Judging the Price of
Clothing
by Nikki Willhite
www.allthingsfrugal.com
Using your clothing budget wisely!
I think a famous comedienne said it best when he said "There is
a sucker born every minute!" It is ridiculous how much some pieces of clothing
cost. I can’t believe people actually pay those prices.
There is, obviously, a difference in quality between pieces of
clothing. There is a point, however, when quality is met, and then the price is
inflated, often just because of the label of the garment, or the store it is
being sold in.
You should buy your clothes like you buy your food. How much you
are willing to pay for it (especially when it comes to quality) should be
determined or related to the amount of wear it will receive (like servings per
box). The more times you wear a garment, the cheaper it is.
For example, if you live in a cold climate, your winter coat is
probably worn every day. Not only is it one of the most functional pieces of
clothing that you own, it almost becomes your signature piece, as some people
will never see you in anything but that coat!
This is an example of an item you would want to buy the best you
could afford. If you have special needs, like problems with your feet or legs,
you would want to buy the highest quality shoes you can.
On the other hand, if you are going to a dressy social event,
and want a new dress, you may end up not wearing that dress more than once or
twice. Figure out how much it might cost you each time you wear it. Do you
really want to pay that much? Is there another way to dress up that won’t cost
so much? If you have a slim black skirt there are many dressy blouses you could
add to look more formal.
So, how do you figure out how much a garment is worth? Obviously
you can’t just assign an arbitrary figure to how much you want to pay for
something. You have to look around and see what things are selling for. Even if
you don’t plan on purchasing garments at some of the higher priced department
stores, walk through them occasionally to see what they are selling, check the
quality, and the prices.
As I’ve been doing more comparison shopping lately, I’ve been
very surprised by some of the things I’ve seen. I’ve seen the exact same
garments sold at both bargain stores and higher quality mall type stores. I’ve
found many cheaply made garments at the higher priced store, and some very good
quality merchandise in the lowest priced stores.
I think a lot of this is due to the inexpensive garments that
are coming in from China, where labor is so inexpensive. When we went in to buy
a windsock last week for our home at a small local store, I asked the owner why
the big, fancy ones were half the price of the smaller, less ornate ones. The
only difference, he said, was that the inexpensive ones were imported.
Think what you may on this subject, (and this is not the forum
for it) it is a factor to consider in buying clothes. Know your quality, be
familiar with prices, prioritize you needs, stick to the classics, and...
Buy it on Sale!