Emotional Durability - Topic of the day 12/21/23
How do you build emotional attachment to your clothes? Do you have an emotional attachment to them?
11 Replies
I did for the first few pieces then now, a few years later with a bunch of pieces I don't really anymore. There are some grail pieces that I like more than others but I feel like the emotional attachment to them isn't really there like it used to be.
Maybe it's also bc i don't go out much so its not like any pieces have any special memories attached to them
Yes. I have some emotional attachment to most pairs of clothes. But I am also a pretty nostalgic person. I have a few pairs of clothes that are around 14 years old that I still remember times I wore them or why I bought them or who gifted them to me. And those pieces are cheaper ones from JCPenney or Target. I also have pricier and rarer pieces that I love and remember times I wore them over the years. I also remember and fondly remember the search or shopping experience and package arrival of clothing items 5,7,10 years ago.
Band t-shirts, thrift finds, sentimental first purchase... I have an emotional attachment with most of my wardrobe. Heck, with most of my purchases.
I was always taught to manage money and be mindful of what I buy so the act of purchasing something can be quite meaningful to me and symbolic of some notion of "success."
The downside is that working up the courage to sell and move on from something is TOUGH.
very relatable, I was taught the same way
maybe there are some pieces of clothing or shoes that i like and tend to reach for more often than other items, but i don't know if i'd go as far as to say i have an emotional attachment to any of them. theyre just things and even the pieces that aren't necessarily easy to replace are still just things. the exception is probably jewelry, and even then it's only a couple of pieces
I refuse to get rid of anything my wife gave me
I think that I often have the most attachment to other people's clothes. I remember what my girlfriend of a couple years was wearing on our first date or the white going on green new balances that my dad would wear to mow the lawn.
For myself, I have a bunch of free t shirts from junior tennis, which were designed to be mementos and are falling apart by now, but I keep them around to sleep in or workout.
Also for tennis, I've had like 3 pairs of 13 inch inseam basketball shorts for almost 17 years now.
I have clothes that I love, but if I need to take them out back I have the courage to do what must be done.
For repairable stuff I want to repair it as much as possible though
I definitely develop emotional attachment to my clothes, but not all of them. Some of the attachment comes from acquiring a “Grail,” whether it be something I had to search a long time for or something I simply had to save up a long time for. Simply having to wait a long time for something makes it that much more special when you get it. Most of my attachment to clothes comes from memories I made wearing them. A sick concert, some taco stains, an amazing travel experience, staying up all night sitting on the porch with friends talking till 7am…these are the kind of things that really build attachment to clothes for me.
grail retention -> sunk cost fallacy
Excellent point. I don’t think people should hold on to stuff in their wardrobe when it’s no longer useful