The average item of clothing in a woman’s wardrobe is there for just 5 weeks.

[Ali1cedowntherabbithole]

Just heard on the today programme.

Really? I have a coat that is 30 years old and expect to get a few years wear out of most things. I don’t think I’ve ever thrown anything out after just 5 weeks, even the fashion mistakes of my youth.

We have done clothing collections at work for a charity, and we had quite a few pieces donated which had never been worn. I have occasionally done this - last time was a pair of trousers which I got in a sale, wore them once, waited for the right weather to wear again (too thin fabric for winter) and meanwhile, my weight changed, so they didn't fit any more. Mind you, they were still in the wardrobe for some months before I passed them on. Most of my stuff is a loose fit, and I will wear most things until they literally wear out.

Teen DD is like this except she's a hoarder so heaving wardrobe she doesn't move stuff out often, but doesn't even come out to be worn, either. She has heaps of clothes she buys (ordered on Everything £5) & wears maybe twice in first 6 weeks, then loses interest, she still wants more. I've been sternly told she's not frivolous with money on another thread, though. .

Good lord I don’t go clothes shopping that often. If something lasts me last that 18 months I consider it ‘shoddy’ and wouldn’t buy from that shop again!

• less than

And I’m early....well, mid...30s

The newest thing I’m wearing today is at least 3 years old my top is 7 years old probably. I the only things I really replace is underwear. However I don’t post a lot of pictures of my self on SM which I assume mostly fuels the need to be in something new all the time?

Rubbish.

It might well be 5 weeks before I first wear an item, if I bought it in the sale. I find most things last 5 years, except work 'uniform' and shoes, but some good-quality items are decades old and going strong.

Where is this research from? Who conducted it and with whom? We need to know this before we can assess whether it’s valid or not.
At the other extreme, I keep clothes for years. I actually have a pair of leather ankle boots I bought in Spain 28yrs ago and I still wear them now and again. I would say quite a lot of my clothes are over 10 yrs old but I do have lots of new ones too. I’m lucky I have 5 large wardrobes but people with very limited space would have to be much more selective in what clothes they could store.

I still considerbstuff to be “new” for a couple of years! I have clothes in the ironing pile for more than weeks!

I heard this and didn't believe it either, somebody needs to check out the source, I'm surprised the interviewer didn't challenge it
as pp have said, if that was the average someone must be chucking stuff out after a few hours to balance me and my waterproof trousers I have finally given up on after 30+ years

Gamerwidow - I think SM only has an effect on these stats if you are young and obsessed about posting yourself on there or working in fashion, perhaps. Older people rarely post pics of themselves and it wouldn’t be to show off clothes.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00027xh

Link Here

the interview starts at 1 hr:18 with the quote at 1 hr :21

I’ve had every single item of clothing I own for longer than 5 weeks.

It does make me wonder how robust the research is.

Are they counting things like women buying all their clothes online and immediately returning the ones that don’t fit properly?
Are they asking a disproportionate number of women who are on their way out of some cheap fashion store carrying armfuls of bags of new clothes?

I've had the dress I'm wearing today for 2 years. Most of my clothes are years old.

I think it depends - I have items in my wardrobe from 20 years ago which I still wear on occasion. And lovely well made dresses which are over 10 years old and going strong. But anything from cheap online retailers eg Asos or the high street retailers tends to only really last a few months -a year max due to terrible rewashing/sewing due to cost cutting at their end

I have Tshirts for bands that are older that my DS - and he's 30! I have a sweatshirt that's older than that! Very rarely buy new clothes

Not mine! I wear things until they literally fall apart which takes a lot longer than 5 weeks!

I don’t know anyone - from my 18 year old dd to my 65 year old mum (who still has clothes from her 20s) via my friends in their 40s & my 20-something fashionista sister - who buys/wears/chucks clothes like that.

I’ve had clothes before that have been unwearable after a few wears too, but surely you’d need almost all clothes to be like that for those to drag the average wardrobe age of clothing down to 5 weeks?

I don't think many will only get 5 weeks out of something, that's averaged out.
Some people perhaps only wear something 5 or 6 times i suppose, depending on the garment.

MurphM
You’d think so wouldn’t you but I know women in their 40s and 50s who still post weekly selfies (and more) with a new outfit each time. Madness!

Maybe it includes all clothes for sale in the Uk - not actually sold, so include all the tat that no one wanted. I can't see it being 5 weeks in a wardrobe. Who has the time or money for that much shopping and disposing?

I’ve got summer dresses I’m still wearing twenty years down the line!

Well, we all know that Mumsnetters are not average.
Was the survey of 50 teenage girls in Primark?

One of my pairs of Wolford tights is still going strong after 19 years.