Wear stuff out
Monday July 4th, 2011
I have been a fan of howies for a few years, I have bought a fair amount of items from them and the motto I have learnt from everyone is to “wear stuff out”. As I am a minimalist learning how to keep clothes down to a minimal of 15 (except socks and boxers), I cannot believe how many items that still last.
For example, this jean (100% organic cotton) from the small company based in Cardigan, Wales. I bought this back in 2007 and it is still going strong apart from the colours fading gracefully over the years through countless washing.
This cost me around £80 and for that kind of quality, cheap jeans of £20 or so would have fallen apart within a year. I bought another pair back in 2009 that is still going strong with the same colours intact, it is a wonder how quality can be something that is worth paying for.
Other howies items that lurks around the wardrobe are the classic “Smile [resistance is futile]” and wonderfully worded “Get Excited And Make Things” tees as well as Kick Back shorts and Westerlies outdoors slacks. All the other tees of howies ended up as recycle products by Hannah (my zany australian wife of AuburnRoo). The best example was that she produced this amazingly cool MacBook Pro case from my old howies tees as seen below.
How neat is that? By recycling your items into something refreshing to carry around is quite an unique experience.
If I was to part with the item that I no longer wear, it goes through the list:
- Can we make something else from it for us to keep?
- eBay for cash to replace the item or save for a rainy day.
- If the item isn’t sellable at all then it is a good idea to give it away.
Wear stuff out? I agree.