Clothes - how old is too old?

[FoxEye]

I keep being told to buy myself new clothes, much to my annoyance (this is because I hate shopping with a passion and clothes shopping is the most hated type of shopping of all).

Apparently, it's considered good practice to buy new clothes at least once or twice a year, and not to wear anything for much longer than a year if you can help it.

So, GD, how often do you renew your Gucci belt? Is reaching for a 5-year-old pair of shorts the ultimate social faux pas? Would you ditch a friend who showed up in a top you'd seen him wearing 18 months ago?

As you know I have no social awareness so please help me understand these bizarre human clothes traditions.

 

[FoxEye]

Yeah I guess I'm not talking about overcoats, where you might buy a really expensive one and it would last years.

Mostly talking stuff like jeans, t-shirts, shorts, hoodies, joggers, etc.

I tend to literally wear stuff until it's unwearable, then resign myself to replacing it. But this apparently is something paupers do and I'm letting the side down.

 

[FoxEye]

That is kind of going to the other extreme - once stuff starts to lose its presentability I tend to put it aside for DIY jobs and stuff like that or get rid of it.

It's because clothes shopping is such an unwanted chore. And it takes a ridiculous amount of time to find something that's not downright awful. Primark is awful, M&S is awful but for different reasons, online is a crap-shoot. Ugh.

Every time I go clothes shopping I die a little inside

 

[FoxEye]

Sat in a pair of Adidas shorts that are about 15 years old and covered in paint right now

My man

The other thing that peeves me about clothes shopping is that price isn't a measure of quality either. Plenty of shops round my way selling "surfwear" for mental prices, and the quality is not really that much better than ASDA's own brand or whatever. Not that that's my cup of tea anyhow.

It's such a nightmare.

I used to live in Craghoppers shorts/trousers until they went down the pan (several years ago now). They were cheapish but very decent. Now they suck, because they started cutting corners and cheaping out.

 

[FoxEye]

Think of the planet wear it until it wears out.

Yeah you're preaching to the converted, here. I'm not the one who wants to keep changing my clothes or buying new stuff.

But I'll have to relent and buy some crap to keep other people happy. In any case I last bought clothes >5 years ago, so I'm not a follower of fast fashion - or any fashion - it has to be said

But people moan about how tired my clothes are. Personally I don't care. They're just clothes. I'd walk around naked if it was legal (I probably wouldn't, probably).

 

[FoxEye]

I'm pretty much with most here, wear to it's worn out. Relegate worse stuff to DIY, gardening, etc.

When i was younger i did buy a good few Tees, hoodies, etc to support small companies, but i now i just don't despite wanting to, it's just wasteful. I have enough Tees for a life time now. And yet the Tee i'm wearing right now is at least 15yrs old, and that's with lots of bike riding usage in it too.

I've had plenty of additional wear out of holey underwear too.

Though i do have some decent "outdoor" gear which will probably last forever.

I bought a 5 pack of sport socks from M&S, absolute garbage. Think those will go in the clothing bank when i can be bothered. Fluffy, but just stay in place. These days i just cba to spend money willy nilly, so much rubbish out there, so easier to not bother. Consequently holes in underwear

Re the outdoor gear, I'd love to find a replacement for the Craghoppers shorts/trousers I used to love.

They were frequently had for £20 a pair (in sales) and were more than acceptable quality, back in the day. Until they changed them and made them awful.

So the other brands I tried after, Paramo, and a bunch of others, were stupidly expensive and didn't fit nicely like the Craghoppers did. What I've found is that the outdoor type gear tends to be more more slim fit rather than relaxed fit. I guess they assume only fit/slim people will be buying them

 

[FoxEye]

Have you found a close replacement? Most of my trousers are craghoppers, unfortunately their design changed every time I got new ones, they went from stretchy to zero stretch and also tight fit like you say. I’ve never found a decent replacement so I’m still wearing my old ones with holes!

Like you say, the modern ones are garbage. They kept making the pockets smaller and smaller until you couldn't even get your hand or your phone inside, they kept narrowing the leg, probably all cost-cutting measures. They also made the belt thinner and cheaper and other unwanted quality erosions.

I guess you can't blame them when the other brands were charging 3x as much per pair. But I'd rather they upped their price a little, instead of ruining the product.

And no, I've yet to find a replacement. Some of the other outdoor brands only go up to size 36 waist, heh. No good for a fat arse like me. And they all seem to be ultra slim fit as well. I guess they're designed for active outdoorsy people, hence the slim fit.

 

[FoxEye]

You know this thread has surprised me. I was expecting lots of people to tell me to stop being a tramp and buy some new clothes, dammit.

But it turns out the tramp massive is all here! Represent, brothers.

 

[FoxEye]

Eventually stuff gets old enough that it's too scruffy even for me and it goes in the bin / charity bag (even if it's too scruffy for them to actually sell on they can make rags from it for wiping stuff down in workshops etc I am told).

Not sure about that! The charity shops round here say they only want clothing in as-new condition, and don't bring us anything old or tatty. Which is fair enough, they're trying to resell it.

Where did you hear they turn old clothes into dusters? I'd be very surprised if they did anything other than throw it out.

 

[FoxEye]

Dude, it's foxeye... come on

Am I... am I a joke to you?

Wait, don't answer that.

 

[FoxEye]

I'm not the fashion police. I've refrained on commenting on literally every other post in this thread. But there's no way people's t-shirts are lasting 15 years and retaining their shape. It's creep - you just haven't noticed they aren't OK any more.

How can a tshirt lose its shape? It's a tshirt, the shape is pretty universal isn't it? It's kind of tubular and fits over your kind of tubular torso

I'm genuinely curious how you'd decide that a tshirt has lost its shape?

 

[FoxEye]

The neck is usually the first area to lose shape on a t-shirt, as it's elasticated. It's also the area most prominent to fading, staining, and general fabric wear.

As @Dirk Diggler says, if people are proactively and repeatedly telling you that you should buy yourself new clothes, then you probably do look a complete state and should purchase new clothes more often.

It's like the body odour thing. If someone has pointed it out, you've probably already let it get too bad.

I'm not going to buy clothes just to gain someone else's approval. I'm fine with the clothes I have, and this thread is just for a bit of a laugh.

People generally are judgemental dicks, about most things, and I don't really care for their approval or otherwise. About the only exception is work, because I need money, to live

 

[FoxEye]

Thread needs pictures of the clothes that have prompted 'why don't you buy some new clothes?' comments

But then I'd be liable for all the cracked screens. Insurance nightmare.

 

[FoxEye]

As long as you are aware that things like that hinder your broader social prospects and advancement (romantic, friendship, career etc) then no problem.
If that is a problem, then... buy new clothes would be a good start.

Like I said, most human beings are judgemental dicks, so advancement in human society just means compliance with the whims of a bunch of judgemental dicks.

Why should I care about any of that.. ultimately nobody's opinions are worth anything, at the end of the day. Everybody is just arrogantly proclaiming that people should fit with their own expectations.

Human society is a pretentious, self-serving crock of *****. I could spend effort chasing the ideal body, the ideal look, and it would be 100% wasted effort. I would gain the respect of people I don't care about. Why bother?

 

[FoxEye]

Some Primark stuff is really good, I have lived in their £11 combat trousers for the past 18months, no idea how they do them for £11 at the quality they actually are, but Im not complaining. Even look good with my Superdry Polo Shirt

I'm actually in the process of having to replace most of my clothes as I have gone from 38 trousers being tight to 34s being loose, and gone from wearing 2XL to M/L tops, but I do find a lot of stuff is just horrid, especially from the more expensive shops.

I largely wouldn't buy Primark because you know it's all come from Bangladeshi (almost) slave labour. They got in a bit of trouble for that last year or a couple years back, now.

 

[FoxEye]

It's not just Primani though, it's a lot of businesses that do the same

Oh yeah, but it's hard to keep buying when you find out about it, even if you don't actively look for that information.

Edinburgh Wool Mill is another, big piece on the news about them using real slave labour, ie North Korean factories where the staff aren't even paid!

It's disgraceful, really.