and end up having to rebuy items.

I've also added in a new hot/warm weather fall clothes capsule because I enjoy dressing in seasonal colors and the fall season in NC is a lot hotter and requires more layering than the fall season in NJ did.

At some point I will need to reset my wardrobe numbers and do a nice closet cleanout to accommodate my current lifestyle, but I'm not ready yet. I'm still figuring out what numbers I need for each of my capsules.

Thanks for sharing your analysis!

Jenni NZ

I’m on holiday with only my little phone and not sure I can work this out easily, but feel apart from some of the earlier clothes especially shoes that are a bit high for me (have done well since 2018 buying only flats) that I am also wearing much more than 20% of it a lot, even with my 147-item wardrobe which is larger than yours. Tracking wears definitely helps me see what racks up the wears. I am really happy with good wear levels on nearly all the 2023 purchases and the two 2024 purchases.

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