August 2024
Why Cost per Wear can be misleading…but wait is it actually about dresses?
Welcome/welcome back! Let’s dive right in with a hot take — Cost Per Wear is kinda trash. Cost per Wear (CPW) by itself can be misleading for the simple fact that we don’t always know ourselves as well as we think we do. We think that we will keep and wear an item for years (especially an expensive item), but most of us are wearing less than 30% of our wardrobes, and on average we're only wearing an item 7 times before we discard it so we may not be achieving the low CPW we think we are. At best CPW can encourage you to keep an item for longer to get more value out of it, but at its worst it can be a crutch for you to buy something.
I do include Cost per Wear in my wardrobe data but I look at a few variations:
All-time Cost per Wear, using the purchase price of the item
Current year (2024) Cost per Wear, using the purchase price of the item
Depreciated value Cost per Wear using a depreciated price for the item based on my own special sauce formula. This was inspired by the Vaayu x Vestaire Collection CPW formula incorporating resale value. Since I’m not focused on resale for these items depreciation feels like a good stand-in.
This data pairs nicely with how long I’ve owned an item because my ultimate goals are to keep what I own for a long time and wear it often. Here’s how different Cost per Wear compares:
CPW looks wildly different depending on the purchase price and the time frame. At first glance it may not look like the CPW for a handbag is that great but I expect to keep that item for almost a decade which should put most CPW metrics in the negative. I expect more seasonal categories such as coats to change as it’s colder here on the East coast, but it’s nice to see the denim, pants, tops and knitwear look healthy across all calculations because those are categories I tend to buy into.
A little more food for thought — I took a look at the average amount of times items within a category were worn this year and how many times I expect to wear those items this year alone.
Knitwear, pants and denim remain most-worn categories but I should reconsider before buying another top or skirt ever again. I used to wear my handbags more often but now that we moved to the suburbs I’m living that boat tote life most of the time.
And with that, let’s take a look back at July.
What I Bought Last Month
After telling the whole world last month that I bought too many pants I am still trying to shop as little as possible, but I did buy this Everlane linen shirt new with tags on Poshmark.
What I Sold Last Month
I was introduced to this amazing company called cache the other week and I am OBSESSED. I immediately setup my wardrobe (shoutout to their co-founder Devyn!) and have created a storefront here to resell everything I am now parting ways with.
Most Worn Items Last Month
This $5 t-shirt from Target continues to be a wardrobe hero. Worn 8 days last month and 71 times this year.
These off-white taffeta pants I bought last year are so comfortable that I can’t stop wearing them. I keep it casual with a t-shirt and flip flops, or pair with a white button-down for a more polished look. Worn 6 days last month and 9 times this year.
My husband bought me this silk-blend sweater for my birthday and it’s the perfect weight to throw in a bag to wear when you’re being blasted by the AC. Worn 5 days last month and 12 times this year.
But wait, there’s more! Long story short earlier this Summer our AC stopped working and needed to be fully replaced. Not having AC during the record-breaking East coast heat wave had me looking back at what I wore in last Summer the last few years to keep cool. Last Summer I wore this dress multiple times a week (2x/week on average) and it quickly re-entered rotation. I’ve worn it 9 times this Summer, pacing to a large jump in wears year-over-year.
Dresses are a tricky category for me because I am always tempted to buy them, but I am consistently a separates buyer and wearer. The data tells me I don’t wear the dresses I already own enough, but dresses are what I reach for when it’s above 80 degrees and/or I’m on vacation.
I was inspired by this Shop Rat substack the other week to make my dresses available to rent (for free) for anyone in the NYC area. Here’s my public list! Please take me up on these, these dresses want to see the sun and dance. I’ve also listed some of my occasion dresses for rent on By Rotation. Why not, right?
See you next month!
Lauryn