Why I Wear the Same Thing Every Day and Challenge You to Do the Same
The shirt I’m wearing right now is currently 9 years old. Damn, I have a nephew who’s younger than that. Does this mean I’m getting old?
It’s not just some shirt that I wear on occasion, it’s a shirt I wear weekly. It’s become a staple of my wardrobe and more importantly changed the way I think about clothing.
Yes I recognize this photo is not nearly as cool as I thought it was at the time.
Here’s a picture of me circa 2011 in the same shirt I still wear to this day. Not the same type of shirt or the same brand, but literally the same exact shirt I was wearing in 8th grade.
When I first went backpacking, I bought one of these merino wool base layers to wear. At some point, I bought another one when they were on sale. But for the most part, I didn’t care much about it. Over time, I would wear them camping, but that was about it.
For the most part, they sat in my box full of camping gear. Until one fateful day my freshman year of college. I had put off doing laundry. All I had left was the base layers. So I threw one on and repeated the next day. Over time, they ended up being a staple in my wardrobe. These days my wardrobe consists of a pair of chinos, a base layer, and some fun socks. While simplifying my wardrobe wasn’t a conscious decision, I’m glad I made it and encourage you to do the same. Here’s why.
Sensibility:
As any of my exes will attest, I have terrible taste in fashion. Over time, I’ve gone through various fashion phases, but none of them have led me to understand fashion. I do know my way around suits, but alas I haven’t reached Barney Stinson levels of awesomeness and can’t justify wearing a suit every day. Aside from that, I haven’t a clue what’s fashionable and what’s not. Growing up with two immigrant parents, they weren’t much help in the fashion department. Point in case, I don’t understand fashion.
Sidebar: I still don’t understand why I have to pay for clothing, society should pay me not to just walk around in the buff.
Tangent aside, by wearing the same thing every day, I’ve idiot-proofed (yes I recognize I’m calling myself the idiot in this situation) my wardrobe. Honestly, the chinos + base layer + fun socks combination have allowed me to look somewhat decent without much thought. Even shaving off five minutes off my morning routine adds up over the course of a year, that’s not accounting for all the time spend trying things on in shopping malls (question: is the mall still a cool place for people to hang out?)
Simplicity:
I’m not going to tell you to go all Marie Kondo and completely simplify your life. But having fewer clothes makes a huge difference. It makes packing for travel a breeze. Fewer clothes mean less space wasted storing clothes (which means I can turn my closet into an office). Fewer clothes mean less time searching for what you want to wear.
Sustainability:
Let’s say you have a better sense of fashion that I do (note: you most certainly do). Why should you scale back your wardrobe and wear essentially the same thing every day? If nothing else, do it for the environment.
We live in a world in which clothing has become disposable. We buy into the newest fashion trends and repent not by going to confession, but rather by donating our unwanted clothes to Goodwill.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the world of fashion. I for one appreciate advances in design. My issue is that we now design for the dumpster. The rationale we use when buying clothes is, it’s cheap enough that as long as I wear it twice I’ve gotten my money’s worth. This leads manufacturers to build cheaper clothing that last’s less time.
Most of the clothes you donate to Goodwill will still end up in the landfill because within six to twelve months it will start to fall apart. By voting with our wallets and by buying fewer clothes that we wear more often, we signal that we don’t want clothes to be designed for the dumpster.
Fin.
