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Tracking Everything I Wore For 1 Year
- philips 4y agoAmazing that there are just off the shelf nfc tags shaped like clothing buttons.
- capableweb 4y agoYeah, and for $0.28 apiece as well, so getting 500 of those for just $140. I'm starting to want to glue one of those to everything I own now, which is less than 500 items.
- loonster 4y agoIt makes me wonder how many of my clothes already have an nfc tag permanently attached, but I don't know because I never checked.
- curiousgal 4y agoWouldn't they trigger the detectors at stores?
- Etheryte 4y agoYou mean the security gates? Those don't use NFC, at least I've never seen one that does. EAS systems are old technology and that also means they're usually dirt cheap. Perhaps there would be some niche use for NFC, but I can't think of one.
- thanatos519 4y agoWow, that's a lot of clothes! I wear like 10 [t-shirts,socks,underwear] and 2 pairs of [pants,shorts,footwear] and replace them at the thrift shop (except underwear and footwear) when they wear out. Counting jackets and hats and sportswear and more-formal-wear (i.e. shirts with buttons and collars) it can't all be worth $500.
- chrismeller 4y agoI found "more-formal-wear" to include "shirts with buttons" to be quite funny. Just think, you could class up your entire wardrobe by sewing NFC buttons to random shirts that don't need them...
- blfr 4y agoWow, that's a lot of clothes! Funny, I looked at his $3,907.65 total estimate and though that it's quite low for an adult. Consider though that OP used retail prices, not thrift shop.
- ghaff 4y agoEven leaving out a lot of expensive business/formal clothing--which is less common in most circles these days--specialty outdoor activities clothing and footwear adds up in a hurry, especially if you do stuff in cold/snowy winters. It wouldn't surprise me if my winter outdoor gear added up to that by itself. I admittedly have way too much old clothing I rarely wear (and even more that I really wouldn't miss) but I'm sure my inventory is still way more than that.
- bstpierre 4y agoI had the same reaction, though for me I have a bunch more tshirts, most of which I didn’t pay for. I just keep two piles of shirts on my shelf. In the morning I take the top shirt off the “active” pile. Clean shirts from the laundry go on top of the other pile. When they wear out they go into the garage as rags. Side note, I think cost per wear should factor in laundry costs. I suppose you could consider that just part of overhead if everything is just wash & wear, but it would come into play if you had anything that needed special treatment (suits to dry cleaners or something).
- Jaruzel 4y agoI live in the following: - 2 pairs of jeans, on rotate - About 20 t-shirts - 20-ish sets of underwear + socks - About 3-4 sweaters/jumpers/hoodies - 1 pair of boots - 1 pair of worn out trainers That's basically it. Some of my t-shirts are over 15 years old, in fact 99% of what I wear is over 3 years old. Spending over $500 in a year on clothing is totally alien to me! Einstein had it right: "Albert Einstein reportedly bought several variations of the same grey suit so that he wouldn't have to waste time deciding what to wear each morning." The only clothing I actually care about are my t-shirts. They all have graphic prints on them depicting things I care about. Mostly Films or Metal Bands. Oddly, the worn-out trainers I wear I bought new on eBay several years ago, and it was only some time later that I realised they were limited edition Nike Cortezs that have since sky rocketed in price (for new-in-box) and now cost £500+ . I bought them because I liked the colour, and have practically worn them to death. Trainer/sneaker collectors must hate me now.
- JoeAltmaier 4y agoCan't relate. No Ren-Fair costumes? No gardening boots, gloves or shirts? What about hiking clothes? I own about 4 mundane shirts, 3 pairs of pants. That's it. Not much to track for me.
- chrismeller 4y agoSometimes I wonder if people notice that I wear the same 4-5 shirts over and over every week. All of my long sleeve shirts were bought I think from Sears back before their fall, so my cost-per-wear has to be astronomically low by now.
- SapporoChris 4y agoI was wondering about my costs too, but since I didn't obsessively track how many times I wear a single item a more simple analysis is annual cost divided by the year. $150 spent annually on shoes. $150/365 = $0.41 daily. Guesstimating your costs: 5 shirts $20 to $40 each (guessing Sears costs) $100 to $200 annual cost or $0.27 to $0.55 daily costs for shirts.
- bowsamic 4y agoAnyone who is bothered by that is not someone you should care about
- neogodless 4y agoI like the trick I learned to hang all your shirts with the hanger the wrong way. Then when you wash them, hang them normally. Each spring, if a long-sleeve shirt is still the wrong way, it's time to get rid of it. Then I hang all remaining the wrong way for next fall/winter. Short sleeve get culled in late fall, with the rest reversed for next spring/summer. Like the author, there are a few I hang on to, for practical (or sentimental) reasons. Sometimes I'll keep an disliked t-shirt around because I'll probably use it for grimy yard work at some point.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 4y agoI've sometimes had items of clothing I disliked for a decade, then suddenly found extremely great. But I do agree with the practice for short-sleeved shirts (not t-shirts), except the time for culling is not late fall, but rather, if applicable, early afternoon. Somehow it's an item strictly reserved for middle-aged overweight bus drivers in my neck of the woods.
- brk 4y agoThat is a good system if you spend most of your time in the same general area/climate. I live in a warm climate and have managed to transition to doing very little business travel anymore. But when I go someplace where it's too cold to wear shorts and t-shirt (or where I just want to wear something slightly more business appropriate) I often have to pack things that I might not have worn for a year or more.
- simonebrunozzi 4y agoA fashion brand could take inspiration from this, and offer a clothes-as-a-service.
- altdataseller 4y agoStitch Fix offers that
- ghaff 4y agoThat seems to be picking out clothes for you to buy? Rental expensive formal clothes for special occasions is obviously a thing. But as with many other things, the overhead of renting stuff for day to day use just doesn't work for most cases.
- maccard 4y agoIt is. Other sites do exist for renting clothing like hurr and by rotation.
- rmk 4y agoI think there's something called Rent the Runway that offers this, for women. Then there's Stitch Fix, which is basically a kinda-sorta personal shopper who will pick things out for you (but within a very restricted set of vendors and price points).
- daedlanth 4y agoyay
- casion 4y ago> Current Wardrobe Value: $3,907.65 I don't have any friends (and I'm happy with this), so I have no reference: do people normally really spend this much on clothing!? My entire wardrobe is worth around $150, and that's 70% socks.
- vasco 4y agoAmount of money spent on clothes probably correlates strongly to number of social events, no friends probably means you just care about warm feet.
- casion 4y agoThat's understandable, however is near this value usual for people who are frequently social with overlapping attendees?
- sushid 4y agoI mean a decent pair of pants is at least $100 and a shirt is $15-20. Throw in a few shoes and jackets and $4k is very reasonable, depending on the weather.
- jaqalopes 4y agoJudging by the name of the blog (FAANG FIRE) I suspect this person is plenty well compensated in some sort of prestigious tech job, and if that's the case, then this number doesn't surprise me at all. There are lots of trendy athleisure and technical wear companies that will sell you the equivalent of a sweatshirt for $80, that can add up quick.
- spaetzleesser 4y ago"My entire wardrobe is worth around $150, and that's 70% socks." that doesn't seem possible. If you get a pair of pants, a shirt and shoes it's very likely you are already above $150. Never mind jackets, underwear and other stuff.
- 4y ago
- mwint 4y agoA tip: You can buy decent, unbranded t-shirts from places like [0] for low single digit dollars. I finally got tired of every shirt being subtly different, remembering which ones fit which way, and just bought 15 t-shirts. Same model number, same size, assortment of colors. There’s a weird thrill I get in the morning knowing that this is one less decision. [0]: https://www.t-shirtwholesaler.com/ https://www.t-shirtwholesaler.com/
- AH4oFVbPT4f8 4y agoI've done this but from jiffyshirts.com. I usually would purchase the Gildan brand but they would end up shrinking overtime. Which is better, 3 shirts at $3 that shrink overtime or 1 shirt at $15 ? I think the key is to find something that is not 100% cotton but rather 50% cotton/50% polyester. Looking at the material difference between the shirts I've purchased, the Gildan heather colors are 50/50 where as the the other colors are either 100% cotton or 90/10. By comparison, the Dickies heavyweight and Carhartt heavyweight are 50/50 and 60/40 material.
- mwint 4y agoHow much time are we talking about? I’m maybe 9 months into my batch of Gildan shirts, and haven’t noticed anything yet.
- AH4oFVbPT4f8 4y agoDepends on the material. 100% cotton lasts weeks to months before it shrinks. The blended material shirts tend to last longer in my experience.
- neodymiumphish 4y agoThe cartoon characters have been doing it right for decades!
- Saint_Genet 4y agoWhenever I buy cheap clothes I end up regretting it. A quality t-shirt will not only last 3 times as long as a cheap one, it’ll actually look good during its lifespan
- peanut_worm 4y agoIf I saw the cost per wear on some of my shoes I think i’d lock my credit card in a safe.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y agoIt looks like he wore about 64 unique items in a year. Excluding two pairs of shoes. That seems like a lot?
- ghaff 4y agoIt’s been less the last couple of years because of limited travel and business gathering but counting outdoor activity gear—not really.
- andrenader 4y agoHey HN, this is my original content. Happy to answer any questions. Turned out to be a fun little project.
- martinsmit 4y agoHey, thanks for the writeup, I thought this was very interesting. Were there any items that surprised you in how long or short they hold up for?
- andrenader 4y agoSince I only talked for a year I didn’t get into the full life of items. Some of my clothes I’ve owned for 10 years too! One good realization was recognizing the type of items I would immediately come to wherever they were clean. As well as the awesome potentially low cost per wear of items that can be worn multiple times per week (obvious in retrospect but nice to know that spending a little more for quality on shoes, pants, and jackets can be worth it).
- grepfru_it 4y agoLOL this is awesome! I ran choosemyboxers.com in college back in 2001 and had people rate and pick my underwear. I told all my friends and no one found it interesting because my boxers were "lame". One month it randomly blew up and I got enough ad revenue to replace my entire boxer collection. However it never went anywhere so I let it stagnate and eventually the shell I was hosting it on moved on to new ventures
- coip 4y agoThis is awesome, well done!
- exceptione 4y agoThis is peak HN; I am enjoying it. People boasting about how ones garderobe is more shitty and cheaper than the others. Next topic: why does no one wants to date me? Clothing is not only functional, it can also help your appearance. Looking good does wonders for your mood. Sex appeal and all that. Unfortunately, aesthetics is positively correlated with price. I wish it wasn´t true. I can easily spot your outfit was cheaply made. I am talking about casual wear. Premium labels really go the extra mile. Fast, cheap fashion cuts lots of corners.
- iamacyborg 4y ago> Premium labels really go the extra mile. Depends on the label, you generally have to go really premium to genuinely get something either well made or particularly interesting.
- ollifi 4y agoI dapple in the clothes industry and sometimes it feels like people get really turned off if their clothes are not made by literal slaves. Not all expensive brands are ethical but the few dollar t-shirts etc are never. Drift it or pay for the real costs involved. If we don’t fix the idea about what basic necessities like clothes should cost the planet and people living on it are toast.
- treis 4y agoThe problem with this is that there's not necessarily a relationship between price paid and lack of slave labor. At least, you can't guarantee non slave labor by paying more.
- comboy 4y ago> aesthetics is positively correlated with price. I wish it wasn´t true. I guess it depends on the taste. I would say the opposite is true (perhaps excluding the most cheap things you can find, but not necessarily). Of course more expensive stuff will likely last longer and in many cases will be more practical.
- wooque 4y ago
- DeltaCoast 4y agoThanks for sharing! I think it's pretty interesting to look at cost per wear. Wish I could get the same insights from my wardrobe without all of the effort.
- petecooper 4y agoFor anyone in the UK, I swear by my army desert socks. Very comfy, very hard-wearing, very tolerant to any kind of laundry cycle. eBay is a good place to start: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=army+desert+socks https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=army+desert+socks
- yosito 4y agoThis seems to me like a case of premature (or unnecessary) optimization. If one really wants to optimize their wardrobe, following a more Steve Jobs-like approach, and reducing the number of garments owned is the way to go. Due to my carry-on-only lifestyle I own ~ one week of warm weather clothing, combined with a few warmer layers that I wear in colder weather. I wear almost the same thing every week, and I wear it until it's worn out, then replace it. I never own anything I don't wear. It's so simple, and I waste so little time and money on my clothes. I am fashion conscious though: the little clothing I buy is usually designer or highly technical, and neutral colors which can be combined in many different ways and still match.
- laserlight 4y agoCan you expand on highly technical clothing? I don’t know what technologies are there in clothing, but I’m very interested in trying them.
- have_faith 4y agoTechnical clothing just means materials that have a purpose beyond looking good e.g. sweat/moisture wicking, light amount of stretch while staying tear resistant, having better ventilating material in certain places etc. It's sometimes confused with urban technical streetware brands but really it's any smart or casual clothes that take a lot of influence from hiking gear without looking like you're going for a hike.
- yosito 4y agoBy technical clothing, I basically mean layers with carefully chosen materials. Merino wool underlayers, outer layers appropriate for the activity: rain jacket, fleece, spandex.
- andrenader 4y agoI love unnecessary optimization! This was a fun little project. My end goal of to be more like you. I had just lost a lot of weight and before buying the few higher quality items I wanted to be more informed about which ones I personally would get the most value from.
- wcedmisten 4y agoThis is awesome! Makes me wonder what else you could track with a boatload of NFC tags like this. Kitchen ingredients? Houseplant watering schedules? I might have to try out a project like this.
- andrenader 4y agoThey make cheap sticker ones that I used for testing before upgrading to the machine washable buttons. Combined with apple shortcuts lots of interesting things you can automate.
- wcedmisten 4y agoIf you're looking to do more analysis on this data, it would be cool to see a correlation matrix for different articles of clothing in different categories. E.g. looking at how frequently you wear certain tops/bottoms together, or bottoms/shoes. https://www.displayr.com/what-is-a-correlation-matrix/ https://www.displayr.com/what-is-a-correlation-matrix/ Another example of this chart I saw recently was examining compound curse words on reddit: https://colinmorris.github.io/blog/compound-curse-words#the-matrix-of-pejoration https://colinmorris.github.io/blog/compound-curse-words#the-...
- VLM 4y agoThe most interesting observation I made was color. Everything worn was gray or darkest blue at the flashiest. I was surprised to see no analysis of color. It would be interesting to quantify if the author's "bottom half" was generally 5% darker than the author's "top half" or maybe the opposite or maybe it averages out exactly the same. I live in a 4-season state and I would be pretty interested to see if I, or people in general in my area, vary their average clothing color by the season. I would theorize the people get tanned in the summer, intentionally or not, varying by race quite a bit of course, and that skin tone change would influence average clothing color selections. Another theory is I notice I wear slightly warmer-brighter clothes in the winter, in an opposition to winter's dreariness, I almost feel compelled to wear a bright Hawaiian shirt if its snowing. A third theory is people would wear lighter colors around the peak of summer to limit solar heating. A fourth theory I have is summer heat seems most comfy in clothing that's tighter or looser than average for cooling reasons and middle of the road size would the minimum of comfort in the heat, whereas in the winter middle of the road tightness would seem the best balance of warmth and comfort. These theories could all be wrong, or right, of course. A completely different side issue is over the years I accumulate more self-created uniforms and I wonder if that would show up in the data. I have a uniform of grungy old clothes resembling the color of used motor oil for changing oil or similar greasy repair jobs. I have exactly one set of grungy clothes I wear when I paint that are all stained up so I don't care if I stain them worse. I have exactly one set of clothes for lawnmowing/yardwork, the specific type of synthetic seems to clean up well from tree sap and the shoes are a grass-stained lost cause. I have a set of clothes specifically for shoveling/snowblowing that "tech" stuff that dries quickly because sweating and cold equals hypothermia, or at least extreme discomfort. Most people already have that set of clothes they wear to the gym or other exercise, of course.
- andrenader 4y agoThanks for reading! I do need a little more color in my life. The one key observation I made was: “Was fascinating to see how color played a big part in wear rates as well. My theory here is simply that my household doesn’t own enough white clothing items so the “white load” of laundry is bi-weekly vs weekly for everything else.”
- heavyset_go 4y agoThis is something Patrick Bateman would do if American Psycho was set in 2022.
- at_a_remove 4y agoI am fortunate in that I have a uniform budget from my job and unfortunate in that nice clothes are really a case of "polishing a turd" due to my unattractiveness, so I just coast by on what my job provides.
- opunsoars 4y agoThis is cool. I want to maintain a food log that automatically goes to a Notion doc. Currently doing it by manually logging each major ingredient in every meal. NFC not quite feasible option