This is a picture of my own capsule wardrobe.
What does a capsule wardrobe mean?
I recently discovered the term ‘capsule wardrobe’. You can read more details about it in this Wikipedia article, but basically it’s a wardrobe that’s made of a select few classic, timeless, good quality pieces that you keep wearing over and over again. But it does not get old because you can accessorize your look or get a few seasonal pieces!
I had created one over time without even realizing it! I decided to move cities every few months for a two years, so I had to drastically cut down the amount of ‘stuff’ I had. It all had to fit in 1 or 2 pieces of luggage -maximum! Because I can’t carry more with me on planes anyways! Since all I could wear had to fit in one piece of luggage, and since I have that sweating issue, I quickly ended up focusing on black and white clothes! They don’t go out of fashion and I have a few colorful/patterned pieces, and some accessories to spice things up!
The benefits of a capsule wardrobe:
1. Better Quality: since you can only have a few select pieces of clothing that you’ll wear again and again, you’ll need to get high-quality ones. And these come obviously in nice quality fabrics (we know the importance of fabrics for people who sweat like us!).
- For example, I recently went shopping for a leather jacket. I was looking to replace my worn-out synthetic faux leather jacket that I wore all the time for a whole year. First, I visited famous mass retailers. There, I saw a $80 fake-leather jacket. It looked decent but was clearly synthetic. First, I realized once I tried it on that it looked cheap. Second, I knew it would not last too long since my previous one did only last a year. Finally, I knew I would sweat a lot in that synthetic jacket (as that was the case with my previous one). So even though it was a good deal, I decided not to get it. I waited longer so I would be able to afford a great quality one. One I could wear for the next ten years. I ended up getting it for a big milestone birthday (thank you friends for the $$!). A $500, black, classic, leather jacket that is 100% leather with a 100% cotton lining. Exactly what I was looking for! For sure it’s quite an investment, but I know this is a piece I’ll be able to wear forever. It doesn’t ‘look cheap’ and the quality of the fabrics used for both the outer layer or the lining will prevent me from sweating too much. (I used to sweat like crazy in my synthetic jacket like I was wrapped in a plastic bag! Now in my quality leather jacket I feel so much better!). It’s easy enough to find cheap quality cotton T-shirts and underwear. But for everything else, I now go for high quality items – even if that comes with a higher price tag – because I’ll be able to wear them forever.
2. Saving Money: When you get your quality pieces little by little over time (when you replace the not-so-nice pieces that got worn out), then it is not such a financial stretch! Indeed, if you get things that don’t go out of fashion, you’re really spreading the investment across the years you’ll be wearing it! For instance, let’s say I wear my $500 leather jacket for 10 years. That comes down to $50 a year! So it’s actually a saving compared to buying a cheap quality $80 jacket every year! And when you focus on only owning a few quality pieces, you don’t shop as often anymore. Mainly just replacing stuff when they are worn out. It’s tough to estimate how much I’ve been saving by getting fewer nicer pieces instead of getting cheap ones often, but I’m sure it’s quite substantial!
3. Saving Time and Energy: The fewer options you have, the quicker it is to get dressed in the morning! And the easier it is to pack when you travel! No more hesitating, trying things out in front of the mirror to see what fits with what, etc. When you have a few select basic pieces, and most of them are neutral colors, they should almost all match with one another! You can wear the same black T-shirt with a pair of jeans for the weekend, or with a nice trouser for at the office, etc. Then you just pick a colorful jacket, bag, watch, etc., and voila, you are ready to go!
4. Eco-friendly: when you see that mass retailers renew their collections all the time, and think of the number of stores they have worldwide, you quickly realize there must most definitely be massive over-production of clothes. The world can’t need that much clothes, seriously. There is a lot of waste in the retail industry due to ‘fast fashion’. So, when you are able to dress with a capsule wardrobe, you are also helping reduce that waste. If we were all to reduce our demand for cheap pieces of clothing, retailers would focus on selling fewer but higher quality products.
5. Animal Friendly: I personally don’t wear fur, but as you understood from my leather jacket example above, I still cannot help but wear leather items. No one is perfect, right? But at least, having only a few high-quality leather items in a wardrobe helps reduce our individual consumption of leather. I have 1 leather jacket, 1 leather skirt, 2 leather bags, 1 pair of leather gloves, and some leathers on my shoes. It’s not that many but still. I reassure myself with the fact that these are quality pieces, so hopefully I won’t need to replace them often. And when they do, they can be given away for reuse since they are high quality.
6. Small-Business Friendly: When you have fewer pieces of clothing, you want them to be a great quality of course. And since they come at a higher price tag, you are likely gonna be doing more research, looking around, etc. Because of that, you are also more likely to go shopping off the beaten path. You may find a small local boutique that only carries quality fabrics, or a designer who only has timeless items. Either way, that broadens your horizon of what brands are out there. And this helps give smaller businesses a chance (whether local brick and mortar store or online start-up).
These are all pretty great reasons to get a capsule wardrobe, right?! I hope you’re sold on the idea! I am! If you’d like to move forward and create your own capsule wardrobe, I wrote an article on the different rules and steps you can take to do so!
