Great post and I greatly admire your will power.

I used to wear a suit, collar and tie every day for work. I dressed fairly conservatively so everything was pretty classic. Even though I haven't worn a suit or tie in ages I can't bear to throw anything out. I know this is incredibly stupid on my part to hang onto everything.

I'm increasingly scared that the stuff I love won't be manufactured for ever.Oh how I wish I'd bought lots of Made in the US Weejuns.

Last edited by AlveySinger (2021-12-10 07:18:47)

By coincidence I did something similar earlier this week. Last time I was in the UK was 2 1/2 years ago and I kept hold of a few things that were too small for me in case I went on a fitness kick. Instead I gained weight and now not one of my suits or sacks fits me. But all my shirts still do and so do a few pairs of trousers, so not too bad.

Unlike Patrick I haven't donated anything (yet), instead I'm going to list a few things on here, including:

a 38R 3 piece 60s sack; a 39R 60s sack; a 39R striped 60s wool cashmere sack; 30 waist Lee Japan jeans; and a few pairs of 30 waist chinos.

Staying in the wardrobe are 5 X 50s/60s tweed sacks, 1 X 70s/80s sack suit and a few lightweight suits/jackets that I can't be bothered to count. All will fit me with a little bit of exercise (which I really want to do anyway). Plus an extensive shirt collection, including a yellow and white Makers 6 button candy stripe that I couldn't recall owning. Not my first choice of colour but I like it. My Grenfell trench also still fits, as do 2 Harringtons and other assorted outerwear. And my tie game is very strong. (A shame I never wear them.)

Hear a woman gasp when you tell her you once owned two dozen pairs of shoes (including desert and chukka boots and sneakers).  She'll likely tell you her old man has two pairs before going on - with great originality - to hand you some sound, free advice: 'You can't wear more than one pair at a time'.  Same goes for your knickers, love. 
I read just the other day that Otis Redding owned four hundred pairs.  Jimmy Frost Mellor was supposed to have owned five hundred shirts.
That's getting close to funny farm territory. 
As for donating, some of the buggers can be sniffy.  They like Ralph Lauren, though, in the way they like 'Fifty Shades Of Grey'.  They recognise the name.
I still almost regret giving my spiffy Don Richards coat to some half-awake bint in Hockley.

Talking of the deserving poor...  a pair or two of my spectacles have been donated to Africa...  I dread to think who ended up with them...  He probably fell head first into the water hole, the unfortunate sod...

It’s a terrific post. Really strikes a chord with me.
I’ve kept practically every item clothing I’ve owned in adult life. Apart from the obvious ‘disposables’. T shirts, trainers ect. Or whatever’s naturally bitten the dust. Certainly shirts, knitwear, outerwear, shoes are all still there. Either in rotation, the loft or the garage. A whole wardrobe of largely unworn blazers in my son’s bedroom.
If it’s wearable I’ll keep it.
It hasn’t helped that I’ve hardly changed body shape since I was 16.
A long stint as a painter/decorator did help the natural progression of things. From weekend to work to bin. But not now.
Very occasionally it’s nice to rediscover old things. But on the whole it’s a big waste of space and energy. My wife’s mother is a hoarder. A proper hoarder as seen on TV. It’s no fun.
I suspect I’ll always have a fetish for jackets and coats, but I’ve got to a point now where I’d love to open up my wardrobe and see a small, good quality, well ordered and looked after collection. Blue and white shirts. A few polos. A good pair of Lee’s. Grey flannels. Grey and navy crew necks. Chinos. One pair each Brogues, loafers, db’s and CVOs. That’s all anyone needs right?
But what a wrench to dispose of your collection?
I’d genuinely love it if Patrick updated us in six months time as to whether he’s stuck with it and happy. Or if more stuff ended up sneaking in.

Not related, no.  We never even met, Jim and I, just had some long, aimless talks on the 'phone about online bullshit.  He was charm personified, a shameless manipulator, a lost soul and, ultimately, a tragedy waiting to happen.  But he loved The Look - no-one more so - and pushed this place along for years. 
He was public-school educated, by the way - Rugby - something that bothered me not in the least.  I went to a 'bog standard' comprehensive in Derby when it was still just a grubby industrial town with a halfway decent football team. 
They still talk about B.C. and A.D. - Before Clough, After Docherty.

A great post from Patrick. I downsized a few years back and almost immediately regretted doing so. I did however keep lots of clobber and I have good quality stuff that must be 40 years old. Some stuff I will never wear in my lifetime but I keep it 'just in case'. My wife uses the expression 'it might come back in fashion again'

At sixty two, I'm with the Swedes, believe me.

Hmmm...I'm 71 and toying with the idea of buying a silk dress shirt from Budd. Seeing as I aready have two fine cotton ones, maybe it's a shirt too far?

I doubt if I've owned more than a dozen jackets at any one time.  Don't see the point.  I'd like to go back about fourteen so years, though, when Makers shirts were coming through from the USA at reasonable prices.  That aside, just about enough is surfacing in the UK to keep me content.  I have a small list of 'Wants' for the New Year, including some chunkier fisherfolk-type knitwear, some more 501s, a better pair of trainers/sneakers, a couple more v-neck sweatshirts, a couple more Bean flannel shirts.  No sacks.  Nothing of that nature.  Not any longer.

'Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy'.  That takes me back to my misbegotten youth, searching for copies of 'Famous Monsters' and 'Castle Of Frankenstein' on dusty market stalls.  Waiting for the midnight double-bill or, in one instance, setting my alarm so that I could watch Lee and Cushing battle it out in 'Dracula' at three in the morning. 
Did Count Yorga sport Ivy, I wonder?