7 Steps to Organise Your Wardrobe
Ever wondered when did humans first start wearing clothes?
According to archaeological evidence, it is believed that clothing dates back to between 70,000 and 50,000 years ago. Some studies even suggest that humans started wearing clothes as early as 170,000 years ago.
Clothes made the modern man! Today, the fashion industry is a multibillion-dollar market. In 2020, the global apparel market was worth USD 1.5 trillion and is projected to grow to USD 2.25 trillion by 2025. Collectively, Singaporeans spent over USD 2.3 billion in 2021 to dress ourselves. On average, each Singaporean brought home 45 pieces of clothes last year. That's 180 pieces of clothing a year for a family of 4!
Take an honest look at your closet. How many of these apply to you?
I have too many clothes but nothing to wear.
I often buy new clothes that I don't really need.
I can't remember the last time I wore some of my clothes, but they still take up space in my wardrobe.
I would like to wear more attractive clothes, but don't know how.
If you can answer yes to any of these questions, then it is time to bring order into your wardrobe! Follow these steps below to achieve a neat and tidy wardrobe filled with clothes you actually like.
Step 1: Gather all clothing and lay them in one spot
The first step is to gather all your clothing (except those in the laundry basket) and lay them in one spot. It can be on the floor or on the bed. You don't have to take them off their hangers right now. Check every closet, drawer, dresser. When you think you are finished, check again... how about the storeroom? Yes, that box of clothes you packed away thinking you will fit into them again someday... Yes, those few pieces of clothing tucked into the children's wardrobe because you didn't have space for them. And how about those hanging behind a door... Please add them to the pile. Oh yes, and do take out all the cold wear you have kept away that are meant for trips abroad. While you are taking all the clothes out of their storage space, you can place them in different piles next to one another to organize them into subcategories: Tops, Bottoms, Outerwear (coats and jackets), socks, underwear, clothes for specific events such as swimming and uniforms.
Step 2: Step Take a picture of the pile
When all your clothes are gathered in one spot like that, the sheer volume of it can look very overwhelming. Everyone I've worked with was surprised at how much clothing they own when confronted with the pile. Now would be a great time to take a picture of the heap.
Step 3: Decide which pieces you would like to keep
For clothing which is not required because of special life circumstances (you know, like uniforms), there is only one criterion when deciding if you want to keep a piece of clothing - does it bring you joy.
We will start with the cold wear which has been kept away. The reason why we start with this category is that it is the easiest category to tune into your intuition on what feels good. You don't have to fret about not having something to wear the next day if you decide you don't want that piece anymore.
Now, this is the important part. You need to hold each piece of clothing up (without a hanger) in your hands and look at it. Feel the fabric in your hands (not just your fingertips) and take a good look at it. Many pieces will have their fate decided at this stage because when you hold up a piece of clothing and take a real good look at it, you will know if you like the item. If you cannot decide, ask yourself these questions "Do I want to wear this again on my next trip aboard?", "Do I feel good wearing it?", "Do I want to see it again?". If the answer is "well... not necessarily...", then please place it in the discard pile.
Move on to the other clothes when you are done with the cold wear. Use this one single criterion when deciding if you want to keep something - does it bring you joy. If you are still not sure, ask yourself "If the occasion calls for this piece of clothing tomorrow, will I wear it?" If you are hesitant, the piece of clothing does not spark joy. Put it in the discard pile.
Step 4: Hang it up
Now that you have decided on the pieces of clothing to keep, it's time to put them back into the wardrobe and dresser. I personally prefer to hang all outside wear clothes which require ironing and to fold my home wear.
Wardrobe arranged according to subcategories
The most basic rule is to hang clothes in the same category side by side. Start from the category with shortest pieces to the longest pieces, i.e. shorts, bottoms, tops, dresses etc. Within each category, hang pieces of the same subcategory together. For example, all short-sleeved t-shirts should be hung together, all short-sleeved collared t-shirts hung together. The idea is you can easily see all your choices within a category and choose a piece of clothing without going through your entire wardrobe. You can even go one step further and hang like colours within a subcategory together. This will make your closet look even more pleasing to the eye.
Step 5: Fold them in
For clothes that are folded and placed into the dresser, the goal is to organise the contents so you can see where every item is at a glance. The trick here is to store things standing up rather than laid flat. Clothes look very nice laid flat and neatly folded in retail stores but it is not practical at home. Clothes at the bottom of the pile will seldom be taken out and do you really want to risk messing the pile up just to reach that bottom piece?
Below is an illustration to show how to fold each piece of clothing so they can stand and allow you to stack them on edge, side by side, so that when you pull your drawer open, you can see the edge of every item inside. Once you have folded all your clothes to stand edge on edge, you will never revert to stacking them on top of each other.
Step 6: Socks - Please don't ball them up, please don't tie them up
One of the most common ways to store socks is to fold them and then turn one sock inside out to hold the pair together. I dare say 8 out of 10 households do that. The most common explanation is that one side might go missing if they are not balled together, but this method is very damaging for socks. The fabric and elasticity is being constantly stretched. After some time, you end up with socks which are loose on the leg and cuff. Fold socks according to the pictures below. Socks should be stored on edge, just like you did for clothing
Socks are stored on their edges
Step 7: Underwear
Same thing, underwear can also be nicely folded and stored on its edge.
I have seen bras being squished and compressed in closets. It is very damaging for padded bra cups to be compressed as the bra cups develop permanent crease lines and are as good as ruined. Unpadded bras without wires can be folded or even rolled to be stored upright. Padded and/or wired bras need a lot more space. They should not be folded and need to be laid out.
Congratulations!
If you completed the above 7 steps, congratulations! Now you can stand back and enjoy the tidiness in your wardrobe. You will definitely find that you take less time to decide on what to wear before going out because everything is so visible and well-organised!
References:
https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/when-did-humans-first-start-wearing-clothes/
https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/#dossierKeyfigures
https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/apparel/singapore