Cost-Per-Wear

I felt the need to cover this topic in a little more detail while I was out shopping with some friends this weekend. We went to Nordstroms, Athropologie, and Ann Taylor Loft to name a few and as we each tried on different outfits we all evaluated how we looked and liked the item and of course we evaluated the price tag. The two friends I was with have VERY different approaches to shopping, not that one is better then other but it go me thinking how many of us are like this.

My friend Susan likes nice things! She loves Anthro and Nordstroms and buys almost exclusively from those stores. However, she works from home and has three lovely kids, as such her "work uniform" is pretty casual and needs to be "wash and wear". She tried on SEVERAL adorable jersey tops for me at Anthropologie. Don't get me wrong I love the tee's at Anthro but they are not inexpensive. They range in price from $40-$80, now she could by a similar shirt from Target for $10-$30. One may try to argue that the top from anthro will last longer...it won't the wearing out of fabric has more to do with the number of times you wash it. Ok, so lets look at cost-per-wear. I believe that most items should ultimately cost you pennies in your cost-per-wear. I like to keep my casual close under 10 cents. That means a $10 tee should be worn 100 times. Thats not a small number! So if you choose a tee from Anthro for $48 it would need to last 480 wears! So that top better look AMAZING on you.

My friend Lidia is a wonderful person who really evaluates cost per wear almost to a fault. We found an ADORABLE top on sale at Ann Taylor for $20. It was a fancy jersey shirt. So she needs to wear it 200 times to get a good cost per wear. Lidia analyzed the purchase all the way to car.

Here is the deal ladies there is a formula to follow. Fit First, Cost Second, Need Third. Does it fit and do you feel great in it? Does it fit the budget? (BUILD A BUDGET BEFORE GOING SHOPPING) Do you really need it? Treat your close shopping like grocery shopping. What do you need? and how much can you spend? This is the number one question I will ask a client before we go shopping.

Lets break down the cost per wear to look for in casual shirts, dress shirts, jeans, church/evening out dress, casual dress, slacks and skirts.

Casual Shirts- $0.10

Dress Shirts- $0.20-$0.25

Jeans- $0.20

Nice Dress- $1.00-$5.00

Casual Dress-$0.50-$2.00

Slacks- $0.25-$1.00

Skirts- $0.20-$1.50

You can see the cost per wear helps you to determine how many of each item you need in your wardrobe. If you are a stay at home mommy then you probably only need one pair of slacks, while the professional may only need two pairs of jeans.