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Original poster

How long do you keep clothes for? People at work have made feel a bit shit

252 replies

TeapotCollection · 09/08/2021 15:22

Work colleague was talking about her nephew earlier saying he’s started to get a bit mouthy. She said he’s 10 though so I guess it’s fairly normal. I said I’ve got clothes older than him and the 3 of them all looked rather shocked and said they can’t believe I’m wearing stuff that’s so old

Please tell me I’m not the only one

OP posts:
OldTinHat · 09/08/2021 16:04

Never mind clothes, my favourite and long discontinued lipstick is one I bought when I was 17. I'm 49 now! It gets used on rare special occasions!

icedcoffees · 09/08/2021 16:05

I own clothes I've had since I was a teenager 20 years ago.

TheGlassBlowersDaughter · 09/08/2021 16:05

I have dresses from my early twenties and I'm nearly 50. It's not that I haven't bought clothes for 30 years Grin but I have a mix of old and new.

OldTinHat · 09/08/2021 16:06

Oh and DS1 who is now 22 and well over 6ft is apparently still wearing a pair of joggers that I bought for him for a school trip when he was 12! They are more like capri pants now 😂

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 09/08/2021 16:09

My oldest clothing item is a pair of pyjama bottoms from La Senza that I was given as a present in approximately 2000. I didn't wear them much because they were high waisted and a size 12 (I was an 8 back then), but they fit nicely now! Oh, and I still have loads of shoes from my student days, although they tend to be the more painful ones that didn't get worn that much.

PaperMonster · 09/08/2021 16:09

Lol! I tell my students (16-25) that I have clothes older than them!!

Strokethefurrywall · 09/08/2021 16:10

I still have a top shop denim mini skirt that I bought when I was 22, I’m 41 now and I still wear it.

I also have a pair of trousers that I bought in Bali in 2005, in fact still have loads of clothes I went traveling with.

I can afford new clothes, I buy new clothes but my old faithfuls last me years and if they still look fine then I wear them. I’m not really into disposable fashion, mainly because I life on a tiny Caribbean island and we have to fly to Miami for big shops.
But I’ve also never really been “into” fashion. If it’s comfy I wear it.

HirplesWithHaggis · 09/08/2021 16:10

A pp mentioning her bike jacket made me think - mine is 40 years old! I wore it daily for several years (in all weathers!) still wear it a few times a year. I did have to get it relined about ten years ago.

reprehensibleme · 09/08/2021 16:10

I have clothes that are 20 + years old.

I wear my clothes as long as they fit and are not falling apart at the seams. I do not follow fashion.

Refer them to the UN's climate report out today.

LadyDanburysCane · 09/08/2021 16:11

I have a gorgeous cashmere wrap that DH bought me shortly after DD was born. DD is now 23 years old and that wrap is still worn regularly. I do have an evening dress that is older than that but it doesn’t fit anymore 😞. I also have a cape that was my aunt’s - she wore it to my uncle’s wedding when I was 8 or 9 so it’s over 40 years old - I wear it occasionally.

springbabs · 09/08/2021 16:12

Went to a wedding a few years back and DS1 said, "Oh mum, you've got a new coat." No, i hadn't, it was older than him and I bought it in a sale. It still comes out every winter.
I'm another one who wears clothes until they wear out although there's not much opportunity to wear a bridesmaid's dress from the 80s but I won't throw it out. I also wear a scarf which was a Christmas present from sis in 1984

LubaLuca · 09/08/2021 16:12

I still wear a t-shirt I bought on a school trip. I have children who are older than I was when I bought it.

I don't buy trendy clothes, more plain items that were never in fashion so have never gone out of fashion! I wouldn't replace items just because they'd reached a certain age.

TalbotAMan · 09/08/2021 16:13

I have a ooat which I bought in 1983 when I started a job. Tbf, it only really comes out now for funerals and the like but it's still in pretty good shape.

[I also have a jacket which I bought around 1995 and have yet to wear! It was going to be for an outfit that I never actually managed to complete. DW keeps trying to persuade me to give it to charity and I keep refusing.]

On top of that, I still have my sixth form blazer, though it no longer fits. I left in 1976 . . .

ILookAtTheFloor · 09/08/2021 16:14

I was just saying today that my one bikini is over 15 years old! I still wear it.

I also have a raincoat, from Primark no less, that I've worn every year for ages. I cleared out the pockets this year, to wash it, and I had train tickets from 2012 in there 😂

fiftyval · 09/08/2021 16:14

I have a dress I have worn every summer since 1998.
I use a hairband daily when cleaning face/doing make-up which I have had since I was 12 - I am 60.
DP ( same age) is still wearing socks from the DofE he did at 18 and even has a hanky with a name tape on it (boarding school)

Jerima · 09/08/2021 16:14

I keep my clothes until they're broken, why would you get rid of clothes that were in good condition?

Kids clothes go when I can't shoe horn them into them anymore.

allfurcoatnoknickers · 09/08/2021 16:15

I'm 34 and my oldest non-vintage items of clothing are from 2007 and 2008. Just normal stuff from Boden and Topshop, nothing fancy and designer.

I've got loads of vintage cashmere from the 90s and earlier. The quality is so much better than what you can get now and you can buy it for next for nothing.

Londontown12 · 09/08/2021 16:15

Vintage Darling wud have been my reply x

mumsiedarlingrevolta · 09/08/2021 16:15

I wore a striped breton top yesterday that is from when I was pregnant with DS who is 25!!

I have some amazing flowy trousers that I got at Urban Outfitter when I was working in Boston in around 1992. So that's 29 years.

Probably have some older-interesting that ppl think 10 years is old!

AnneElliott · 09/08/2021 16:15

Another here who has clothes older than their kids (DS is 15). Oldest items are my walking boots which are nearly 30 years old.

And DH has a Primark t shirt that he bought 20 years ago. Still in great condition.

I wear everything until it falls apart (or if it doesn't fit anymore it goes to charity).

HasaDigaEebowai · 09/08/2021 16:15

Our planet is literally burning. They're the ones who should feel shit, not you. We really need to start pushing the message that consumerism is bad and something to be ashamed of whereas reusing and taking care of things, mending them and wearing them over and over is something to be proud of.

MrsJackGrealish · 09/08/2021 16:16

I use clothes, shoes, handbags, bedding furniture over and over until it's no good.

Pretty everything that I own second hand, apart from some gadget and clothes.

My parents do house clearances and regularly see perfectly good things in skips and they arent beyond rescuing said items.

IsThisNameTaken · 09/08/2021 16:16

Definitely not unreasonable. I thought this thread was going to be the other way round and you were throwing clothes away too soon - and was ready to come on and tell you YABU!!

StellaOlivetti · 09/08/2021 16:16

I have an Arran jumper that my first boyfriend’s Nan knitted for me when I was 17. Am now 54.
It’s much more environmentally friendly to wear old clothes. I read somewhere that the fashion industry is the second most polluting Industry on earth, after the oil industry.

HasaDigaEebowai · 09/08/2021 16:16

I went to a lunch last week and wore the top I bought for my honeymoon. I've been married around 20 years.