Purging vs. expansive use · Real Men Real Style Community

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Purging vs. expansive use

I have been watching Ash on the YouTube channel, The Chap's Guide. He often talks about how he purges sections of his wardrobe because he does not use the full array of items (e.g., ties or shoes). If there are items you simply do not use anymore because you no longer like the item then purging is appropriate. For example, purging all synthetic ties, eliminating duplicate shoes of the same class and color - such as black cap toe oxfords - by removing the less desirable pair). This is a solid reason for purging and I do this as well. I mostly donate to charity, though I am considering trying the seller's side of eBay.

If, on the other hand (as Ash did with his ties a few years back), you are purging items you actually like but regret not wearing, I suggest it is very correctable, gives you many more outfit combinations, and will make you feel like you are getting your value of all of your wardrobe.

Most of you know I am a proponent of using AI for my daily outfit selections. This process helps me take on a number of wardrobe use goals: don't wear the same viewable wardrobe piece in front of clients for the past 5 visits, don't wear any item within 5 days of the last wear (watches and some others excluded), work to drop the cost per wear for items with the least percent drop in CPW once per week and the raw CPW once per week. Keeping track of cost and when you last wore an item is easy and encourages you, say once per week, we wear an item that has not been worn in a while. When you do this, you also expand your outfit diversity, especially to those who see you on a daily basis. My office assistant quickly noticed that I never wear the same outfit and now he asks how he can do that in his life.

BUT!! You do not need an Excel database to maximize using your less worn outfits. If you know you have 50 ties, ask your phone or smart speaker to pick a random number between 1 and 50. Then, wear tie 28 (if that's what it picked) on your tie rack that day. Ash says that after getting rid of 100 ties, he still only wears about 10 of his 100 remaining ties. One time per week, if he used simple random numbers, 90% of the time he would wear a less used tie. That new option can get him to consider a different outfit layout than he has been using lately.

Don't like random? Group your ties by seasonality and use Tuesdays and Thursdays to pick the next tie in order on your seasonally appropriate ties. The other days, you can use your "go to" ties.

I think most of us here love the idea of an expansive wardrobe and presenting different looks as often as we can. If this is the case, add some ways to force yourself to use parts of your wardrobe where you love all of your items but seem to fall back to the same 10% of those items. Guys, especially the older we get, get stuck in ruts. The above process will help break you free of sartorial ruts, if you let it.

Go. Fight! WIN!!

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