The Official Merciless Clothes Culling™ Thread

[Liam O]

TYVM umbel. It's not a bad tie. It just looks weird on me and I have a liberty red paisley I like better, and a RL madder paisley that works with more. Can't justify the redundancy I think.

If you want it I'll mail it to you, just cover shipping.

 

[Trompe le Monde]

for a long time ive been on the mafoofan diet of wardrobe-simplification. e.g., almost all shirts some sort of white or blue. almost all pants some shade of gray. almost all shoes are brown suede. makes morning selection of outfits a non-event; everything goes with everything. the One Wardrobe works.

moving residences across cities and countries really reinforce this philosophy and behavior.

then i'd start getting bored and buy new stuff -- but really the same kind of stuff ive had before.

and so every 6 months i end up throwing away about 3 bags of blue and white shirts and gray and brown pants.

 

[ColdEyedPugilist]

I'd always had an aesthetic, a particular look in mind that fit with how I perceived myself, and how others percieved me.

Pusueing this aesthetic brought me to Boss OTR, Zegna MTM and eventually led me to Ethan Newton back when he was working for Herringbone. I consulted his advice on a regular basis, and only wish I'd accepted more of it from the start as it might have saved me a lot of wasted time and money.

The defining moment was trying on my first P Johnson MTM suit with Patrick and Ethan looking on, and discovering the joy of wearing a near-perfect fitting garment. From that point onwards, the scales fell off and I could no longer walk out the door with my moderately well-fitting OTR and MTM suits and jackets.

In the past year, I've sold off most of said RTW suits and jackets, some Zegna and MJ Bales, lots of Herringbone and even one Borrelli.

Similar story with the ties; this time, it was my first purchases from Will at a Suitable Wardrobe - Drakes and Cappelli - that made me realise there were alternatives to the usual RTW suspects (Zegna, Borrelli, Kiton, Hermes etc) that better suited my style.

Predictably, I've also sold a boatload of ties recently, and now, I'm looking to do the same with my OTR shirts.

I'm left with a rotation of three P Johnson suits, each with a spare pair of pants, and roughly sixteen bespoke and MTM shirts from Charles Nakhle and P Johnson respectively. All my shirts save two are either white, blue or blue striped / checks on a white ground. I have about thirty ties from Drakes and Hober with the odd Vanda, Cappelli, Hermes and Zegna thrown in.

I'm waiting on suit number four from Patrick and intend to add two more to the rotation through the course of this year.

The journey continues...

 

[WindChill]

I tend to indulge in a random purge whenever it comes to mind. Last one was over a year ago. There may be a push from signs like overloaded wardrobes and faded/torn items. Like others, I look at everything in terms of desirability (ie. colour/pattern, sentimental value) and practicality (ie. outdated sizing, style gone wrong). The earmarked items are photographed, bagged, and taken to the local Goodwill outlet. Sometimes I go to a consignment store instead, if there's enough of a pile of items with decent value. Either is good from a recycle and reuse point of view. Usually the $ coming back from consignment is not that great, but in exchange I avoid the admin hassle from craigslist/kijiji.

 

[tobiasj]



...Similar story with the ties; this time, it was my first purchases from Will at a Suitable Wardrobe - Drakes and Cappelli - that made me realise there were alternatives to the usual RTW suspects (Zegna, Borrelli, Kiton, Hermes etc) that better suited my style....

CEP the ties you're selling on here are pretty awesome. What exactly do you like better about the ones you're keeping?

 

[ColdEyedPugilist]



CEP the ties you're selling on here are pretty awesome. What exactly do you like better about the ones you're keeping?

In general: more colours that suit my high-contrast complexion (e.g. navy, dark / wine red, brown, orange); more classic patterns (e.g. white spots on wine red or navy, sheperd's check etc.); more texture / less of a satiny finish; closer to 8 - 9cm widths; better knotting and drape...

Also, I may have too many ties in the same shade (hence, the navy ties I've sold).

Specifically,

1) With the Drakes ties, its the uniqueness of certain archival fabrics and the hand-work which makes for a better knot and drape.

2) With the Vandas, it's the uniqueness again as well as the hand-work.

3) With the Hobers, it's the hand-work and the perfect length and width.

4) With the Hermes, well... I like orange ties!

 

[Liam O]

Yea actually on second look in the 'keep' pile - if you wanted to toss three, I'd choose the three starting with the fourth from the right and goign through the sixth from the right

These three? Now that you call them into question I'm not sure why I was keeping them, other than maybe the brands, which is a bad criterion.

 

[tobiasj]

^^ Don't just get rid of those three, burn them with fire

 

[cbbuff]



Much of my culling involves me trying something out of my comfort zone, deciding that I'd rather be in my comfort zone, then returning to my comfort zone. Turns out I don't need so much variety after all.
I used to worry that I was missing out, but I've come to better appreciate the virtues of the comfortable and the familiar.

I have this happen as well, but every once in a while you have something you bought as an afterthought grow on you. Or you rediscover an item after a long period of neglect. Or you find that a new shirt or sit gives it new life with a different combination, especially with ties. It does not happen all that often, but just enough to keep some of the "out of favor" items around awaiting their 2nd chance.

 

[james_timothy]

Ask Cobera about his high school pants.

I hear he just took them off.

 

[Liam O]

^^ Don't just get rid of those three, burn them with fire

I'm sorting the ones I'm not keeping into tasteless and omfg burn it.

The latter half are going to thrift stores that have made me angry in the past.

 

[tobiasj]



I'm sorting the ones I'm not keeping into tasteless and omfg burn it.

The latter half are going to thrift stores that have made me angry in the past.

Lulz. Can't decide if this is passive aggressive or just plain aggressive

 

[NORE]



^^ Don't just get rid of those three, burn them with fire

I'm interested in with what else one can burn ties with?

 

[james_timothy]

plasma

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I gave about 10 MTM suits to Salvation Army last month. Got rid of about 6 ties, and probably next month about a dozen or so colored shirts that never get worn. I must be in the minority, but I find it very easy to get rid of clothes. To me wasteful is things sitting in your closet despite you knowing that it isn't going to get worn. I don't kid myself.