You may have come across the term “cost per wear” being thrown around by fashion enthusiasts on the internet, but always wondered what exactly it meant. Essentially the principle of Cost Per Wear is a simple formula which is used to evaluate whether a purchase is worthwhile long term, according to the number of times the item is, or will be worn. It can be a really helpful way to justify high price point items, especially if they are wardrobe essentials and likely to be worn often.
The formula is Cost of Item/Number of Times Worn. The ultimate goal, is to ensure you are driving that final number down as low as possible because that means that you have made a good wardrobe investment.
Good Wardrobe Investments
A good wardrobe investment usually ends up being those items that are in constant rotation and are often wardrobe essentials.
A handbag is a perfect example of this. A beautiful leather everyday tote might cost $500 initially. But consider that you are wearing that bag every day to work for two years (at least). Based on wearing that 5 days a week , 48 weeks a year, for two years, the Cost per Wear is driven down to $1.04.
Say you wanted to invest in a Louis Vuitton Neverfull. In the large size, these retail for approx $2300AUD. While these bags should last you a lifetime, let’s apply the same 2 year formula as we did before. After two years, the cost per wear on that bag is at $4.79, and it will only keep going down over the years. The initial outlay doesn’t seem so bad now does it?
This same principle can be applied to any wardrobe staples, like blazers, shirts and classic dresses. That $500 black blazer might seem like a large outlay, but the quality and workmanship is likely outstanding and will last you years. Compare that to a $100 black blazer where the quality might be lower and will only last you a season before the lining starts to fray.
$500 Blazer: 1 x per week for 5 years=$1.92
$100 Blazer: 1 x per week for 1 season or .5 years= $3.84
To be fair, $3.84 still isn’t too bad. However considering you will be constantly upgrading the $100 blazer, the elevated contribution to landfill must be considered.
Bad Wardrobe Investments
Trend led and low quality items are often not seen as a great investment in the Cost per Wear equation. You might buy a beautiful dress from a fast fashion retailer for $90. The dress is in a very of the moment colour or print that if difficult to find a lot of ways to wear, and therefore you may only wear the dress twice in the season, setting the cost per wear at $45.
Conversely the same dress in a classic colour such as black could be low quality and loses its shape, twists, or shrinks after one wear. The cost per wear for this same $90 dress is $90, as the low quality of the dress has rendered it unwearable after one wear.
So you can see how even if an item falls into an affordable price point initially, it might end up costing you more in the long run, as you are constantly shopping for replacements.
Of course this also applies to high price pointed items as well. A great example is the Bottega Veneta Pouch bag that was big last summer. This bag retails at approx $2000. Given that it was such a hot trend, it burned out as quickly as it rose. Sure, there are girls still wearing it as it pertains to their personal style, but the majority of Pouch owners would be pushing that bag to the back of their wardrobes now as the trend is so fatigued. If someone with a Pouch wore this bag once a week for SS19, this bag would be sitting at around $76 per wear, which is still very high and therefore not the best investment.
The Worst Category for Cost per Wear
Hands down the worst category for Cost per Wear regardless of the price you pay has to be Special Occasion. This is category is notorious for only being worn once (despite our best intentions when we purchase).
It’s all well and good to buy classic pieces in this category that you will wear forever, but special occasions do not come around as often as we would like to think, and they are generally highly photographed and all over social media.
While I am a huge advocate for outfit repeating and wearing your pieces within an inch of their life, (social media be damned!), it is not realistic to expect that you will want to turn up in the same dress to every event on your calendar for the next two years.
To mitigate this, (and save yourself some $$) I recommend leveraging the magic of the rental economy for your cocktail pieces. While a dress might be between $100-$150 to hire, it is still far less than the $500 you probably would have paid retail and worn once. Even a lower priced dress from a retailer like Forever New is still $150-$200 to purchase. If you explore rentals, you can afford a higher quality piece and explore labels that may be out of your price range otherwise.
How Can You Incorporate Cost per Wear Into Your Wardrobe?
So how can you incorporate this principle into your wardrobe next time you are shopping? I am certainly not suggesting you stretch yourself outside your means to buy a designer piece for the sake of Cost per Wear. It is merely something to consider if you are thinking about splurging on higher price point pieces. Are they classic enough to justify the purchase?
Likewise it is a worthy consideration when you are buying low price pointed pieces that are visibly low quality or super trend led. Buyer beware- that bargain may not be the hot buy you first thought.
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