5 ms·

Living with my girlfriend really opened my eyes to how many clothes women go through. She even tries to be responsible about it and sell items to second hand ma

by dexwiz 5y ago

Living with my girlfriend really opened my eyes to how many clothes women go through. She even tries to be responsible about it and sell items to second hand markets, but I still think it’s a bit crazy. - Women’s fashion cycles much faster then men’s. Office wear is a bit more stable but anything aimed as social settings like weddings may only provide a few opportunities to wear it before it’s out of style. Men can reliably wear a suit for years, but most dresses get only one or two wears. - Women’s clothes have a much narrower size range. I can gain/lose up to 20lbs and still be in a similar size range. 10lbs for a women means most of her wardrobe no longer fits. Most mens clothes come in 4, maybe 5 sizes. Most womens have at least 6, maybe 8 or even 10 subdivisions. Most sizes are even numbers, so you might find an 8 or a 10, but at smaller sizes you may find 3s and 5s. - Womens cloths just seem to be flimsier. Delicate fabricates and stitching mean they tear easier. Jeans have high elastic content so they wear our faster. Leggings rip easily. Knits are harder to care for than fleece or sweats. I’m not trying to justify it, but I think many men, especially those who frequent this forum, probably have closets full of clothes that are 5 or 10 years old. Guys can wear a shirt for years to the point it’s vintage. If a woman does that, she will very often get judged by her peers.

gsinclair 5y ago
> If a woman does that, she will very often get judged by her peers. True. We all reach an age eventually where we care little for the opinions of our peers on such matters. Wisest are those who make that realisation earlier rather than later!
- SkeuomorphicBee 5y ago
  That would limit career prospects in many fields.
  - t-writescode 5y ago
    So how do we tackle that, because that's bullshit.
  - esarbe 5y ago
    So does calling out sexism and being socially conscious in general. It still has to be done.
  - gumby 5y ago
    It’s definitely true. I’m basically a T shirt and shorts guy and my son once told me it is a “flex”. I was surprised, and it really opened my eyes.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >It’s definitely true. I’m basically a T shirt and shorts guy and my son once told me it is a “flex”. as opposed to what? having to wear a suit and tie?
      - gumby 5y ago
        Basically any activity-appropriate clothing (per social, not practical, rules). In most cases I can’t be bothered figuring out what clothes to wear. I mean sure, a wedding or a funeral I know, but otherwise? A fancy restaurant? Lawyer meeting? Giving a talk? Who cares? I go to board meetings in my normal clothes, and with my dog, and until my kid said something it didn’t even occur to me to do otherwise. I do remember buying a car years ago and my wife commenting, “At home [europe] they wouldn’t even let you in the door”. In the Vally they just want to do business.
        thirdsun 5y ago
        > I do remember buying a car years ago and my wife commenting, “At home [europe] they wouldn’t even let you in the door”. In the Vally they just want to do business. Doesn't match my experience. I assure you they'll happily sell you a car regardless of your attire over here.
bongoman37 5y ago
rambojazz 5y ago
I can confirm, as a guy, I still wear 20 years old clothes. I only ever buy new ones when the older ones tear and I don't have anything else to replace them with already.
MattGaiser 5y ago
Currently wearing a t-shirt I got in high school.
- SnazzZG 5y ago
  Did you graduate last year or 50 years ago? (Context is important)
  - MattGaiser 5y ago
    Nearly 8 years ago now.
Sunspark 5y ago
I still have a fleece top from 30 years ago and I still have boots from 35 years ago. I have a jacket that is probably close to 50 or more years ago. I have 1 suit, and it's probably also 30 years or more (I seldom wear it, it's basically just for formal events). But yeah, many many items in the 5-20 year range.. plenty of ties 20 years, plenty of tshirts for sure 15 or more years, etc. It's crazy how many clothes women have. Multiple closets worth. I have no idea how they can afford to just keep buying.
- michaelt 5y ago
  > I have no idea how they can afford to just keep buying. Clothes can be exceptionally cheap these days. You might think a basic suit costs $250 and a top quality suit $2500 - but you can actually get a suit for $25 [1]. You too can afford a large wardrobe of clothes that probably won't last very long! [1] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000529996955.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000529996955.html
Entalpi 5y ago
At the office several of my coworkers use a service in which they rent cloths. Kinda oike Netflix was for DVDs. You pick a few you like, they send them over and next month you send them back. All for a monthly fee. Someone once told me the average piece of cloth only gers worn 7 times before being disposed of. Dont qoute me on that though :)
- chockablock 5y ago
  In a Bloomberg businessweek article this week on Rent The Runway the figure they give is that they rent the articles an average of 20 times before retiring them.
throw8932894 5y ago
Maybe I live in different environment. I see women wearing yoga pants and tank tops at official environment, and cheap plastic dresses at evening. Men are expected to wear expensive suits, watches, leather shoes and splash cash all around.
paganel 5y ago
> Guys can wear a shirt for years to the point it’s vintage. If a woman does that, she will very often get judged by her peers. I'm a man, in my early 40s, got recently lauded by a total stranger (younger kid, mid-20s I'd say) for wearing a 15-year old t-shirt which had become vintage in the meantime (an Emerica t-shirt, bought when I was in my mid-20s and when I thought that wearing skate clothing even though I wasn't doing any skating at all was cool). My feminine SO probably wouldn't have received the same reaction had she worn a 15-year old piece of clothing. That said, there are some vintage clothes that women can also wear without being judged, but we're not talking about clothes that are worn on a regular basis, I'm talking about "that blouse my mom used to wear in the late 1980s and which is cool to wear in more hippy-ish environments from time to time".
hallarempt 5y ago
When I was still going through life as a man, I had two dozen white dress shirts (12 short, 12 long sleeved...), three pairs of pants, a suit and summer and a winter jacket. The shirts would still be fine after wearing and washing them a hundred times or more. I replaced them at a rate of four a year... After coming out as trans, getting a new wardrobe was fun, but... It's been a year, and some dresses really fall apart after wearing them a dozen times. Some actually cannot be washed and will lose all shape immediately. And that dress might have cost 80 euros or more. I also got some white, short-sleeved shirts because, habit, and after a couple of washes, they are gone! And what you say about sizes is spot-on, too. Of course my shape is changing, and compared to this time last year, I've lost a lot of weight. Pretty much nothing I bought early on still fits.
- t-writescode 5y ago
  Would gothy-style, belt-heavy designs work well here? I imagine Victorian women didn't rotate clothes at the rate implied here. This seems just ... bad
  - hallarempt 5y ago
    My wife actually buys her clothes from places like Aloria or Celtic Web Merchant, where you can get good, solid cotton and linen dresses. These can keep going for many, many years. But the medieval style doesn't suit me. I want to show off my legs :P (The first dress my wife gave me was one of those, a large, red early medieval style dress. It is incredibly solid, but it makes me feel like an extra from Handmaid's Tale.)
    - t-writescode 5y ago
      Guy running shorts often have draw strings, but I guess then the pants aren’t vacuum formed to your thighs, so that may still mot be what you want? Or… bunches up waistline fabric, bleh.
  - esarbe 5y ago
    There's no benefit in producing robust clothing that can be washed and worn over many years if the populace at large is unwilling to pay for that robustness. You'll just spend money to get provide a feature very few people actually care about and you'll hurt your competitiveness. Much of the population was trained to be good little consumers and that's just what they are doing.
stevekemp 5y ago
My wife spent the past two years not buying new clothes, or donating things to offset any essential purchases. She buys almost exclusively from used/vintage clothing stores and at one point had a very small wardrobe. (I think the term is "capsule wardrobe"?) But I guess this stuff varies an awful lot depending on your occupation, and activities. She works in the medical field so she never wears her own clothes at work, for example. I suspect if you get a uniform of some kind, like that, then you don't need to worry quite so much about fashion..
tragomaskhalos 5y ago
My teenage daughter, whose fashion sense runs to the eclectic, gets basically all of her clothing second-hand online. She also wears a number of my old Hawaiian shirts that are still going strong after nearly 40 years of (admittedly occasional) use. So it is possible to source responsibly, but it helps if you don't set too much store by the judgements of the hoi polloi.

by dexwiz 5y ago

gsinclair 5y ago

> If a woman does that, she will very often get judged by her peers. True. We all reach an age eventually where we care little for the opinions of our peers on such matters. Wisest are those who make that realisation earlier rather than later!

SkeuomorphicBee 5y ago
That would limit career prospects in many fields.
- t-writescode 5y ago
  So how do we tackle that, because that's bullshit.
- esarbe 5y ago
  So does calling out sexism and being socially conscious in general. It still has to be done.
- gumby 5y ago
  It’s definitely true. I’m basically a T shirt and shorts guy and my son once told me it is a “flex”. I was surprised, and it really opened my eyes.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >It’s definitely true. I’m basically a T shirt and shorts guy and my son once told me it is a “flex”. as opposed to what? having to wear a suit and tie?
    - gumby 5y ago
      Basically any activity-appropriate clothing (per social, not practical, rules). In most cases I can’t be bothered figuring out what clothes to wear. I mean sure, a wedding or a funeral I know, but otherwise? A fancy restaurant? Lawyer meeting? Giving a talk? Who cares? I go to board meetings in my normal clothes, and with my dog, and until my kid said something it didn’t even occur to me to do otherwise. I do remember buying a car years ago and my wife commenting, “At home [europe] they wouldn’t even let you in the door”. In the Vally they just want to do business.
      - thirdsun 5y ago
        > I do remember buying a car years ago and my wife commenting, “At home [europe] they wouldn’t even let you in the door”. In the Vally they just want to do business. Doesn't match my experience. I assure you they'll happily sell you a car regardless of your attire over here.

bongoman37 5y ago

rambojazz 5y ago

I can confirm, as a guy, I still wear 20 years old clothes. I only ever buy new ones when the older ones tear and I don't have anything else to replace them with already.

MattGaiser 5y ago

Currently wearing a t-shirt I got in high school.

SnazzZG 5y ago
Did you graduate last year or 50 years ago? (Context is important)
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  Nearly 8 years ago now.

Sunspark 5y ago

I still have a fleece top from 30 years ago and I still have boots from 35 years ago. I have a jacket that is probably close to 50 or more years ago. I have 1 suit, and it's probably also 30 years or more (I seldom wear it, it's basically just for formal events). But yeah, many many items in the 5-20 year range.. plenty of ties 20 years, plenty of tshirts for sure 15 or more years, etc. It's crazy how many clothes women have. Multiple closets worth. I have no idea how they can afford to just keep buying.

michaelt 5y ago
> I have no idea how they can afford to just keep buying. Clothes can be exceptionally cheap these days. You might think a basic suit costs $250 and a top quality suit $2500 - but you can actually get a suit for $25 [1]. You too can afford a large wardrobe of clothes that probably won't last very long! [1] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000529996955.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000529996955.html

Entalpi 5y ago

At the office several of my coworkers use a service in which they rent cloths. Kinda oike Netflix was for DVDs. You pick a few you like, they send them over and next month you send them back. All for a monthly fee. Someone once told me the average piece of cloth only gers worn 7 times before being disposed of. Dont qoute me on that though :)

chockablock 5y ago
In a Bloomberg businessweek article this week on Rent The Runway the figure they give is that they rent the articles an average of 20 times before retiring them.

throw8932894 5y ago

Maybe I live in different environment. I see women wearing yoga pants and tank tops at official environment, and cheap plastic dresses at evening. Men are expected to wear expensive suits, watches, leather shoes and splash cash all around.

paganel 5y ago

> Guys can wear a shirt for years to the point it’s vintage. If a woman does that, she will very often get judged by her peers. I'm a man, in my early 40s, got recently lauded by a total stranger (younger kid, mid-20s I'd say) for wearing a 15-year old t-shirt which had become vintage in the meantime (an Emerica t-shirt, bought when I was in my mid-20s and when I thought that wearing skate clothing even though I wasn't doing any skating at all was cool). My feminine SO probably wouldn't have received the same reaction had she worn a 15-year old piece of clothing. That said, there are some vintage clothes that women can also wear without being judged, but we're not talking about clothes that are worn on a regular basis, I'm talking about "that blouse my mom used to wear in the late 1980s and which is cool to wear in more hippy-ish environments from time to time".

hallarempt 5y ago

When I was still going through life as a man, I had two dozen white dress shirts (12 short, 12 long sleeved...), three pairs of pants, a suit and summer and a winter jacket. The shirts would still be fine after wearing and washing them a hundred times or more. I replaced them at a rate of four a year... After coming out as trans, getting a new wardrobe was fun, but... It's been a year, and some dresses really fall apart after wearing them a dozen times. Some actually cannot be washed and will lose all shape immediately. And that dress might have cost 80 euros or more. I also got some white, short-sleeved shirts because, habit, and after a couple of washes, they are gone! And what you say about sizes is spot-on, too. Of course my shape is changing, and compared to this time last year, I've lost a lot of weight. Pretty much nothing I bought early on still fits.

t-writescode 5y ago
Would gothy-style, belt-heavy designs work well here? I imagine Victorian women didn't rotate clothes at the rate implied here. This seems just ... bad
- hallarempt 5y ago
  My wife actually buys her clothes from places like Aloria or Celtic Web Merchant, where you can get good, solid cotton and linen dresses. These can keep going for many, many years. But the medieval style doesn't suit me. I want to show off my legs :P (The first dress my wife gave me was one of those, a large, red early medieval style dress. It is incredibly solid, but it makes me feel like an extra from Handmaid's Tale.)
  - t-writescode 5y ago
    Guy running shorts often have draw strings, but I guess then the pants aren’t vacuum formed to your thighs, so that may still mot be what you want? Or… bunches up waistline fabric, bleh.
- esarbe 5y ago
  There's no benefit in producing robust clothing that can be washed and worn over many years if the populace at large is unwilling to pay for that robustness. You'll just spend money to get provide a feature very few people actually care about and you'll hurt your competitiveness. Much of the population was trained to be good little consumers and that's just what they are doing.

stevekemp 5y ago

My wife spent the past two years not buying new clothes, or donating things to offset any essential purchases. She buys almost exclusively from used/vintage clothing stores and at one point had a very small wardrobe. (I think the term is "capsule wardrobe"?) But I guess this stuff varies an awful lot depending on your occupation, and activities. She works in the medical field so she never wears her own clothes at work, for example. I suspect if you get a uniform of some kind, like that, then you don't need to worry quite so much about fashion..

tragomaskhalos 5y ago

My teenage daughter, whose fashion sense runs to the eclectic, gets basically all of her clothing second-hand online. She also wears a number of my old Hawaiian shirts that are still going strong after nearly 40 years of (admittedly occasional) use. So it is possible to source responsibly, but it helps if you don't set too much store by the judgements of the hoi polloi.