How has your relationship with clothing cost changed over time? - Topic of the day 10/3/23
Looking back on your journey in paying attention and caring more about the clothes that you buy, how has your approach to cost changed over time? Do you still have limits on what is too expensive or has it crept upwards over time?
24 Replies
Its only gone up, but thats mostly because I now have a well-paying job where I can devote more money to clothes.
Similar - when I got into clothes/MFA, I was a college student waiting tables and living with my parents. My budget was mall brands, and secondhand shops were not very plentiful in my area. After college, and making adult money for a few years, I've expanded into 'better' brands, and am embarrassed at how many $50 t-shirts I have bought/considered.
Also more unique things tend to be more expensive, and I'm more drawn to more unique designs than i was before (though still pretty basic all things considered)
Cost per item has gone up significantly but I'm also buying far fewer items per year and try to limit myself to things with good resale value so I can let them go for the same or a little less than I purchased which justifies the cost in my mind
Sometimes it feels like paying a small fee to rent the piece for a season or two
I took a history of textiles class in college that was pretty radicalising and now I feel like I'm willing in theory to pay a LOT for new clothes even if the "quality" isn't that great. I mostly shop used for that reason too. I feel kind of crazy about how little people think clothing (and a lot of goods and services tbh) should cost but I'm always trying to learn more about supply chains, fair labour practices, and like... greenwashing. I'm also really lucky to have a good income that's over double the minimum wage here and really low rent thanks to roommates and a partner so I can afford to be choosy about the new stuff I buy
Much like rej I started out caring about fashion in college when a new pair of levi's felt like a splurge and now I'm an adult with a decent income and enough money leftover after paying my rent and bills to be able to splurge on a cool peice every few months or so
So much better now that I'm having fun with it instead of obsessing over shoe construction methods and materials quality and stuff. Just wearing stuff I think is cool in cool ways. Details matter, but not nearly in the same way that they did when I first got into the hobby
I only buy secondhand so $100 has always been my hard limit that I only exceed if it's something I've been looking a long time for or I don't think will pop up again. Counting in my head, I think there are only 5 pieces in my closet right now I've paid over 100 for
bellcurve.meme
finally broke out of my fmf j.crew days. definitely had a problem with online shopping for a couple years, but it didn't help that i essentially had to replace my wardrobe twice because i gained a bunch of weight
now that i've finally stabilized in terms of weight and don't dress in ridiculously slim stuff anymore i'm trying to focus on only picking up a few cool things that i really want each season
because of that i'm willing to spend more per piece, but i obviously can't go crazy. everything is kind of relative, but unless something has a lot of value and i think i'll own it and enjoy wearing it for multiple years, i can't really justify >$100
I used to like clothes. I still do like clothes, but I used to too
Me in 2013: Nobody should pay $20 for a new t-shirt, they should cost $5
Me in 2023: Nobody should pay $20 for a new t-shirt, they should cost $50
But yeah, same story as most others who have answered, I started this hobby when I had less disposable income. Most of my stuff was from mall brands, all of it was on sale. I'm a lot more conscious about how I consume fashion now, and to me that means buying almost everything used, but the rare cases when I don't it's more artisanal stuff from small producers and I'm willing to pay a lot more
Super thankful that I started getting into this hobby around college because my excess scholarship refunds are funding my closet now 
I don't think I changed my habits per se of buying a majority of things on sale/secondhand, but the things that I use to justify price definitely have changed. Buying a piece on sale because it was the "highest quality" thing out of the selection led to a lot of duds and I'm glad to have moved past only judging objective measures for purchases.
I don't think I changed my habits per se of buying a majority of things on sale/secondhand, but the things that I use to justify price definitely have changed. Buying a piece on sale because it was the "highest quality" thing out of the selection led to a lot of duds and I'm glad to have moved past only judging objective measures for purchases.
when i was in college i was a lot flashier, which meant i was spending what little money i had on gaudy and overpriced nonsense (ed hardy, anyone?) then i started having more responsibilities which meant my budget went down, and i started to appreciate stuff with little or no branding, so i focused on cheap basics mixed in with some of the less flashy remnants of my college days. when i got into my 30s, and my disposable income shot up, my budget for individual pieces has gone way up as well and i generally just buy what i feel like buying, unless its something outrageously expensive or i can't justify the ratio of cost vs. how often i'll wear the thing
i’ll buy ur old ed hardy
Been broke, still broke
unfortunately i donated/sold all of that stuff years ago
I pay the same price for clothes but now everything is secondhand
oh yeah idk if this is real but it seems like inflation has been crazy for clothing especially lately - specifically stuff in the middle to higher end maybe? researching tailoring is crazy bc guides from just 5 years ago will mention prices for suitsupply for example that are like 60 percent of what they are now?
That combined with like 50 cent garments on shein is just very ☠️
i started out buying uniqlo and secondhand levis (not the cool vintage pairs) because I was in college and had no disposable income, then i splurged for a couple years, and now I'm back to a max budget per piece so i can work on styling instead of using expensive clothes as a crutch
bellcurve meme
i think i always really liked clothes, but grew up pretty poor. when i landed my first job, at that time it was roshe run szn so i ended up pretty caught up in the streetwear cycle from 2012 - 2016/17. there was a huge overcorrection on my part from growing up poor and now having a little bit more money, really dumb purchases of thousand dollar sneakers, really dumb obvious wealth signifiers even though i could absolutely not afford that.
over the years i've come to realise how dumb that behaviour is, so there's been another correction in the other direction where i still spend money, but i think it's like a vegan approach, i buy local, i support local businesses, i very rarely, if ever, buy internationally.
i think also i've tried to move to being very, very deliberate about what goes into my wardrobe. i thought about guidis for 2-3 years before finally buying, most other purchases of things i come across, i try to think about what value something really adds to my overall wardrobe. especially because i never downsize and sell.
dumbest purchase goes to my sean wotherspoon air maxes for $1400 nzd, which i would wear for 2 years and beat the crap out of and still manage to flick off for $950.
Mine is all over the place. Raised to spend money on education, not clothes, shopped a lot at Ross and Marshalls. Became an overpaid tech bro, moved up to BR, but still thought $50 was a lot to spend on a shirt. Met my wife, wanted to look better, realized she spent a lot more on clothes than I did. Started shopping at Nordstrom, and got used to $200 jeans. But I guess I'm still a cheapskate at heart, because when MFA introduced me to Yohji and eBay, I picked eBay. But I still want to be open to spending $$$ on quality stuff I really like.