You know what we haven’t talked about in a LONG time?

Wardrobe statistics!

This was a topic I was super into back in the 2010s (it feels weird saying that, but pre-2020 times are all starting to blend together in my mind) and fell out of the habit of chronicling on the blog at some point. But – surprise! – it’s something I’ve never stopped tracking, mostly out of habit. I haven’t done any analytics on this information in years though, so I thought it would be fun to have a look at that now and see what could be gleaned from it.

My wardrobe tracking system is a very, very, very basic Excel spreadsheet. I track the year of purchase, the price paid, the estimated retail price, and the number of times I wear each item. I’ve got everything organized by category of items to make the list easier to use and update. Items that are in my “archive” closet (i.e. not in current use but kept for sentimental reasons) have their own separate list. Once I get rid of an item, I delete it from my spreadsheet.

This means that my wardrobe tracking system is only a reflection of my current closet, not of my historical purchases. I keep a separate spreadsheet to track clothing purchases by year. I prefer to have them separate in order to make the wardrobe tracking sheet easier to navigate; there is a lot of turnover in my closet, and I want to be able to easily see what’s actually there now, versus all the stuff that’s been in there over the years. [Note: all of the stats below include clothing only, not shoes, bags or other accessories.]

Speaking of turnover, here are the stats:

• 5% of the wardrobe was purchased pre-2018
• 21% was purchased between 2018 and 2020
• 74% was purchased between 2021 and now

This doesn’t surprise me, to be honest. Fashion is one of my hobbies and I love to experiment, which is possible thanks to thrifting. The vast majority of things I discard from my closet are still in great shape and are simply pieces that I don’t love wearing anymore. I end up selling, swapping, or donating them, to make sure that they stay in circulation for as long as possible. I have been working on being more selective with the things I buy – and I think I have made lots of progress since my early days as a thrifter – but the reality is that there will ALWAYS be new (to me) pretty things that will catch my eye and spark joy. My goal now is to make sure that any pieces I add to my closet are 100% “HELL YES” – not just “this has potential” or “I could see me wearing this”. I can see me wearing a lot of things; I only want to buy things I’m hella excited to wear.

More than 90% of my wardrobe is secondhand. This is reflected in the following stats:

• Average purchase price: $22/item
• Average estimated retail price: $225/item

In my experience, thrifting prices used to be around 5-7% of estimated retail cost. In the past few years, that’s inched up to 10-15% on average. In contrast, consignment and Poshmark have always had higher percentages – 25% and up on average. Because I have been using Poshmark since 2020, my clothing purchase costs have definitely increased during the past 3 years as compared to the preceding 3 years. Obviously, Poshmark is nowhere near as a good a (financial) deal as thrifting, but I do like using it to find things that are unique or hard-to-thrift, and still a good bargain overall.

What about value though? Here are some cost-per-wear stats:

• My most worn item is the Oak & Fort cocoon coat that has been my go-to winter coat for the past few years (since retiring my beloved MaxMara camel coat). I bought it in 2020, paid $33 for it at the thrift, and have worn it over 400 times. I have started to look for a replacement on a sort of informal basis; I think I’ll get one more winter out of this coat, but thrifting can take a while to deliver the goods, so it’s a good idea to start a new search early.

• The next few items on the most-worn list are also coats (see a trend?). The most worn non-coat item is my Madewell jeans. Although this is a pair I haven’t worn a lot lately, I’ve held on to it for now because it still fits. I bought these in 2017 at consignment for $26 and have worn them 47 times.

In general, because I have a large wardrobe, most of my items (even the older ones) don’t get a high amount of wears. However, there are certain staples that do. Here’s an example of 2 pieces I bought only last year:

• Babaton black turtleneck (used as a base layer) purchased in 2022 for $8 (thrift) and worn 23 times.
• Tommy Hilfiger kick flare jeans purchased in 2022 for $10 and worn 27 times.

In both cases, the cost-per-wear is well under $1.

Wondering how my most expensive pieces stack up? I got you:

• Issey Miyake dress purchased in 2019 for $580 (consignment) and worn 5 times [no regrets though, it’s a “forever” piece for me]
• Dries Van Noten dress purchased in 2018 for $300 (eBay) and worn 8 times
• Rachel Comey skirt purchased in 2021 for $210 (Poshmark) and worn 5 times
• Dries Van Noten skirt purchased in 2020 for $190 (Poshmark) and worn 6 times
• Burberry trench purchased in 2017 for $180 (consignment) and worn 47 times

And what about some of my favourite pieces?

• Acne skirt purchased in 2020 for $80 (Poshmark) and worn 7 times
• Issey Miyake skirt purchased in 2020 for $10 (thrift) and worn 15 times
• Liz Claiborne dress purchased in 2021 for $20 (thrift) and worn 7 times
• Ralph Lauren skirt purchased in 2019 for $7 (thrift) and worn 13 times
• Saint Laurent skirt purchased in 2019 for $13 (thrift) and worn 9 times
• Topshop dress purchased in 2021 for $64 (eBay) and worn 8 times
• Vanessa Virginia dress purchased in 2016 for $17 (thrift) and worn 14 times
• Wilfred sweater purchased in 2018 for $140 (retail) and worn 17 times
• Reitmans sweater purchased in 2023 for $9 (thrift) and worn 6 times

Overall, there were no surprises (for me) in these stats, but I still found it a fun exercise. On the whole, consistent with my cost-per-wear analysis, I do try to limit how much I spend on “statement pieces” because I know that I won’t wear even my favourite ones that much. I like variety too much. Ironically, I still find it easier to justify spending more money on those statement favourites than I do on staples like coats or jeans (which I wear a LOT more). It’s a habit I haven’t been able to break, but I’m working on it. Seeing these stats helps to reinforce the message.

If you also do wardrobe tracking, I would love to hear your thoughts on your experiences with it. What have you learned? Does it help you to make decisions about clothing purchases? What are some of the biggest surprises or takeaways from your experiences?

Two weeks ago, I flew to Montreal for a 5-day visit to see my best friend, who moved there in 2021. It was almost exactly 3 years since the last time I was on a plane back in March 2020, though that feels like a lifetime ago. I was thrilled to be seeing my bestie – the last time I saw her was a year ago when she came back to Edmonton for a visit – and excited to be in Montreal again, but I also felt plenty of anxiety. I was never a frequent flyer even in pre-pandemic times, but it’s safe to say that I’ve lost my “muscle memory” for plane travel in the intervening three years. Thinking about going to and through the airport, getting on a plane, and repeating the process all over again made me feel a little nauseous.

To make my life easier, I decided to do something I’d never done before: take only a carry-on. This might seem like no big deal for some of you, but I have never travelled by plane without checked luggage. If it takes a plane to get there, I need a suitcase of clothes to come along with me. While I’ve gotten better over the years about not over-packing, I still need the security blanket of extra clothing options, “just in case”. Well, not this time. This time, I had to prepare a bare-bones packing list – a new challenge for me, especially considering how out of practice I’d gotten.

I started by breaking down my needs. I had 2 travel days and 3 city days to cover. To help pack light, I decided I would wear the same outfit on the plane both ways, and that I would only bring one pair of shoes to wear the entire time. Because I knew I would be doing a lot of walking (and it would still be fairly cold), the shoes would be a pair of flat-heeled, black boots that could be worn with both pants and skirts/dresses. That left me with at least 3 outfits to figure out.

While my bestie and I didn’t have plans to do anything super fancy during my visit, I was still going to be in Montreal; I wanted to look nice, but also needed my outfits to be comfortable since I would be wearing them all day to a variety of activities (mostly museum hopping, dining out, and shopping).

I started with the bottoms. One was going to be a pair of jeans; easy to dress up and down, comfortable enough for the plane, hard-wearing. The choice of jeans was a no-brainer: my kick flare Tommy Hilfiger pair. The pant leg is wide enough to accommodate the (knee high) boots I planned to wear, and the cropped length meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting them wet if there was snow on the ground.

Technically, I probably could have brought only the jeans and a bunch of tops, but I wanted some variety so I decided to bring a second option: a skirt. Picking which skirt to bring seemed daunting at first – I have a lot of skirts! – but in the end it was actually pretty easy. I knew I wanted a long skirt and something that wasn’t too “precious” (i.e. I could wear on snowy/muddy streets without worrying about it). I ended up choosing my Cleo plaid wrap skirt. It’s black but has a nice pattern – not too loud, not too subtle – to make it more interesting. It’s a lightweight wool blend material, which is easy to wash; plus, I paid $5 for it, so even in the worst-case scenario — total destruction — it’s not a huge loss.

By the time I got to tops, my decisions were already much easier, since the bottoms I had selected helped to narrow down my options. Well, the skirt did, anyway. I picked tops based on what would work with the skirt, since I knew they would always work with the jeans too. I ended up choosing 2 sweaters, 1 cardigan, and a button-down shirt. This might seem like a lot, but I had to consider layering options – I would be outside a fair bit, and my winter coat isn’t super heavy. For that reason, I also added a thin (cotton) turtleneck; this functions as a base layer in the winter and I don’t count it as “real clothes”.

Lastly, I added the “functional” items: a sweatshirt (for the plane, and for lounging at my friend’s house), a pair of leggings and a long sleeve t-shirt (also for lounging), plus of course PJs, socks and underwear, hat, scarf and mitts.

With this packing list, I was able to create 6 easy outfits (double what was strictly necessary, as insurance):

I ended up wearing 4 of these outfits and was pretty happy with them all:

Details: Jeanne Pierre sweater, Zara skirt, Marquis sandals (all thrifted), MaxMara necklace (retail)

Thoughts: Swamp witch is back!! I thrifted this vintage sweater and Zara skirt on the same thrift trip, and I knew they were meant to be worn together. I see lots of possibilities in each piece separately — the skirt is intriguing in its shape and texture — but they are so wonderful together. The sweater was made in Ireland which seems appropriate given its brilliant green colour. I wasn’t sure at first how to “finish” this outfit. None of the shoes I tried worked. Then I remembered that I had this pair of bright green tights; I had bought them online, hoping for a darker emerald shade, and never found an occasion to wear them because they are so bright. Well, it’s just right for this outfit. I finally attempted the tights-with-sandals combo, which has felt intimidating for me in the past — too “fashion it girl” for me. Wearing this around the house felt like a safe way to test the waters.

Details: Babaton turtleneck, Tahari shirt, Ralph Lauren jacket, Issey Miyake skirt, Chico’s belt, Fluevog shoes (all thrifted)

Thoughts: Back to my comfort zone! I recently thrifted this black & white jacket, adding it to my collection of softly structured, southwestern print RL-brand jackets. Some are LAUREN Ralph Lauren, some are Denim & Supply, this one is Chaps — it’s a popular style for the brand. I like them a lot because they are comfier to wear than regular blazers, and are also pretty versatile.

Details: Oak & Fort top, Oscar de la Renta vest, Nocona belt, Fluevog shoes (all thrifted), Topshop skirt (swap)

Thoughts: I’ve been slowly getting into brown over the past year, and I’m not mad about it. Bad gets a bad rep, but it has way more potential than, say, beige, IMO. First of all, there are many shades, to suit many complexions and wardrobe colour palettes. Second, brown is a fantastic (way underrated) complement to many other colours. And, honestly, it’s not bad on its own too. I think this outfit is proof of that. And, yes, you can def wear brown and black together. Let’s also take a moment to appreciate this awesome vest-cardigan — it’s vintage Oscar de la Renta and it’s 100% amazing cashmere.

Details: Jeanne Pierre sweater (thrifted), Paul Smith pants (Poshmark), J. Crew shoes (thrifted)

Thoughts: Same sweater, different outfit. I had to bring out these pants again, it’s been too long and they are too awesome. I love blue/green pairings. Since the colours of the pattern on the pants are pretty muted, I decided to add a brighter pop of blue with the shoes. Simple but effective.

Details: H&M dress, no name cardigan, Marquis shoes, Rafael Alfandary necklace (all thrifted)

Thoughts: Just a fun, loose, knock-about-the-house outfit. I did try out another tights-and-sandals combo. The more I get my eyes used to this formula, the more comfortable I’ll get with it; and maybe, when it warms up outside, I’ll give it a real whirl. I’ve worn the cream version of this dress with this cardigan before, but I wanted to try the black this time. One, because I like brown and black together; and two, because I thought the polka dot pattern would pop with the patchwork of patterns on the cardigan.