Clothing has been used for multiple applications as far back as we know. The value in which we hold our clothing shows others how we esteem ourselves, and portray ourselves to the outside world. Now we live in a completely different era where mixed fibers, density, and patterns affect the perception of how we are viewed. The way we wear our clothes, how often we change them, and how we care for our clothing comes to the details and how others perceive us within our personality. In keeping with the
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The clothing difference between men and women.
Clothing for men is built more utilitarian while women’s clothing is more fashionable and often of a different density. Has anyone ever wondered why women’s clothing is cheaper? That’s because women outnumber men, are more likely to purchase clothes, and clothing for women often have cloth requirement overall. Looking at these different dynamics, it is no surprise that women’s clothing is far cheaper to purchase than men1. Looking at the economics scales between these two, it would not surprise if a men’s shirt is $20 compared to $12 for women (illustrative purpose only). The amount of supply and demand between these two will make it easier for designers and retailers to have more women’s clothing in stock. If you want to reduce the cost of your clothing every year, shop on the fringes of each season and purchase end of season clothes. Retailers will often reduce the price to clear inventory for the upcoming season. Other opportunities come with shopping consignment, thrift, and with local retailers.
Women like to feel empowered, and want to attract their mate. Because women’s clothing will have different needs, women will wear clothing that is meant for wanting to show a particular visual appeal. The difference between patterns, lines, and cut all factor into women wearing something that will appeal to their shape and attractiveness. With the different colors and patterns, these articles are more likely to vary between the different season. Does it even surprise you that women will wear more colorful clothing compared to men? For women that want more hardy clothes, check out relevant clothing in the men’s section, because they might have more durable clothes for you.
Men wear clothes in what they feel comfort in. Guys in general, will wear more drab clothing, cut well to their body shape, and intent on showing a more V, I, or T shape. These different shapes will show off men’s chest, shoulder, and arm sizes. Although the shapes themselves are more in line to show their attractiveness, guys feel more comfortable moving with this feel. Depending on the season, some shirts and undergarments will carry a different weight, but men’s clothing is fairly standard throughout the year.
Your clothing is indicative to your line of work.
Work environments are dealing with a shift in dynamics. However, if you are in a white-collar work environment, you are expected to wear a button-down shirt with or without a tie. This might change due to the line of work, especially if you work in IT compared to someone that works in finance. Or, if you work in construction and you wear a button-down shirt, your peers will think of you as a snob and that you are not willing to do certain work. Your peers and potential clients will see the type of clothing you wear and make presumptions on your overall performance. If you are going from college into your first job, make sure you do some research into the work environment and what is acceptable.
The kind of activity you perform can affect the lifespan of your clothes. Some brands are known to have excellent longevity because they will use denser fabrics. I would highly recommend looking into these brands to extend the life of your clothes and reduce overall cost. It makes a difference to your budget if you plan on spending a certain amount every year for work and or play. I will outline the different types of activity, because the life expectancy is different.
What does clothing have to do with activity?
I would like to categorize the uses based on activity: light, moderate, and hard. Light activities and labor are more sedentary in nature and go with light walking, office, and about the home. Moderate activity can include longer periods of activity of over 15 minutes of walking-jogging, lifting, aerobics, and to the point of increasing heart-rate and perspiration. Hard level activity is almost like construction work, your heart work hard, your muscles work hard, there is lots of perspiration, and increased risk of working with damaging fluids/chemicals/stain. I want to identify these different levels of activity, because light activity can extend the life of clothing to several years compared to heavy use and only for a season.
How Often Do You Wash Your Clothing?
My clothing goes through a variety of uses. I go from everyday clothing, to workout, and through work. Let’s say that if I am really busy during the week, I would have a lot of clothes to wash. Because of the different uses, I will typically wash my regular clothes by the end of the week, but I do not like going too long in washing workout clothing or hard labor clothes. Shirts can get about 1-2 uses before they are washed, or have any kind of body odor or smells. Jeans can lose a lot longer with light to moderate activity, weekly is fine. Jeans with hard activity might only last a day or two before you need to wash them. This was a struggle for me coming out of college, because I was able to find construction work, but hard to find within my particular skillset. During some of these jobs, I had one job give labor pants as a part of our uniform, I also lost about 3 pairs of jeans within two months because I got paint, tar, and rips from wood and steel on my jeans.
Hard activity clothes are supposed to be as durable as possible, but sometimes I just can’t help but get a dirty spot on them that does not clean at all. If I’m risking a nicer shirt or pants, I would want to wash those spots right away. But, if they’re designated work clothes, I will wash them like my regular clothes, but will wait for any paint or greasy spots to dry first. If you are really concerned about grease or stains on your clothes, you should stop what you are doing, and wash the spot right away. My thought on work clothes, is that they are usually everyday clothes that fell out of my daily rotation that I do not care for anymore. This will create the lasting effect before they end up as scrap.
When do you retire those clothing?
Honestly the life of your clothing is all dependent on activity level, how much you own, and if they’re still in decent shape. If your life-style is light to moderate, I would highly suggest recycling your clothes and giving it to a charity or someone you know that could use it. As a parent, I know my kids will have the occasional clothing that will not fit anymore, and I find someone in my church that is smaller who could use it. I think its important because it establishes a good rapport and connection with others in my community who could use the same thing. I use this as an example, but giving clothing to another family is an act of generosity and goodwill that helps another family financially.
In conclusion, clothes run through their life cycle. I’m sure that you’ve figured out your own rhythm to rotating through your own clothes. If you are like me and you like being a jack of all trades, your wardrobe is not exactly the smallest either. I try to work with what I have and try to make it last as long as possible before getting rid of it. Some of this also affects my mentality for how often I need to purchase new clothes every year and keep it within budget. With these things in mind, what have you done to make your clothes last? What are some things you use from this article, and what would you do differently? Don’t forget to like and share our articles if you’ve found our content valuable from the site. Also, we are growing everyday and would appreciate that you like and follow our page on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Notes
- Pulled some data from this site to see the difference between men and women. This report outlines the supply and demand between men and women. Owen Stuart, “How Do Men & Women Shop for Clothes Differently?” Freedonia Focus Reports, Oct 1, 2019, https://www.freedoniafocusreports.com/Content/Blog/2019/10/01/How-Do-Men–Women-Shop-for-Clothes-Differently.
