Do you spend a lot on clothes?

[Whattinger]

I love clothes & researching them & i always seem to have a load things i want.

I buy mostly good brands with some zara, cos & m&s thrown in

Sometimes i wonder if i bought everything on my wish list would it be enough or will i forever add things?

Very interesting replies (mostly 🙄)
@Bulbsbulbsbulbs i think i feel the same as you & fixate on items that will be life changing!

I spend a lot. I think some would be shocked. But i look after my clothes & wear them for years. I know what suits me & i derive a LOT of pleasure from buying nice clothes & planning outfits etc

I never buy cheap stuff from primark / shein etc

I donate stuff regularly & also sell on vinted so what i no longer want goes on to have a second life

Also @EvelynBeatrice in principle i agree with the point you make but i disagree that all art is unnecessary - i would argue that art is vital to humanity.

I also fully believe that however you choose to dress is a form of communication.

It takes as much effort to get dressed in bad clothes as it does for nice ones.

I can understand completely what you say.
When I worked, I had loads of really good quality items, it suited my lifestyle at the time, plus we went out a lot more to fancy restaurants....now we are more little country places, where the dress code is completely different.

I am slowly coming round to idea that a colourful beaded Dreamkeeper jacket actually can work with a pair of washed out denims. I am also updating some of the clothes. (I am a useless seamstress), but my last attempt as replacing white buttons with bigger wooden buttons, on a 30 year old lace white blouse, seems to be a success. 🤓

I have discovered Vinted (yes I know late to the party). I have recently lost 4 stone so needed a new wardrobe. I buy new with tags but the better quality brands. Mint Velvet, Reiss, Boden, Me and Em.
Some great Jackets, trousers and blouses. I am spending quite a bit but have gone from an 18/20 to 14. So i am going to bloody enjoy it.
My other big vice is preloved designer handbags. I have some corkers!

I have emptied my wardrobe and bought all “new”. It’s been mostly from vinted and some brand new from M&S as well. I’ve lost a load of weight since last year and it’s been a fabulous time buying whatever I want as I know now it will fit. And I will continue to buy 😝

The charity shops would be pretty empty if no one bought new clothes.

I have zero guilt about the amount I spend on clothes. I love clothes and enjoy buying new things, putting outfits together and going out with a new look.

My wardrobe is like a revolving door. Constantly buying new stuff but also constantly donating old things. I don’t resell them (I can’t be bothered and I don’t need the money) so others are benefitting rather than me.

Op did you want numbers? Last year (jan - December) I spent over £2k. My goal this year is to halve that and wear everything I own, altering items if need be. So far, I’ve spent £1200, so I’m already 120 % of target spend. Apart from a bathing suit, I think I’m done.

In 1994/5 I spent … £5k.

(And that was before chambers were obliged to pay pupils properly. Think my ‘salary’ for my first and second six months was £4k in total.)

But hopefully your pay has increased in 30 years @NorWouldTilly??!! So the more pertinent question would be: what did you spend last year, and do you consider it a lot, relative to income these days? Plainly you spent a big ol’ chunk in 1994-95, relative to your salary.

I just googled what the average spend on clothes per year is for someone in the UK, which is apparently between £400 and £900.

Based on that, I spend a lot on clothes. With work, casual, gym stuff, clothes for weddings and other events, there’re is no way I could only spend £900 per year.

Not since I started using Vinted. I’ve spent about £200 this year because I dropped 3 dress sizes. So I got basically a whole wardrobe.

For that I’ve got:
2x jeans
1x cropped jeans
3xskirts
1x jumper
7x tops/blouses
3x dresses (all brand new with tags at £85 each)
1x ballet flats (new with tags)

Much of it is Nobody’s Child, M&S, Zara

I spend probably in the region of 5k per year, some years more, some less.

That's taking into account work clothes, casual, going out, events & all shoes (i like nice shoes & trainers)

I don't buy designer as in LV etc and hate overt branding on anything so avoid that

I buy a lot in sales & a fab retail outlet i go to a couple of times a year

I spend quite a bit but don’t buy loads. I’ve lost weight since this time last year so buying spring summer stuff - trying not to go overboard and sticking to well made quality things rather than fashion items which will look dated this time next year.
I do love clothes but I don’t have a huge amount of space to store them so do keep it under control and regularly bung stuff on vinted to keep it in use but not in my way!

That was the only year I ever added it all up, @BigSkies2022. I doubt I ever spent (much) more in relative terms, mostly because I left the Bar early in the new century so really had no need for fancy suits and Ferragamo shoes after that.

My subsequent occupations allowed for much less visually restrained clothes - but by then I’d discovered TK Maxx and turned to online shopping so I’ve rarely paid full price for anything in the last twenty years or so.

I have never tallied it. But it must be in the thousands per year. £900 is not much for 12 months.

i spend virtually nothing. i’ve bought nothing brand new other than underwear and socks for at least 3 years now. i go straight to vinted or raid my children’s wardrobes as I’m pretty small!!
I would like to look stylish and put together but even with all the money in the world i wouldn’t achieve it as i just don’t have the eye!
basicallly i still dress a bit like a student 😣

No, I spend almost no money on clothes because my disposable income always seems to go elsewhere and I made it a rule back in 2020 that I would only buy truly ethically made or second hand (but still well made and natural fabrics) clothes. And now I'm fat and it is a lot harder to do both of those things so I just don't buy anything.

My "I want" list is longer than my entire body, though! And if I were to buy them all new it would be probably £10k