5 Reasons Successful People Wear The Same Clothes Every Day

A few years ago was the first time I heard about the capsule wardrobe, where people have a limited amount of clothing. Recently I heard about successful people who wear the same clothes every day, even more interesting!

I have developed a critical opinion of fast fashion in our current culture.

We’re basically moving our problems to Asia, where child labor and severely underpaid workers are making our clothes.

When they’re producing the clothes in another country we’re not confronted with the consequences of our behavior because we don’t see it.

Fast fashion is way beyond what we need. Every season the fashion trend changes and people buy new clothes to keep up with it.

It’s just another way to make us consume things we don’t need.

I love the number of people that are applying minimalist principles to their fashion nowadays, they keep growing and growing.

For some, however, it’s still hard to believe you don’t want to consume more if you have the financial resources.

I’ve heard a good amount of people talk about wearing the same clothes every day, referring to it as a uniform, which is triggering many questions for me. Today I’m going to deep dive into the reasons why successful people wear the same clothes every day and discuss some common objections you might have.

Few quick facts about fashion:

  • Fashion is the second most polluting industry globally, second only to oil
  • Globally the fashion industry is valued at 3 trillion dollars, which is about 2% of the global GDP

Let’s dive straight into the 5 reasons why successful people wear the same clothes every day!

5 Reasons Why Successful People Wear The Same Clothes Every Day

1. Make Fewer Decisions

The more decisions you make throughout the day, the more the quality of your decisions deteriorates. That’s because your brain gives equal decision power to significant and insignificant decisions.

If you’re making significant decisions throughout the day, removing even one decision in the morning leaves you with more mental space and better productivity throughout the entire day.

If we look at people like Mark Zuckerberg or Arianna Huffington, we will see that they wear the same outfit to work every day.

The rationale behind this is that if you’re running a big company, you have enough decisions to make throughout the day.

You want to eliminate as many decisions as possible throughout the day. That means you don’t want to think about what to wear, what to eat, and more.

2. Save Time

Personally, I only discovered how much burden my stuff brought onto me when I cleaned it out.

Having less stuff brought freedom to worry less about things, as it brought the opportunity to only have the things in my house that I love.

In addition, if you have less stuff, you spend less time looking for things.

I don’t know about you, but more often than not I’m going through my stuff to find the things I need. Now I’m just checking one drawer instead of five, which cuts the time looking for things significantly.

3. Save Money

When you wear the same clothes every day, it also has the added benefit of saving money.

You will save thousands every year when you’re sticking to fewer clothes to wear every day. The average American household spends $1,600 annually on clothing.

That’s a lot of money for things you probably don’t need.

What you save on not buying clothes, you can invest in individual stocks or go the easy way with investing in low-cost index funds.

Adopting a capsule wardrobe or choosing to wear a single outfit to work every day removes much of your expenses. You would only need 2 identical pairs of pants and 6 identical shirts.

You won’t have any clothes that don’t fit quite as well as you’d like, you feel good in what you wear, and it frees up money you can spend on things actually value.

You invest in items that last you for years to come, like this men’s wallet at Alpine Swiss.

For example, I haven’t bought any clothes in the last two years, but I still have enough clothes left that I’m putting up for sale.

4. Experience Less Stress

Last week I ran into this story from Harpers Bazaar, where Matilda Kahl talks about her reasons for wearing the same outfit to work every day.

One thing that she mentions is that she is extremely stressed every morning and can’t decide what to wear. This is too short, this is too formal, this is too out there. “I had completely stressed myself out, and for what?”

If you’re wearing the same outfit every day to work, your stress levels will decrease and you will probably feel a lot better.

5. You Look Better

If you’re having a massive wardrobe with clothes amassed over many years, they might not be the best fit for you. Perhaps you’re throwing on things in the morning, just because you haven’t worn them in a while.

When you’re slimming down your wardrobe, you will be left with pieces that you love and fit you amazingly. You’re sure that whatever you choose, you will look and feel better.

It’s easy, quick, and you always look put together. One more reason to start wearing the same clothes every day!

People are drowning in their possessions.

They don’t know what they own and they don’t like what they own. Few are looking for a way out, while others are consuming more and more. If you’re looking for a way out, this can be a good solution.

What do you think about wearing the same clothes every day? Would you do it?

This article was published and syndicated by Radical FIRE.

7 thoughts on “5 Reasons Successful People Wear The Same Clothes Every Day”

  1. This makes a lot of sense. My uncle was the first person I knew who always wore the same thing. His reasoning was that he hated shopping, so when he found a pair of pants and shirt that he liked and fit him well, he would buy several of them. Now, I don’t do it that much, but I do buy multiples of certain clothing items from time to time if I’m able to. It does make life easier, especially when I live so far away from most shopping opportunities.

  2. Hi Sarah, sounds like you have a great uncle. Yes, shopping can be a pain. When something fits, why not buy many of them? I’ve also bought multiple of the same pants and tops. Currently I’m not wearing the same clothes every day, but I have 2 pairs or pants and 5 shirts that I rotate for work. It’s been a great timesaver!

  3. Since learning about decision fatigue a few years ago, I decided to remove as many decisions from daily life as possible. Wearing the same outfit everyday was an easy one for me!

    (But I don’t go to a workplace everyday. So I don’t have to deal with the social pressures to constantly wear different outfits. It’d be really hard to try this out if I worked full-time outside the house!)

    I hope that, with more of us talking about these things, it’ll eventually be normal to wear ‘uniforms’. It’d help do away with a lot of unnecessary spending. (And maybe even rid the world of cheap, fast fashion—it’s so bad for the environment.)

    Great post M!

  4. Thanks Chrissy, happy you liked it!
    Decision fatigue is real, did you notice any significant change after you made the decision to change? Not having to go to a workplace is great. I work full-time outside of the house, so I’m rotating 2 pants and 5 shirts
    And YES fast fashion is incredibly bad for the environment, so I’m happy to wear a ‘uniform’ to work
    I want to shop secondhand when I’m ready to give up my clothing ban, let’s see how that goes!

  5. I actually did notice quite a change! My mornings are way less hectic. No longer do I have to try to remember (while still foggy-headed) when I last wore what, and if it’s too soon to wear it again.

    Gaining back those 7-10 minutes might seem like nothing, but when things are hectic, it can make or break my morning!

    Those minutes give me just enough time to do some breathing meditations or just sit quietly to go over what I need to get done that day.

    It’s definitely been game-changing for me!

  6. I couldn’t say it any better! It’s so important to take your time in the morning, because it determines how you feel for the rest of the day. When I’m rushing in the morning, I feel rushed the entire day.
    7-10 extra minutes of quiet in the morning makes all the difference!

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