Collecting a Wardrobe

[ct2272]

When I started subscribing to this forum my thought process was to replace my current RTW collection with MTM.  Over the past year I replaced all of my shirts (went from cotton/poly to various types of egyptian and twill with MOP buttons), pants went from Levi Dockers to 120's wool/cashmere blends, and shoes went from a single pair of black and brown shoes to 3 brown/3 black which are rotated for even wear.  All have shoe trees. The RTW collection was decomposing and I believed that MTM would provide me with a better fit as well as a better value (which it has done both).

Early on I decided to replace my RTW Navy Sportsjacket with a Navy 3 Piece Super 120 MTM suit and added a Charcoal 3 Piece Super 120 MTM suit.  These were early purchases and I had no understanding of surgeon's cuffs or canvassing.  In fact, the suits are nice but it has a half canvas front and looks a bit odd since it actually looks like a chestplate.  I purchased a 3rd suit in brown that had full canvas with surgeon's cuffs in Super 150 that is much nicer so lesson learned.

Here is my dilemma.  I cleaned out my tie collection since I had around 30 ties and 1 neck.   I realized I was gravitating toward 1 to 2 ties per suit and then proceeded to remove the additional ones.  

I meet with clients about once per month (or every other month) and that requires a suit.  A g/f just bought for my birthday a SB Black pinstripe Super 130 which I was looking for as an alternative to an all black suit.  At this point 4 suits might be about all I would need ever, but now I am eyeing a new Oxford Grey.  The Oxford Grey might be overkill and I may regret the purchase if it is only worn once or twice a year.

When does what has started off as a wardrobe upgrade/replacement turn into items that are not necessary but are nice to have?

I would be particularly interested in hearing feedback from those with large collections (shoes, cufflinks, etc.).

Regards,
CT

 

[johnapril]

You are making wise and sartorially healthy choices.  Were I you, I wouldn't stop.  I would just pace myself.

 

[Kent Wang]

Start wearing your suits and formal wear to non-formal events. There's no such thing as overdressing.

 

[NewYorkBuck]

I have two points on this -

1) Make a clothing budget at the beginning of the year and stick to it. Hard to overspend then.

2) I had similar difficulty thinking about clothes recently. Really, I already have "enough" for my needs. Why waste $ on more? That was until I read a post by Manton speaking to how clothes for people on this board are more of a hobby than a necessity. I have been buying guilt free (but w/i budget) since. Think about it - some people it cars, some its baseball cards, and some its coins. For us, its clothes. I have no problem w that.

 

[cuffthis]

I am obviously not the right person to give you advice on how much is enough.

 

[trogdor]

It's potentially dangerous to think this way, but liberating nonetheless:

Many people spend tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars on their cars.
They spend (excuse the zeugma) an hour or two per day in their cars.
I spend upwards of sixteen hours a day in my clothes... You do the math.

 

[johnnynorman3]

Buy it if you would get the x-dollar amount of enjoyment out of it. I have regretted one suit purchase I have made -- and most purchases have been for "future use," as my current job is business casual (I'm getting sick of it BTW) but I will soon be moving to a business formal environment -- and I made it because I figured I should "cover the grey pallatte." I didn't particularly love the color -- I was sort of ambivalent on it -- and now realize that it will almost always be the last suit in my rotation. Dumb purchase.

As long as you get something classic and you don't change sizes, if you wear the thing 5 times (assuming it costs less than $1000), I'd say that you'll never think about it as a stupid purchase. But if it isn't something you immediately need, and you do have other immediate needs, you are much better off taking advantage of the time value of money and making the purchase a bit later on.

 

[Huntsman]

(excuse the zeugma)

I had to look that up. Tha's a great word, thanks trogdor. BTW, what is your avatar? I don't know whether I like it or I should be running away from it, but it is interesting.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

Regards,

Huntsman

 

[Kent Wang]

It's a Domo-kun. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domokun Judging from trogdor's username and avatar, he is quite up on the latest internet humour.

 

[VMan]

It's a Domo-kun. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domokun Judging from trogdor's username and avatar, he is quite up on the latest internet humour.

Trogdor - burninating the countryside. Burninating the peasants.

 

[trogdor]

Quote:

(Kent Wang @ May 11 2005,13:56) It's a Domo-kun. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domokun Judging from trogdor's username and avatar, he is quite up on the latest internet humour.
Trogdor - burninating the countryside. Burninating the peasants.
OK, gentlemen. It is perhaps time to end this thread hijack and get back on topic. So let this end it. This is Trogdor: He comes from an excellent webcomic, the critical episode of which can be found here: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html Now, back to matters sartorial...

 

[ct2272]

Thanks for the replies.

My budget calls for $150-$200 per month but I must admit that after I relocated my swatch cards and clothing catalogs to a place that wasn't the coffee table infront of me, it has become easier to not have a wandering eye for something that might be worth considering.

My MTMs should last several years without having to replace anything, so I should only have a few more puchases before I won't see anything that requires immediate attention. I agree with JohnNorman in that if uses are factored into price over time I should come out ahead.

This is particularly interesting logic when applied to something like tuxedos. I was thinking about one to have in a "just in case" scenario but admittedly have worn them a handful of times in the last 10 years. Still a MTM tux that was my own is interesting especially if owning a tux equals literally about 3 - 5 rentals. Then it actually becomes worth it. It will stay backburnered for now though.

Regards,
CT