What is your annual spend on clothing?

[TheDarkKnight]

I hope this isn't too forward a question, but I thought it would be great to have an idea what everyone achieved on what budget, the idea being it would provide an idea of future budgeting/ career aspirations to meet a certain lifestyle.

Obviously an annual clothes budget is also dependent on where someone is with their clothes collection - if you have a well stocked wardrobe it will be perhaps much less than in the early years when you built that wardrobe. To make the thread more effective then, for those who have a well established wardrobe, how would you estimate you needed to budget per year to achieve where you are now?

I also hope for some, reminding them of their spending doesn't lead to calls to Clothing Anonymous

 

[Owen Meany]

Perhaps the responses should be expressed in a precent of disposable income - which for me and about 2 years after discovering SF, is still about 35-40%.......Dang Carmina!

 

[unbelragazzo]

These threads usually turn into seeking "justification" for spending a certain amount on clothing. This is silly. For 99.99% of people, you don't "need" to spend anything on clothing. You can appear in public without offending people spending less than $500 a year, if that even. After that, you're spending for things that you like and want. You don't "need" them. Don't twist yourself into contortions trying to convince yourself otherwise. Admit that you're buying something just because you like it. You'll be happier and more honest with yourself.

 

[VinnyMac]

It varies.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I have no clue and I would like to keep it that way.

 

[JayJay]

I don't kiss and tell.

 

[Storm33]

If I had to guess, I'd say about 10X what I spent before discovering SF.

 

[Superfluous]

I think most of us would rather not know.

 

[Putonghua73]

Before SF, not much. Maybe £500 a year - that's only because of one-off ticket items like a new winter jacket, Kooples leather jacket. Since discovering SF in May, it has been £1,815. I will bump that figure a couple of hundred because I need to buy a few shirts from Harvie & Hudson and a Drake's tie.

I actually did need to spend a bit this year because prior to SF, I had a pair of black wingtips for work, a hideous pair of cognac wingtips with medallions (!) and a pair of burgundy derbies from Aldos for casual, and that was pretty much my shoe collection! So half of the above figure went on shoes (a pair of Loake 1880s oxfords, a pair of Meermin Linea Maestro dark brown oxfords, and pairs of Meermin Classic whole-cuts and single Monks).

I also bought a suit from Ede & Ravenscroft during their sale (need to pick up 2 during this Winter sale), and a pair of dark gray flannel trousers (non-sale). I've also bought a couple of Nigel Hall extra-fine merino wool v-necks.

Apart from shoes and ties, I have not significantly upped my budget at all on clothes when I actually buy them. I've been more selective when buying (paying a little extra for a LOT more in quality), and my wardrobe budget was severely under-funded for many years. So if you actualize my recent spending over the past 3 years, it's still ball-park between £500-£1k.

Shoes: Meermin (looking at Carmina next year)
Suits: Ede & Ravenscroft
Shirts: Charles Tyrwhitt - now trying Harvie & Hudson
Ties: Charles Tyrwhitt / Drakes - now Drakes (looking at Sam Hober as well)
Casual: Nigel Hall, Nicole Farhi and Ede & Ravenscroft (will try Howard Yount for tropical wool - once I get measured)

My suits need to be bumped up from 2 (Charles Tyrwhitt and Ede & Ravenscroft) to 4 in short-term. That's the only real area of additional expenditure in the Ede & Ravenscroft winter sale. Next year, buy an additional 2 suits to complete functional suiting wardrobe. Then I can slowly add to that over time.

I'm a 40R RTW in suiting, requiring minor alterations (typically sleeves). No need for MTM / bespoke at this stage until I've got my solid functional pieces, and have a better understanding of suiting, what works and what doesn't work for me.

The only other pieces of clothing that are on my horizon are a sports coat, and a couple of pairs of casual / business casual shirts in light lilac and lavender. Going forward, my clothing budget will be around £1-£1.5k per year, since I'm comfortable with RTW at this stage, and I only buy clothing that I tend to wear on regular occasions.

 

[MikeDT]

Before and after SF, about the same.