You ever open your closet and look at all your clothes and think you have <a href=”https://joewears.co.uk/i-tracked-every-clothing-purchase-for-a-year-the-surprising-data-on-what-was-worth-it/”>nothing to wear</a>? I used to live in that headspace. Filled my closet up with stuff I loved browsing for and looked amazing on the sales rack but never actually reached for regularly.
Then I kept buying more of those thing while reaching for the same handful of solids over and over. Until one magical day I realised about the “30 wears test” and my closet has never been the same. Ask yourself before you buy any clothing item “will I wear this at least 30 times?” If you’re honest with yourself the answer is often no.
Immediately walk out of the store (or close your browser). It’s that simple.
You don’t need to build a spreadsheet to calculate the carbon impact of organic cotton farming (although hey if you want to do that…) Someone actually came up with this rule.
Her name is Livia Firth and she’s married to Colin. Like me, up until this little mindset shift she just bought whatever she liked knowing she’d wear it.. once. And tossed it.
Maybe donated it. Anyway, who cares enough to actually think about it? ! As soon as I had kids I started questioning a lot of things like this.
What kind of planet are we leaving our children? Easy answer if you ask fashion – not a good one. Clothing production has been linked to ~10% of the worlds carbon footprint.
Yikes. And how often do we buy clothes, wear them a handful of times, then throw them away? Well I used to do that A LOT.
Then I had kids. The 30 wears started to really make sense to me. <Image: Lecture hall to diploma photo> Once I started asking myself that question I started refusing to buy things I wouldn’t wear 30+ times. Sure I grabbed a gift for my wife here or there but other than that I was good.
The hard part was overcoming my past purchases. Like this beautiful jacket I got for $180 and wore exactly 3 times in two years. $60 per wear.. who does that to themselves?! Even at Costco I averaged maybe $65 per jacket because I wore it so often.
Cuts down on the amount of things you haveFloating Quote on too! The biggest reason I love this concept is it forces you to look at your life realistically. Will you wear that chicken shirt 30 times?
Hell yes I will. When’s the last time YOU wore a chicken shirt though? Point being you have to know yourself.
Once I started passing on stuff I “should” get and buying things I would actually wear I started to branch out a little. Not by much but enough to improve my style overall. Also stopped buying things just because they were on sale.
Like these cargo shorts I purchased with good intentions and wore about four times. Hey it’s happened to the best of us. One day you’re buying clothing and thinking about how great your life is.
Next thing you know you’re lying on the floor kicking your kids across the face because they dumped your ice cream. Kidding kids. But this really happened to me. <Image: Dad wearing plaid button down shirt talking to little boy while wearing colourful shirt> The biggest thing I noticed after applying this test to every purchase I made was how much I started caring for my clothing.
If I was going to wear something 30+ times it better look good doing it! Those $12 t-shirts from Target don’t stand up to 30+ washes looking awesome. Learned really quick to spend more money on less clothing.
Trust me when I say you’ll save money in the long run. Sidenote: Getting dressed actually got easier because I liked everything in my closet. Deep down I knew if I didn’t wear it, I didn’t need it.
But it felt so good to open my closet and everything I saw was something I loved wearing. Said something similar about my closet on <a href=”https://joewears.co.uk/i-organised-my-entire-closet-here-is-the-contents/”>my master closet tour</a>. Gotta love having zero clutter!
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Oh and doing laundry became easier too. If I hadn’t worn it in the last 6 months I probably wouldn’t ever wear it and could donate it. Stuff I used to have on the fence about throwing away but was too lazy to donate suddenly had a home. <Image: Dad and son standing in kitchen] Another surprising thing I noticed.
I actually spent less money! I think partially because I was buying less crap I didn’t need. But also because once you start looking at Cost Per Wear your whole budget changes.
Don’t believe me? Go pull up your closet and see how much your clothes would cost to get to 30 wears. Pretty crazy stuff.
Forcing myself to only buy things I needed took some getting used to. I started washing my delicates properly (read: stopped throwing them in the washer with the boys shit-stained undershirts). Made sure I was hanging things up properly so they didn’t get wrinkles.
Got my laundry dried professionally if needed. Wasn’t spending money on clothes I didn’t need, so I made sure they lasted! Lauren was the first to comment on my new stylish ways.
Said I looked more pulled together and wasn’t as stressed in the mornings. You know why? Cause I actually liked everything in my closet!
Started to understand how everything went together because I curated my closet with only things I loved wearing regularly. No more stressing about if something matched or not. Even applied this logic to food purchases.
Would I eat this 30+ times? Sure, peanut butter is great. No I wouldn’t.
Do we really need anymore food storage containers? The answer is probably no. <Image: Father daughter picnicking in field> This was a gamechanger for me as a dad. Most of our lives aren’t walking around fashion magazine covers.
We’re eating cereal for dinner and chasing our kids around on weekends. The 30 wears forces you to be honest with yourself and your current lifestyle. Once I started asking that question I started trimming my her down to only things that were flexible enough to deal with our crazy lifestyle.
Stained shirts are no joke. Also stopped impulse buying new shirts every time I felt like my wardrobe was lacking. Mid-piece panic used to be real for me.
Where I’d open up my closet and see “nothing to wear!” and go out buy something I didn’t need. Cancelled a ton of retail email subscriptions. Unfollowed instagram and Pinterest accounts that made me feel inadequate in my current clothes.
Let’s be real, those accounts only want you to buy more shit. Stopped wearing clothing I didn’t absolutely love.
Said something similar about my minimal wardrobe <a href=”https://joewears.co.uk/how-i-dropped-half-my-closet/”>in my last closet post</a>.
When you don’t have excess clothes filling your closet you start paying attention to what you actually love wearing vs want on sale. <Image: Dad laying on green hill laughing while son behind him points up at the sky> TLDR: Ask yourself will you wear this 30 times. If yes buy it. If no don’t.
Seriously though has changed my whole style game. I can’t imagine going back to impulse buying clothes I wouldn’t wear now. Gives you a really solid baseline for what you need and don’t.
Half the battle is being honest with yourself about your life right now. You think shirt wrinkles bother you? Wait till you have kids.
They will push chocolate all over your shirts and then scream at you when you try to wash it out. Trust me, you’ll never look back.
