How long do you keep clothes for?

I'm wearing one of my favourite dresses today and have often had complements when I wear it.  It's nothing special, just a dark blue cotton sleeveless knee-length dress which flares out a bit from the waist.  It's not very revealing but obviously suits my shape (big bum and boobs with small waist).  I was thinking about getting a copy of this dress made and have realised that I have had it since I was 15!  It's streched a bit and faded a touch since then but still looks good.

I am now 31 but amongst other things I've also still got and wear:

- a sort of beige/black diagonal check Dorothy Perkins maxi dress I bought from the Cancer Research shop for £2.50 after I did some modelling for them when I was 17, though this is wearing a bit thin now I can't bear to throw it away as it still looks nice
- another blue dress like the one described above but with buttons down the front and a lace up back which I remember fighting with my cousin over when we were 14
- a beige lightweight jumper I bought from Wembley market when I was 14, which still looks exactly the same as when I bought it

A lot of my clothes have such memories that I can't give a lot of it away even when it doesn't fit anymore.  I have a couple of pairs of 'hotpant' denim shorts from when I was 14 that I doubt I could ever wear again but I can't bear to give them away as they remind me of one of the most fantastic summer holidays I ever had.  I have three extra large vacuum packed bags of clothes in the loft and two wardrobes in the bedroom.

A friend of mine says she doesn't bother sewing buttons back onto clothes as they are so cheap she can't be bothered and just throws stuff away (she does shop at Primark a lot).  I do buy stuff from Primark as well but I tend to keep those clothes until the're no good anymore too.  Is this very odd?

I would probably keep things for ages if I could still fit into them.  As it is, I get too fat and, so that I don't get depressed at fave clothes I can no longer wear, do wardrobe culls.

However, I am not one for keeping 'stuff' so I think I would probably ditch items anyway

L
xx

I seem to keep everything!  Had some things for years.  But unfortunately a massive pile of my old clothes are too small for me and i'm keeping them for 'when' I can fit into them again. 

One day......

I don't keep clothes THAT long but I do have most of my stuff for a few years, like Lois though a lot of it doesn't fit me.  I don't tend to buy from cheaper places where I find the clothes only last for one season IYSWIM

I keep clothes until they wear out or until I really will never wear them again. Some stuff I have that I can't bear to get rid of (shoes especially for some reason) but my H is a compulsive cleaner and refuses to hoard ANYTHING (his dad is a hoarder, of all his traits I wish he'd got that one sometimes) so I regularly find myself going through my wardrobe and piling things either onto eBay or into bags for the charity shop/burning.

I do have some dresses from when I was about 15/16 and at my slimmest that I have been able to wear once since then, officially so I have something to aim for but it also makes me realise that when people around me were commenting on my weight and I was stressing about it I was actually quite, quite small (the bigger dress is a 14)

Also, my clothes have always been pretty cheap, especially as a teenager.  I don't think they would've lasted, or I would WANT to wear them.

I think I do have one skirt that I have had since about 18, that I would like to wear again.  But it is a size 12, so it seems unlikely

Also, I was REALLY unhappy as a teenager through to early 20s.  I think wearing clothes folrm then would only bring back bad memories/feelings

L
xx

Actually I think you are onto something there with the memories thing Lois.  I have a lot of childhood memories of summers age 14-17 in Malta living with my cousins as that is when I was happiest (ignoring a lot of crap at home in the uk which I have purposely blanked out) and I haven't been happy for the past ten years so I'm probably trying to hold onto my childhood. 

I don't think the clothes being cheap is anything to do with it really.  My parents didn't have much money and I usually wore hand me downs from cousins or occasionally got new bits at Wembley market which isn't known for it's good quality clothing.

I have also put on weight but I think I was quite self-concious when I was a teenager so wore stuff that was too big/loose, which means it sort of fits okay now.  I don't think I realised I was attractive until I was about 17 as I was brought up to believe I was fat (I was a size 10-12 , I'd kill for that now).

I have a few binbags worth of clothes that I can't bear to get rid of because they remind me of good times - at uni and the like. Can't believe how short some of my skirts used to be! A lot of things I would still wear now, but I can't fit into them any more

I think the oldest item is a blue sweatshirt from when I was about 14, so that's now 22 years old - ouch!

Toriajayne, I sympathise.  My H has OCD is very tidy and hates clutter.  He has banned me from buying any more shoes as I have about 50 pairs and still adding to them*.  They're mostly very pretty high heeled shoes which bring back memories of events in my life (weddings and holidays in particular).

*I have now found the way around being banned from buying more shoes is to get my brother or sister to buy them as a present for me and then give them the money later when H isn't looking.

emma numbers:

Toriajayne, I sympathise.  My H has OCD is very tidy and hates clutter.  He has banned me from buying any more shoes as I have about 50 pairs and still adding to them*.  They're mostly very pretty high heeled shoes which bring back memories of events in my life (weddings and holidays in particular).

 

*I have now found the way around being banned from buying more shoes is to get my brother or sister to buy them as a present for me and then give them the money later when H isn't looking.

Oh that's such a good plan! About two months ago he came home from school and in front of myself and the girl who was lodging with us at the time threw a purple fit which involved him taking all my shoes from the shoe rack at the bottom of the stairs and throwing them into the middle of the living room floor telling me I have too many shoes and he's sick of them being all over the place (pardon me for putting my shoes on the SHOE RACK!) he then told me that any I didn't wear regularly had to go in the wardrobe. So I sorted them all out, put my trainers and boots back on the rack and took the rest upstairs. I spent about half an hour pairing them all, fasting straps and sorting them into the bottom of the wardrob to avoid all my heels etc getting damaged and he accused me of being a drama queen

I now have those hanging divider things from Ikea and all my pretty shoes are in there with my long dresses and his kilt and he can't complain because he never goes in there. It also left me scope to surreptitiously fill up the shoe rack again with new sandals and ballet pumps for summer

I recently threw away some trainers that I'd worn for 13 years since college.  I have a 70s Adidas holdall that I bought in 1995 when I was 15 that I still use.  I've got a few 70s tracksuit tops that I wore as a teen - that OH and I share (I was a bit chunky when I was 18/19, so much of my teen stuff is actually too big).  Got a fab Red or Dead holdall that I bought in my freshers week in 1999 that OH uses for work daily. 

Since I got more into spending more money on clothes about 8 years ago, it's very rare that anything ends up in the bin.  When I lost a couple of stone 4 years ago, OH's mum kindly altered all of my clothes (she properly deconstructed tailored jackets and rebuilt the outers, inners and linings - ace!) so they're still going strong.  If I truly won't wear something and it has no sentimental value, it goes on eBay towards the next lot of goodies.  My fave boots, which always get compliments when I wear them, have been re-heeled twice and will be on their fifth winter.

 I really don't 'get' buying things from Primark to chuck them in the bin when they (inevitably and quickly) wear out.  On a cost-per-wear basis, I am a proper cheap thing!

I buy & wear cheap clothes but also never throw them away unless too small (or - hooray, more recently, too big) or falling apart, when they go to charity shop (if good condition) or into our recycling box if not. Same for shoes. Have lots of pairs of shoes I've had nearly 10 years. My favourite coat is starting to look a bit dog-eared but was bought with Christmas money from my grandparents when I was 15.

ETA: My Primarni/New Look stuff doesn't seem to fall apart any quicker than more expensive stuff tbh. I am currently in a vest top I bought in Primarni in my first year at Uni (2001).

I wear stuff til it falls apart/fades to nothingness. I've got plenty of tops & shoes & a few pairs of trousers from over 10 years ago. I'm not interested in fashion, so none of my stuff is ever 'on trend' so very little that I have dates (for example, I have no leggings or dresses to go over leggings, as I remember what my legs looked like in them last time round & I'm not going there again!).

Whenever I'm struggling to fit things into my drawers and wardrobes, I have a clear-out.  In general, anything that I haven't worn for a year goes to the charity shop unless I can't bear to part with it.  So I still have a mix of things from my early twenties (I'm in my mid thirties now) onwards.  Things I wear a lot and love I wear until their death.

I have clothes I bought when I was 18 that i still love and wear. It depends not on costbut on how it looks and fits after a few years.