How much do you spend on clothes, shoes and accessories per year?

[lurker]

Just interested to know how much men in general spend on clothes (formal and casual), shoes and accessories per year? Or what percentage of your discretionary income?

 

[Britalian]

I started a thread on this subject a few months ago . Forthcoming many were not

 

[Jared]

Maybe more abstractly, on what basis do you establish your clothing budget and is there some specific way you identify a reasonable price/quality tradeoff? I'd also be interested in what members consider a reasonable percentage of income for non-sartorially-inclined people to spend on clothes? (The average household in Canada spends 4% of their income on clothing.) Is there something like the "engagement ring rule" for suits?

 

[odoreater]

Most of my clothing purchases are impulsive. I'm not organized enough to determine specifically what percent of my income goes to clothing purchases. Not so sure that I'd really want to know.

 

[amerikajinda]

It varies, but I average from 6% to 10%.

 

[tiecollector]

Have no idea, still building my basic wardrobe, almost done I think. I have prolly spent 15% of my income this past year, if I had to guess. Takes some time until you can get good at bargain hunting and knowing what to buy. I am having to try and sell the horrible fashion mistakes I made 10 months ago when I first started.

I don't plan on spending anymore than 5% this next year. Last year I really was starting from scratch. I pretty much got rid of my entire wardrobe and replaced it. $30 used to sound like a lot of money for a shirt last year. Now, I have no problem paying $100.

 

[Holdfast]

Originally Posted by odoreater

I'm not organized enough to determine specifically what percent of my income goes to clothing purchases. Not so sure that I'd really want to know.

Wisdom indeed. Or at least, I have the same policy!

If it's too much in any one month, I'll ratchet back the next.

 

[rajesh06]

Over the past three years I have spent $4K to $6K per year on clothes, shoes etc. in order to build out my wardrobe. My guess is that I'll drop back closer to $3K now that most of that build out is complete.

 

[zjpj83]

Yikes.

I have no real willpower, and I suppose I could try to set some kind of "budget," but my purchases are impulsive, and I would ignore the budget anyway. I once tried clearing out my bank account and putting all my money in illiquid assets so I wouldn't have anything to spend.

Didn't work for too long.

 

[Thomas]

It really depends on when I find deals. I have all I need at the moment, so any purchases depend on whether a spectacular deal comes along. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if a good number of the members spend more on a single suit than I'll likely spend this year on all my clothing (around $1000).

To be fair, I do buy resale, and am neither required nor encouraged to wear a suit, jacket, or tie to work every day, or any day. Were a suit and tie to be required, I would still not require much at the moment, but I'm sure the expenditures would quickly ramp up.

 

[gorgekko]

All I have to do is run a report in Quicken to find out how much I spent this year...and I'll never do it. The number would scare the hell out of me. It's probably been a few thousand since the summer alone.

I'm addicted!

 

[NoVaguy]

Originally Posted by lurker

Just interested to know how much men in general spend on clothes (formal and casual), shoes and accessories per year? Or what percentage of your discretionary income?

I buy low and sell high on ebay, so I probably break even or come out slightly ahead....

although i'm a little scared to crunch the numbers and find out i'm wrong.

 

[Tomasso]

Less than I spend at restaurants.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by gorgekko

It's probably been a few thousand since the summer alone.

I'm addicted!
+1

I plan to eventually decrease the amount I spend, but only once I've got a sizable rotation and it's $$$ building it on bespoke and borrelli, even if i get the latter at a discount. But I just can't tolerate anything of lower quality. And I still haven't gotten around to the big shoe re-vamp.

 

[argoth]

Originally Posted by Tomasso

Less than I spend at restaurants.

Isn't that the truth.

I never gave it much thought until recently, when I realized my food expenditures were over $20k / year. Rather harsh considering I wasn't really eating extravagantly. Just another reason living in NYC is so expensive.

Arg