Wearing same clothes

[MgoSam]

Hey,

I absolutely despise finding clothes to wear each day. It's gotten to the point where I wear one of two pants and a few polos or longsleeves each day. I've read about people that buy a bunch of identical tops and bottoms and just wear them everyday to avoid having to think about it. Anyone done this? I am tempted to do this.

My work doesn't have a dress requirement other than looking somewhat competent.

[Kriegsspiel]

Yea.

[JRA64]

I worked with someone who did this. Never heard anyone comment about it, although it was a surprise the few times he did show up in something different.

[okits]

I've been known to buy the same on-sale shirt in 3-5 colours, so they are obviously different clothes when worn back-to-back, but I only had to shop once.

I think women are more expected to have a wide variety of outfits.  If you're a dude in a technical field I would think a closet full of black shirts would be totally acceptable (or, at least, acceptably eccentric.)

[moneyandmillennials]

I'm a girl and I wear the same outfits practically every week.

The main reason is efficiency.  It saves both time and brain power.

I used to be the girl always trying to wear something different and stylish.  But what a waste of time and brain power.  Every morning deciding on something and then changing at the last minute because it didn't look right or didn't fit right.  Then having to rush to work because you wasted so much time on your outfit.  Then at work, more adjusting because you're not used to the different pocket layout or the different way the clothes lay.

Acorn is right, a lot of people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg wear the same daily outfit.

[Cressida]

I see no reason why wardrobe variation should be a factor in anyone's employability, male or female. Outside the fashion industry, I can't imagine anyone cares what we wear. I might be wrong, though - so if anyone has real-world examples of discrimination on the basis of boring wardrobe decisions, definitely let us know.

[Squirrel away]

I'm a girl and I wear the same outfits practically every week.

The main reason is efficiency.  It saves both time and brain power.

I used to be the girl always trying to wear something different and stylish.  But what a waste of time and brain power.  Every morning deciding on something and then changing at the last minute because it didn't look right or didn't fit right.  Then having to rush to work because you wasted so much time on your outfit.  Then at work, more adjusting because you're not used to the different pocket layout or the different way the clothes lay.

Acorn is right, a lot of people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg wear the same daily outfit.

I do the same thing and it makes life much easier. :) My husband has been wearing variations of the same outfit since he was about 18 and nobody ever comments on it at his work.

[Rural]

I wore the same exact pair of jeans to work three days last week, and I worked from home one day. Being female, I do choose to wear different color shirts day to day, and at the moment, I'm in a neck brace which I'm choosing to cover with scarves, so I'm pretty sure no one notices anything but the scarf anyway. (Side note: one of my fabulous colleagues noticed what I was doing with the scarves and brought me a big bag of loaner scarves!)


When I'm not in a brace, I rotate the one pair jeans, two identical black pants, and three pairs khakis (nearly identical but you take what the thrift store provides). I do have a variety of shirts, but I choose them based on weather, laundry status, and formality - will I be meeting with students? The college president? Etc.

[TomTX]

I wore the same exact pair of jeans to work three days last week, and I worked from home one day. Being female, I do choose to wear different color shirts day to day, and at the moment, I'm in a neck brace which I'm choosing to cover with scarves, so I'm pretty sure no one notices anything but the scarf anyway. (Side note: one of my fabulous colleagues noticed what I was doing with the scarves and brought me a big bag of loaner scarves!)

Hell, I wear the exact same pair of jeans for 5 days if I'm in the office for 5 days straight. If I go out in the field and get all sweaty/dirty, it will get washed when I get home. Shirt rotates daily, but if I'm not stinky (office) it just gets hung for a week and I get a second wearing out of it.

[elaine amj]

There's a whole discussion on here somewhere about creating work "uniforms". Makes a lot of sense.

[GuitarStv]

My system has been working well for the last 11 years or so:

I have four pairs of dresspants, (two are black, two are khaki).  I pair them with one of seven identical but differently coloured light weight polo/golf shirts in the summer, and one of seven identical but differently coloured long sleeve dress shirts in the winter.  This way there's no thinking about what to wear in the morning, but I don't seem like that weird guy who only wears one thing.

My dress pants will need replacing in the next four or five years, which is going to be a real PITA.  I hate shopping.

[thedayisbrave]

Yep.  I rotate between 4-5 tops and 3-4 pairs of pants. 

Paula Pant at Afford Anything has also talked about this very topic.

[AZDude]

I wear basically the same outfit each day to work. I usually wear my pants two or three times before washing. I wear an undershirt and then a button up shirt on top. Undershirts get washed after each wearing, but the overshirt only gets washed if it smells or has a stain.

For an entire week, I have almost one full load of laundry.

[jeromedawg]

Funny this topic just came up. I stumbled across this article one of my wife's friends wrote up:

http://imomlife.com/2015/11/09/guest-musings-saving-with-simple-living/

[rubybeth]

Absolutely, in fashion circles this is known as having a "uniform," or an outfit combination that you know looks relatively good and is comfortable/functional for your lifestyle.

I essentially wear the same basic thing every day (and I'm a woman in a business casual type office setting): khakis (or corduroy in the winter), a button down shirt or dressy shirt of some other style, a cardigan sweater to layer when it's cool, for shoes it's boat shoes in the summer and leather boots in the winter. My husband has pretty much the same options, a variety of khakis and button downs plus some matching sweaters to wear with just about anything.

[Evgenia]

Do it! Check out the Zen Wardrobe concept for ideas, too.

As others here have pointed out, it's less wasteful in many ways and reduces mental overhead. And let's be honest: If you had asked me to recall, on any given day, to describe what any of my colleagues wore to work the day before, I'd not have been able to tell you. It also gives you the opportunity to buy/have fewer, better (higher quality, handmade or non-slave labor made) clothing items.

I attended schools that required uniforms from kindergarten until college, and I hated the first day of college when I had to pick out clothes to wear. Now that we're FIRE I wear an even smaller selection of clothes, so I expect another culling is in the offing.

[FLBiker]

I don't do this exactly, but the result is the same.

I have 4 or 5 pairs of pants (grey, dark gray, tan, brown) all the same brand and size.  I also have about a dozen long sleeve button down shirts.  All go with each other (at least, as far as I can tell).  I stick with earth tones, for the most part.  At any given time, I have two pairs of pants and ~6 shirts in my office (I bike in and change).  I give 0 thought to which ones I put on.  Every so often, I take the lot home, wash them, and switch.

When not at work, I have 4 or 5 pairs of cargo shorts and lots of t-shirts.  Same process applies. :)

[pachnik]

I work in a small casual office.  I usually wear the same pair of jeans for the whole week and then different tops every day.  Not a huge work wardrobe at all.  More variety in the warm months than the cool months just because I find summer clothing more interesting.

I do own one suit for interviews. 

[catccc]

I thought this was going to be about wearing the exact same clothes multiple days in a row.  I do it, but not while at work.  Like, if I'm working from home one day, I'll wear the exact same clothes the next day.  I'll wear the same clothes on Saturday, Sunday, and then on Monday, but then I'll change on Tuesday.  Keeping up appearances for the workplace, I guess.

In the words of a favorite musician of mine, Andrew McMahon, "I put on the same clothes I wore yesterday.  When did society decide that we had to change and wash a tee shirt after every individual use.  If it's not dirty, I'm gonna wear it."

[kaleidoscopicalkris]

As a woman in a medical office, I definitely wear a "uniform". The dress code is pretty loose- as long as I'm wearing dress pants, I can get away with just about anything. That said, I generally stick with black dress pants (I have two pairs that I alternate between), work-supplied polos (one blue, one black, and I have two more that I could alter to fit me if I needed to), and sneakers. I've seen a similar set of "uniforms" with most other employees that I've worked with- being provided a nice polo helps. I have two nice dress shirts that I wear on the other two days, and a company t-shirt for casual Friday. I think that wearing the same (or similar) thing every day helps ease my stress over how I look- I know I look professional enough and that's that.

[mspym]

I've been doing a work uniform for ~10 years now and it makes my life so much easier. I am a woman in a professional work setting and to date no one has noticed that I only have 2 skirts and a dressy pair of jeans for Fridays. I picked up 6 professional looking shirts that don't need ironing from the secondhand shop and rotate between them, occasionally I'll throw in a dress shirt for variety.
People notice if you look unprofessional or unkempt but if you just stay in a sort of uniform, that becomes a thing that people just fog over and it becomes unnoticeable. Whereas if you are Known For Your Outfits then that becomes more visible to people.

[Mother Fussbudget]

I formerly did this - khaki's and polos - but when I changed jobs to a company that required dress pants and Oxford shirts, I mixed it up a bit.  I call it my "office drone uniform".  Now I have between 10-15 long-sleeved dress shirts that I rotate, and 8-10 pairs of dress pants.  I have shirts in a mixture of blues, greys and whites, and mostly dark pants (blues, greys, blacks).  Mostly bought at the local thrift store during one of their 50% off sales.  Whenever I buy a new shirt, I donate one to the store.  They ALL interchange with each other, and by having more shirts than pants, they're always rotating.

I wear clean t-shirt/underwear/socks every day.  I take the first shirt off the LEFT, and the first pair of pants off the LEFT. 
At the end of the day, I get home, and IMMEDIATELY change into jeans - hanging the shirt and pants du-jour on the RIGHT.
I launder them as the collars show signs of wear/staining - usually every-other month.  Meaning I wear the 'outfits' 3 times between washings.   I've been doing this now for 4 years, and look professional every day.

[Monocle Money Mouth]

I see no issue with it. I essentially wear jeans and t-shirts to work every day. The only thing that really changes about my outfit is the t-shirt.

I work for a software company and there is one developer that I have only ever seen wear a gray fleece top, blue jeans, and black work shoes. He wears this every day regardless of temperature. I'm pretty sure if you opened his closet, it would have 7 identical outfits. He has some quirks, but he's super smart, very competent, and funny. He is one of my favorite devs to work with.