Penny Wise, Pound Foolish: Clothes
I think that mostly in this series I have been very positive on investing. The idea is that you buy fewer high quality items so that you keep them for longer, and that in turn saves you money in the long run.
With clothes, however, forget it. Toss all that out the window and go as cheap as you possibly can. If you’re paying more than a few dollars for almost anything you’re wearing, you’re paying too much. All my T-shirts cost about $5, my regular dress shirts around $20, and my most expensive item in my closet is currently a pair of jeans clocking in at around $40 from H&M. Spending money on clothes is stupid, and here’s why.
They go out of fashion too damn quickly to spend a ton of money on them!
Remember when wedge heels were all the rage? Yeah, well, they’re not anymore. They’re so last year. If you own a pair of wedge heels, you’re lame. How much do they cost? Well, anywhere from $20 (reasonable) to slightly more than double your monthly rent. The same’s true for peasant dresses, bell bottoms, skirts for men, flared collars, and just about everything else fashionable. If you’re a fashion plate, you shouldn’t be spending a ton of money on your clothes. You are almost literally throwing your money away on an investment that has no tangible return. I have gotten job interviews and successfully landed a position wearing a suit that cost me $50.
Does spending money mean that you look good? That’s patently untrue. While it is the case that some will ask you what label you’re wearing, you can get those very labels marked down at sales outlets like Gilt Groupe, TJ Maxx, and Filene’s Basement. In fact, I have a fantastic pair of Kenneth Cole oxfords that I picked up for $40 from there, and they look just as good as if I’d picked them up for $150.
Women, you get screwed. Women’s clothing is always more expensive than men’s clothing, which is why I often tell people if they’re looking for a new look to swap clothes with their friends. It’s free (or cheap, if you wanna buy clothes off of each other) and it’s a way to look awesome without wasting your time shopping.
The only thing I’d say it makes sense to invest in is shoes. They are meant to last for years and are much more timeless (unless they’re the aforementioned wedges). Even though I still insist on finding my shoes on sale, paying full price for them can make sense if they’re meant to be worn for the next decade.
I know I’m going to incur wrath from you, queercents, but I think you’re really oversimplifying the issue. First and foremost, a person could take your advice and go out every day and spend $50 on clothing they don’t need, even if it’s cheap, and it’d still be a huge, huge waste of money. Outside of that, it’s also impractical: for example, there are definitely industries and jobs that will not specifically require you to be dressed expensively, but will expect it. Jobs in fashion, for example. Yes, you can dress cheaper, but if you’re working as a style consultant for a major fashion company making 100k a year, the expectation is that you will wear labels and in-style items, otherwise you aren’t actually showing you know what you need to know to *do* your job. Period.
And what about shoes? Shoes, are actually pretty tell-tale. You can find less expensive shoes than 150, but for a really good pair of dress shoes for a man, you can not, in NYC, find a pair of good looking leather dress shoes which won’t fall apart in 3 months of daily use for less than 100. If you say they don’t have to look ‘that’ good, then you’re invalidating your argument.
But outside of that, I don’t think the above is necessarily palatable advice. I pride myself in having a modest wardrobe for a NYC professional (not in the fashion industry, mind you) including a couple of suits, many dress shirts and a lot of multiple-use items (blazers that can be considered ‘going out’ or ‘working’ clothes), but it still cost a relatively decent amount of money to amass that. If you want to have a tailored, professional look, you may have to, um, go to a tailor if everything doesn’t look on you the way it looks on everyone else (IE you’re really tall, really short, have a long torso, etc), and that costs money, too. But it doesn’t have to be a huge expenditure per year, certainly.
I think the real key to saving money on clothes is to do the following (in no particular order), in addition to buying cheaper if you can:
1) If you’re shopping, have a purpose. Don’t just shop to shop, you’ll buy things you don’t need. If you need a new brown belt, go to find a brown belt, don’t buy anything else.
2) If you happen to be shopping and see something cool, buy buy only things that you can imagine an full outfit with–better yet, several outfits. It’s really common for people to say ‘oh, this is cool’ and buy it without realizing that oh wow, I don’t have anything in my wardrobe that this beautiful red vest which fits me perfectly (regardless of price) will go with. Make sure they go with more than one thing you own and you’ll actually be able to wear the item.
3) For those of you who don’t have off-the-rack sizes, find a good, reliable, inexpensive tailor. This is possible to do basically anywhere. I had a friend who was really short who ended up spending way too much money because he was under the impression that A: he shouldn’t buy something if he has to have it altered and B: altering clothing is expensive. So he always shopped at this expensive store which had 30×26 pants. If you don’t know where to start, go to a store you shop at and ask the manager where they would suggest someone to go to for a tailor, even many expensive stores have a tailor that they suggest who isn’t that expensive (century 21 in NYC for example, has a tailor around the corner who is really affordable–really), but does a great, reliable job. Also, many places (Like uniqlo, for example) will tailor clothing for free–they’re cheap for basics, too.
4) Buy to fill-out your wardrobe, not to extend it. This goes with a lot of what you were saying, Clint: don’t buy what’s in fashion just because you don’t have a super-deep-v neck t-shirt that’s in. Buy a regular v-neck t-shirt because you don’t have any v-neck t-shirts to wear under the itchy-but-cute v-neck sweater you were given for your birthday. And buy one that’s in the appropriate color, not 4 that are in various colors.
5) Don’t try it on unless you’re already convinced you’re going to buy it. If you don’t really love something, like, really love it, trying it on may make you buy something you weren’t really all that keen on. We all know that we like to look at ourselves in new things, the euphoria of that moment, for many, is what turns an ‘impulse’ buy into a ‘I need this’ buy, which is to be avoided at all costs (literally).
6) Heed the care instructions of your garments. This is simple: it’ll make them last longer, saving you money on replacing them.
I’m sorry to leave such a lengthy reply, but I really don’t think the original post is as common-sense as you’d like to say it is, and, frankly, telling people to buy cheap clothing if they’re used to spending more isn’t going to stop them, just alienate your reader base. The motto is this: don’t shop cheaper, shop better.
wow, that was long. Sorry.
Hey, people can spend what they want to spend. I’m not alienating anyone because we’re all thrifty homos to begin with, so this audience would be more welcome than most to hearing a critique. Simple fact of the matter is, I also live in New York City as you do, and I have found incredible deals on clothing that look 10 times more expensive than they really are.
I think you might be surprised to find out little the vast majority of people notice this stuff anyway. If you look good, you look good. And labels don’t matter at that point. There are a few jobs that, yes, you would have to demonstrate your knowledge of brand by wearing them. But at the same time, those jobs are very rare. Most people would be able to follow this advice.
I’d love you to meet my leather shoes that have lasted two years and only cost me $40 at DSW. They disagree with the whole falling apart issue, and I think that’s also where people tend to fall down in this argument. A lot of times, people assume that cheaper equals poorly made. Listen, if you see bad stitching, glue, or something that indicates low quality, don’t BUY it. But if you find something that looks to be high quality, there’s no difference between a generic white t-shirt and one made by Ralph Lauren. Except the label, really.
Lets be honest – some people care about fashion, some don’t. This of course leads to all sorts of differences in opinions as to what is worth and what is NOT worth the money – i.e. this posting chain. However, there is one unifying fact that rings true for all – man/woman/fat/tall/skinny/short/fashonista/not – and this that classics NEVER go out of style.
First and foremost the thing that makes something a classic is something so basic that it can be tailored (and it always should if it you can’t wear off-the-rack – which most of us can’t), to fit your specific body perfectly. Classic items are not trendy, they’re not funky, they’re not being shown on MTV. They are essential part of any adult’s wardrobe. THESE are the items one could (and should) spend good money on. They are items that if taken care of correctly will last you for years and will never go out of style:
FOR BOTH MEN AND WOMEN:
– dark denim (however i will say my new find is Uniqlo, they fit amazingly well, are only $40 and don’t LOOK it).
– white woven (or ‘button-down’ or ‘man-tailored’) shirt
– Matte-black shoes (oxfords for men, NOT slip-ons)
– Matte-brown shoes (oxfords for men, NOT slip-ons)
– dark denim jeans – (straight fit for me, tapered for women)
– brown belts
– black belts
– navy blue sport coat (pinstripes optional)
– dark gray sport coat (possible to use jacket from suit – but ALWAYS dry clean entire suit together to keep from one pieces looking more worn than the other)
MEN-SPECIFIC
– a 2-button gray suit (your most versatile color. you can dress it up, dress it down or wear as separates).
– gray woven shirt (or ‘button-down’). French cuffs optional
– solid-color polo Tshirts for warmer weather
– dark-colored V-neck sweaters for cooler weather
WOMEN-SPECIFIC
– the ever-popular LBD (or ‘little black dress’)
– short tailored 1-button jacket
– solid-color cami’s
– dark gray wool pants – (might want one pair tailored for heels and one for flats)
– black, brown, tan heels (if you wear them)
– black, brown, tan flats
– solid-color cardigans
Anything other than this is a trend. period. That’s not to say you shouldn’t spend $1,000 on that amazing pair of python heels you saw at Louboutin – (http://us.christianlouboutin.com/simple-pump-100mm-13048.html) – if you have the means and they make you weak with pleasure than by all means go ahead. Just know that you’re spending 1,000 for 1 season of bliss and that’s it.
The one thing everyone should take away from this discussion is that we may not drive a car everyday, we only spend typically about 1/3 of our lives in our homes or apartments, we only wear bathing suits for about 1/6th of the year, but we wear clothes and shoes every single day and, unless we’re go-go dancers or strippers, we’re seen 75% of the time IN them. For that reason, we should, as the Italian’s say, practice ‘Bella figura’ – in their vernacular – ‘put your best foot forward.’ If that means the $150 custom-tailored white french-cuff woven shirt fits you exponentially better than the $20 one at H&M, and will last you for years, BUY IT. You will get your money’s worth 5 times over.
but buy the python heels anyway b/c they’re hot. You only live once…
It sounds like this advice is geared more toward those who already place an emphasis on keeping up with the latest fashions; if trends are not that important to you, paying extra for classic pieces like a cocktail dress, basic straight- or bootleg jeans, or suits if you need them on a somewhat regular basis, based on the quality that can be expected is worth it. I know I can get $8 t-shirts at Old Navy, but they’ve never held up as well as the $10 or $12 ones I get at Eddie Bauer on clearance. And KC shoes from DSW can surely be expected to last longer than the ones you could have gotten at a Payless for $20.
Well, if you’re plus-sized, it’s hard to find inexpensive clothing options. And if you’re spending that little on clothes, you’re probably buying clothes that were not made in a way that is ethical to the people manufacturing the clothes.
And to say that clothes, which do a great deal of work toward improving the way people feel about themselves, not to mention shape someone’s identity, is not a worthy expenditure is awfully condescending.
You can be fashionable and not buy a new wardrobe every season. And I would much rather pay more money for clothes that will last than those cheap $5 sweatshop clothes.
I used to be a major shopper and would spend an enormous amount of money on clothes, but a few things happened in my life that put it in to perspective. Clothes are just clothes. They go out of style, you outgrow them, etc. I’ve found that I can look good for cheaper.
I am also going to toss in the idea of spending with your values. I don’t value sweatshop labor so I will either buy secondhand or throw down some cash for stuff that’s hand-made. Not because I like to throw money around but because I care about buying stuff that didn’t support our f’d up clothing manufacturing system that exploits quite a bit if I can find a way around it. (Not that there’s any perfect solution.)
But I just wanted to throw that in there because buying crap isn’t always about the crap you get – sometimes it’s about how it got to you and how well-made it is.
That said, I’ve also purchased shoes at DSW.