In thinking about clothing and the 100 thing challenge I started thinking back and found this post I wrote a few years ago about minimizing wardrobes and the idea of a personal uniform. It’s been 2 years since I wrote that and I’ve got back and forth and tried out a few things here and there, but especially with this year of travel I’m really seeing the value in having a uniform and wardrobe that is similar enough that it doesn’t take a lot of thought about packing or getting dressed, but is easily repeatable and replaceable as things wear out. I’ve been experimenting with some of the Multibasing ideas as well and leaving sets of clothing in different parts of the world so that when I travel there I don’t need to pack as much as I would have if I was bringing everything with me. It’s a different approach to the no baggage challenge but with similar goals I think.
I’ve always had some basic rules in mind but never really spelled them out clearly, not that I am going to be any better at doing it now, but the more I use this stuff and the more I think about it the patterns get easier to spot and point out. So here’s basically what I keep in mind:
– Clothes should be easily replicable. That is, if I buy a shirt a like it, I should be able to buy 4-5 of the same one without much hassle. This eliminates one of a kind or super expensive items but that is fine because I’ve never been comfortable with those anyway. And being able to replace them anywhere is a huge plus to. Much of the stuff I’ve chosen is easy to find any number of places around the world which makes replacing a lost or damaged piece easy. This also allows me to get into a fairly simple “buy new, donate old” cycle every few months so nothing I have has been through too much of a ringer.
– Clothing should be mix-matchable. That is, everything should go with everything else. This allows very little thought when getting dressed or packing, I know I can’t go wrong. This is easiest achieved for me by choosing things that are solid black. The same could be true for any solid color I guess but black seems classic and goes with anything, and fits in in almost any situation. I vary a little bit in the shirt department, but that is fine because I’m never wearing two shirts at once so I don’t have to worry about something not matching if everything else is black. That said I personally tend to avoid any clothing with obvious branding on printing on it.
– Clothing should be good for travel. I travel a lot, so this is important to me, might not be to someone else. To me this means it’s not overly bulky and can be rolled up fairly compactly for packing, and that it’s easily washed in a hotel room so it should dry quickly. It should also be layerable and multipurpose, that is I should be able to create cold weather combo by layering warm weather items. Or something like that.
Those are really my big points. I have a few other but those are more personal things – no leather, etc, but that doesn’t totally relate here. Because I know you are wondering, here’s how that translates for me at this point..
– Pants. With minor exception I’ve been wearing Dickies work pants almost every day for the last 10 years at least. You can get them anywhere – in any corner of the world, they are relatively inexpensive (which means buying multiples is no problem) and work in a variety of social settings. When newer they are basically dress pants.
– Under Shirt. I’ve got about 20 American Apparel simple black T-Shirts scattered around the world and these serve me very well. Again, easy to find and replace, not very expensive but nice quality. The one drawback to these is that being cotton they don’t wick moisture very well which is only a problem in hotter climates (which I’ve been finding myself in a lot recently) and they take the longest to dry of anything I usually travel with. I’ve been thinking of trying out one of the ScotteVest T-Shirts to see how they work out in these situations.
– Underwear. I’ve raved about ExOfficio brand before and I stand by it. These are the best underwear ever, and you could easily travel for a long time having only 2 pair of these with you. I generally travel with 4-5 but really feel like that is overkill sometimes.
– Socks. I don’t have the die hard loyalty here, but I’ve been pretty happy with injinji toe socks for a while. They are comfortable and dry pretty quickly, but I’ve found they wear through pretty quickly as well.
– Shirt. I’ve got a stable of Ben Sherman plaid and solid color shirts I rotate through which works really well for me and is a style that I like. That said, the quality of their shirts seems to have dropped a bit in the last year or so and I’m keeping my eyes out for alternatives.
– Shoes. Adidas have been my standard goto for a while, but recently I’ve been loving my Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot shoes and might make the switch more fulltime.
Add a sweatshirt or jacket here and there depending on where I’m traveling to and what the trip will entail. As I said the beauty of a lot of this is it’s easily replicable so I can have duplicate wardrobes in many corners of the globe without much effort.
MIchelle August 26, 2010 at 1:42 pm
There was a woman who tried something similar: one dress worn over the course of a year. She could add bits and pieces to it, but she couldn’t buy anything new: http://www.theuniformproject.com/#!about
eva August 26, 2010 at 8:00 pm
For comfortable tshirts that wick you might try Icebreaker. They come in all kinds of lengths, are a light wool, are expensive ($100 or so) but they don’t smell, dirt comes of easily, they are light enough that you don’t suffer in hot climates but perfect for layering in cooler ones.
Jerry August 27, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Thanks Sean – I’m starting to multi-base myself and picking up on some of your suggestions. However, since I’m downsizing in process, rather than buying to set up stocks, I’m taking whats overflowing from closet now and stashing it. Cold weather gear stays on mainland along with some dress clothes and comfy gear. Shorts and t’s go west. Most of the rest goes to my son to use or donate.
And the excess electronics & books & posters &… get donated to CrashSpace.
kdt September 13, 2010 at 9:10 pm
I’m new to your blog/site and am enjoying it – great stuff. I’ve been trying to downsize my life for some time, and have used a “buy one, get rid of two” method to help me gradually get rid of whatever I was unable to get rid of in my initial cull. It’s easier to pick one or two victims than it is to pick a whole bunch.
I like the uniform idea and may work towards a version of that.
I swear by the Ex-Officio underwear as well. For socks – try Thorlo black tennis crew socks – they wick moisture, keep your feet cool and padded, and wash/dry quickly.
ChaoticMark September 14, 2010 at 4:34 am
i’ve been thinking about this idea for ages but apart from underwear and socks i haven’t bought new clothes in god knows how long. but, i have reduced my wardrobe thanks to the 100 thing challenge.
Cecilie September 20, 2010 at 12:00 am
This blog post finds me a be amused. Not because your idea is funny. It makes sense but because my dad had essentially this same plan toward clothing. My whole life the only things my dad wore were black slacks, white button down shirts, black socks, black shoes. There were a few variables in there on occasion. The variables were very few. I think the only other clothes I remember him owning were a single blue short sleeve button down shirt, a blue pull over sweater and a pair of dark jeans. His reasoning was similar to yours, it made his life easier. He traveled a lot for his job so he just had to throw enough clothes in his bag and that was that.
It seems amusing to me that this is now a new movement or idea. I always thought when I was a kid my dad was a little “different” but I guess he was just ahead of the trend. 🙂
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Robert S. October 7, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I’ve been doing plain black T-shirts of a wicking artificial fiber, for a long time. Just got some silver-nano-tech ones from Campmor, to prevent stink. Although, with extended camping use, they smell oddly like baked bread, which is still better than BO.
Also, plain black, lightweight wool+polypro socks, from Cabelas, which seem to last forever. Those ExOfficio boxers are next!
The great thing about living in NYC, is that black or all-black, always works, in nearly every situation! And yeah, it’s exactly like a uniform – I’m not in the fashion biz, or any kind of clothes horse. Simple, is better, in most cases.
“Terramar Men’s Pioneer Crew Tee Shirt”
“Cabela’s Outfitter Series Lightweight Socks”
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James March 13, 2013 at 3:12 pm
I’ve been doing something along the same lines for a while, but never liked (or could get away with) the “all black” look. My uniform consists of black slacks (dickies), colored long sleeve shirts (also dickies), colored undershirts (REI brand), Injini black socks, and black work/dress shoes. I’ve found the shirts and pants that Dickies makes have lasted me about 3 years so far, and look like I’ll get another year out of them. The socks are new to the uniform, and I’m looking at a thicker version of them, though I haven’t bought them yet. The undershirts are part of REI’s summer collection, and are designed to wick moisture away, while being light enough that even layered, even in summer months in central AZ, they don’t make me feel any hotter than I’d be without them. I’ve just made a point of buying the shirts (both kinds) in colors that go well together. I can take any of the undershirts, pair it with any of the overshirts, and it looks fine. Some combinations look better than others, but none of them clash with one another so I don’t have any stress choosing a shirt in the morning.
Only part of the uniform I’m not satisfied with is the shoes. I’ve been wearing some VFFs when not at work, but can’t find a pair of shoes with the thinner sole that would be good for wearing at work (even the VIVO barefoot shoes don’t look nice enough for me to wear in an office environment). As a stopgap I’ve been buying the workshoes you get from Walmart for $30. A pair will generally last me a year, but I’m still keeping my eyes out for a good pair.