The 80/20 Rule…Sartorialized.

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The 80/20 rule [for the business-y types, the Pareto principle] is something that every first-year business student learns about in his economics and time management courses. Basically, it tells us that 80% of anyone’s profits comes from 20% of their clients. But it’s infinitely applicable. For instance, way over 80% of my traffic comes from both my Twitter and my super-informal word-of-mouth campaign [which involves a lot of enthusiasm and hand-made business cards]—not from my commenting, or my blog communities, or my Tumblr.

So, it follows that almost everyone will wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time. Come on, you know you’re guilty of it. You have three dresses that make you feel like a rock star, but you keep the other sixteen that are infinitely less flattering just to wear when your three favorites are dirty or at the tailor’s. You have one pair of heels that you can actually stand up in for more than twenty minutes, but your closet floor is covered with wedges, spectators, stilettos, and mary janes. You spend the majority of your week working from home in denim and vintage, but you still keep five suits in your closet “just in case”.

So if we wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time, why do we keep the 80% of our clothing that we wear so seldom?

Some people do it for work. They have a job that requires them to look a certain way, and they buy a work-specific wardrobe without getting rid of the casual clothing they wear less often as a result. Some collect clothing for special events, buying a new dress or jacket every time they have to attend a wedding or a job interview. For the athletically-minded, it’s not uncommon to have an entire stash of clothing dedicated to one specific purpose—yoga, softball, underwater basketweaving. [Full disclosure: I have a drawer full of at least 17 sets of leotards and leggings that I wear for yoga.]

Some people keep clothing that they never wear out of sentiment; the clothing reminds them of a special event, and they keep the piece as a memento rather than as a functional wardrobe element. And others keep excess clothing out of intention—they’re going to wear it someday, they swear; they just haven’t gotten around to it.

[By the way, I'm not even taking into account any kind of seasonal variation, even though the vast majority of you guys deal with disparate temperatures year-round and as a result, have distinct wardrobes and styles for winter versus summer. That's coming in another post, I promise!]

Needless to say, all this leaves a lot of room for extraneous wardrobe bloating, which causes headaches, messes, and wastes of time during which you invariably stomp your feet and shout, “I’ve got nothing to WEAR!” So let’s take action, shall we?

• Pare down. Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit your body, your lifestyle, or the climate where you live. Get rid of duplicates. Get rid of anything you haven’t worn in over a year, no matter how sentimental it might be or how much you want to fit into it again. Make it a habit to reevaluate the clothing you’re keeping every two or three months. Less is more, people.
• Document what you wear and how often you wear it. Wardrobe Remix is popular for a reason. Take photos. Look at how you look in everything you’re wearing, and more importantly, think about how you feel in it. If you see that you never, ever wear a certain piece of your wardrobe, you should think about why not, and why you might not want it around anymore.
• Stop collecting clothes for special occasions. I cannot withstand buying a new dress for every wedding/job interview/family reunion/holiday/rock and roll show/party/insert special event here that I attend—it’s expensive and unnecessary and it creates a wardrobe storage mess. Plus, with a little bit of clever accessorizing and ingenuity, you can style a single dress in a handful of different ways and make it look like you’re wearing something completely different each time, without buying a single thing.
• Choose what your wardrobe needs based on how you’re spending your time. If you spend most of your time at work, then work-worthy clothes should comprise most of your wardrobe. I realize this advice might not be what you want to hear. However, I’m not suggesting everyone who works in an office go out and buy six suits and make their wardrobe bland and uniform [Also, it bears noting that unless you're a rare individual, you're going to spend a good portion of your week asleep...but you have to decide whether you need a proportional amount of pajama sets to the time you're going to spend in bed. My take on it? I sleep in leggings and tank tops or vintage slips, all of which I also wear when I'm awake. Sartorial multitasking for the win!]
• Increase your laundry frequency, do your mending, and take care of your clothes. If you end up wearing clothing that you don’t absolutely love when it gets closer to laundry day or when your better pieces are out of commission, you should do laundry more often and make sure to keep all your favorites in top shape. This means learning to re-attach buttons, unstick zippers, and repair torn seams. If you don’t know how to do this, there are a wealth of tutorials out there. Learn to take care of your stuff, and it will serve you well for years. And if you don’t have time to do more laundry, perhaps you’d better think about sending it out.
• Avoid impulse purchases, especially if they’re for immediate special occasions. I did this all the time in New York: instead of running home to change before hitting a bar after work, I’d pop into H&M and get myself a top that was more appropriate for where I was going than whatever I happened to be wearing. Or, after sleeping at a friend’s house [or a (cough, cough) boy's], I’d buy an outfit to avoid showing up to work in yesterday’s clothes. And, yeah, sometimes I ended up with great deals on items I loved, but more often I bought something that I wore only once or twice before deciding it wasn’t for me. Don’t do this. Plan ahead. [And for gawd's sake, don't sleep out if you don't have clothes with you.]

Do you all see any relevance of the 80/20 rule to your wardrobes? How do you deal with sartorial clutter to make your wardrobe more efficient and wonderful? Tell me your thoughts!

Related posts:

1. Clothing to Get Rid Of Right Now
2. Things to Ask Before You Buy a Piece of Clothing, Part 1: Economic
3. The Cost Per Wear: How Much is Your Clothing Worth to You? [Or: Are You Getting Your Money's Worth?]
4. In Praise of Sending Out Laundry
5. Things To Ask Before You Buy A Piece Of Clothing, Part 2: Aesthetic