Ask the Readers: How Do You Build a Wardrobe on a Budget?

First figure out what you need the clothes for.
My husband an engineer, requires casual clothes most days (khakis and mid range dress shirts w/o ties) but he requires very good and formal dress clothes at least once monthly. So I found two very good quality men’s clothing stores in the area, been in business for a long time and I went in with him with a budget and told them so up front. I wanted to know if they stood behind their clothes and they do. We chose some really good pieces instead of a suit because they were more versatile – we did this 5 years ago and the pieces – some beautiful shirts, ties, a sport jacket and trousers have all stood up beautifully. It has to be treated well, ironed, some of it dry cleaned etc. but it is worth it. They really are an investment. And good men’s clothing stores do alterations without charge – so the clothes fit well right away.
I found these places had the right kind of salespeople – who have been in the business for a while and like it and really enjoy having repeat customers. They get it and steer you right for the more expensive pieces.
It is easy enough to fill the more casual needs at thrift stores etc. as well as finding great accessories.
Good question!

J.D. the person’s opinion that you should trust should not be your wife. No offense to your wife, but I have more than my fair share of experience that tells me that women should never, ever shop for men. Would you ask your wife for financial advice, or automotive repair (assuming she was not a professional at either). Well no. Just because women have more clothes and think about their own clothes does not make them experters. Since having your own stylist or shopper is frought with its own danger and expenses. YOU NEED TO BECOME AN EXPERT. But is this such a hard thing to do. In essense you are becoming an expert on, well you. or at lease the external you. the you that you show to the world on a daily baisis. You should do the research, on what fits your body type and what colors compliment your skin and eyes.

I can understand this… I have a problem where I fluctuate between sizes in very short time. As a result, I always end up with 2 sets of wardrobe at the same time: My skinny clothes and my fat clothes.

Its hard to coordinate, and be on a budget when I can’t stay the same size so I decided to keep the color scheme constant (lots of blacks and neutrals). Buying pants and jeans are a nightmare so I buy a lot of A line skirts and dresses, they’re more forgiving.

Basics basics. My favorite new store is Uniqlo, they are like the H&M of Japan, cheap but very high quality like Japanese products are. Unfortunately their only store in NYC.

Also, never ever buy a black suit as your first. Black is not versitile and does not look good in daylight. I know it is the color of professional women…they can have all of it. Also never have your shirt be darker than your suit, unless you are going to a club. Its not hip, its weird, unless your wearing a white or very light suit.

JD, can you tailor any of your existing items, or is 40 lbs just too much? It’s about $10 per item tailored usually (depending on what needs to be done), so you may be able to keep some of your better things for the price of what a new item in a thrift store would cost.

I think your body type really influences where you shop. My husband is tall and lean, so most discount stores near us don’t carry pant or dress shirt size. He’s much better off using coupons at department stores for work clothes, and buying discounted sweat shirts and shoes from places like TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

Good sales people can help you save money, too. I know, most work on commission. My husband has a guy at our local department store who helped him find the right size (a lot smaller than he thought) and steered him towards more classic styles (darker jeans, no pleated pants, etc). He feels a lot more confident, too.

I also set a budget and try to plan out my purchases (ie, buying a winter coat in January, when there’s still a good selection but coats are discounted). This helps eliminate impulse buys or having to catch up and buy a lot when prices are high.

I hate the smell of thrift stores, I like to buy new. To this end:

1) outlet stores are good. you can get great quality stuff for a fraction, and it lasts for years.

2) limiting the color palette that you wear is good.

e.g.: in winter, i wear only black or things that go with black– that saves money on brown shoes, belts, boots, gloves, hats, coats, leather jackets, etc.

in summer it’s white/tan. it also washes easy (no “whites/darks” pile).

my wife, who dresses beautifully, needs more variety, but she’s similarly concentrated on colors that highlight her good looks and combine well among them.

finally:

3) i don’t buy anything on sale that i wouldn’t buy full retail. this i’ve learned after years of amassing unused clothes bought because “they are so cheap” but then you never wanna wear and end up as car washing rags, or following you from house to house as you move.

You need to shop at department stores and buy clothes off-season, when prices are slashed by up to 70% off. And if you can use it responsibly (meaning you pay the entire balance off immediately), a store card can often net you a 10% to 15% discount off on top of that. I’m thinking specifically of Macy’s, where I often buy stuff at tremendously reduced prices (like a $120 dress that ended up costing $26 after all was said and done).

Also, here in the midwest we have places like TJMaxx and Marshalls, which is where stores ship all of the merchandise they couldn’t move on clearance. Maybe you have something similar in Portland? Usually these places are messy – but if you have the patience to shop in a thrift store, you probably have the patience to wade through the racks at one of these places, because there are awesome bargains to be had.

I’m not a trend-chaser either, but I do believe that how you dress can affect you on a professional level. With that in mind, I frequent consignment shops and thrift stores often and I plan as far ahead as I can manage. I explicitly buy shoes without regard to expense because I stick to a limit of what I can own and I am to only need to replace the shoes every 5-10 years. On the other hand, I get staples like tank tops, t-shirts and socks as cheaply as possible – I’ll even buy packs from the men’s underwear section.

I lost 40 pounds about 5 years ago and, like you, I had to buy an entirely new wardrobe. Because I work in a nice office in an urban downtown, I needed “good” clothes for work as well as more casual things. And believe it or not, when you lose weight, even your shoe size changes. If you don’t believe me, go get measured at a good shoe store.

When faced with the task of replacing my clothing, I made a decision to buy fewer, but better clothes.

The first thing I did was make a list of things I needed and how much I was willing to spend on them. You might also consider whether you plan to lose more weight (in which case this is an interim wardrobe) or are at your goal (in which case you might be willing to spend more).

I waited until I made goal to buy my clothes, many of which I still had. I made due with hand-me-down and Target items until then.

Once I had a list, I decided roughly how much I wanted to spend on each item. I bought the basics first, at a combination of outlet stores and nice department stores. Once I had the basics, I bought other pieces (a long coat for dress in a classic style) at end-of-season clearance sales at stores near my downtown office.

Though it goes against your nature probably, it might be worth it to splurge on a few key pieces that you will wear every day and keep for years (jeans for public appearances, dress pants, good dress shoes, one cashmere sweater in neutral color, a coat, etc.). If you have a few nicer pieces of clothing, you can mix them with Goodwill, Kohl’s, and Target finds and you will look well put-together.

I also picked up a book on how to dress and build a wardrobe before I bought anything. That gave me an idea of how to put things together, and how to identify quality pieces. Tim Gunn’s book is very good.

If you are buying jackets, coats, dress pants, or other tailored clothing at Goodwill, consider taking them to a good tailor or dry cleaner and spending extra to have them altered to fit you. That makes the clothing look a lot more expensive. If you buy your few “good” pieces at Nordstrom, they will hem them to fit you at no extra charge.

Remember, many Americans have more clothing than they need. Think about what you pack when you go away on a week-long trip and how often you do laundry. If you do laundry once a week, you may be able to get by quite comfortably with a much smaller wardrobe than you had before. Even 5 years out, I have considerably fewer clothes than I did before I lost weight.

Target. Shockingly good everyday clothes. I have plenty of cool V-neck T-shirts and various long-sleeved shirts from them. Mix with jeans that fit well (Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic on sale, definitely try them on) and cool shoes, and you can look good on a budget.

Head to Woodburn – we had great luck finding clothes for my husband at the Banana Republic outlet and Gap outlet.

When they have sales (which they do a lot around the holidays, Back to School, etc) it can be quite cheap. We found him dress shirts for $17-$30 and jeans (dark wash so can be dressed up) for $20-40. For classic styles that will last for years, works for us!

End of season clearance racks are great. I also hit up Ross for basics. I’ve scored really nice sweaters for under $10 and back when I had formalish company affairs, nice dresses for under $20. And it’s a great place to get athletic wear on the cheap. Granted, not as cheap as thrift stores.

I’d look at nice button up shirts (JCP or Kohls xmas sales or Ross), a couple good khakis, maybe a dk brown sports blazer and you are good to go.

Congrats on the weight loss! I think starting with a list of basics is a good idea. I have been pleasantly surprised by the woman’s section at TJ Maxx (not sure on men’s but worth a look) and ran into a guy who had a great pair of Timberland boots from Marshalls. I am sure it depends on the day and their inventory…so shop the sales at the end of Dec and in Jan at your fav. retailers too. While building your classics, throw in some fun belts and socks as they can make your whole outfit more fun. Then work your new classic wardrobe!

Going through the comments, no one has written an in-depth assessment financially (on a financial blog, to boot), so here we go.

Having worn everything from el-cheapo dress shirts to $100 shirts, I can say this much: quality goes up with price only to a certain point. I’ve had little luck with the majority of brands sold in Macy’s/Kohl’s/JCPenney/Sears as most of those shirts start falling apart within 25-30 wearings. Since they retail between $25-50, we’re talking at best $1/wearing. Even if you buy them on sale or at a discounter (Marshall’s/TJ Maxx/etc) you’re often paying about $15+ apiece, meaning at best you’re looking at $0.50 per wearing for the lowest level of quality.

Your best bet is the next echelon of companies. Other commenters listed many great places to research what brands to buy because they last longer. Now, the fun part is realizing you can get clothes from most of these companies on sale or clearance and pay $15-40 per shirt. These shirts typically last me about 3-4 years, which is 75-100 wearings. Now we’re talking about $0.15 to $0.40 per wearing for nicer clothes.

Once you get upwards of $100 suggested retail for dress shirts you’re paying for nicer stuff and not longer-lasting stuff. I refer to this as the “Polo line,” with RL Polo being the most expensive easily found shirts that adhere to the “pay more and get a better long-term deal” theory.

Most of these brands are great for polos as well, though I’ve had considerable luck with some less expensive polos as well. Unless you really want a logo on your shirt, you may want to pick up a few super cheap polos on clearance and see if they last as long as nicer ones.

Jeans – I stick with Levi’s and I like the new Lee Premium jeans. Most other jeans I’ve bought seem to look horrible, fall apart easily, or cost more.

For pants I stick with what fits me and is 100% cotton (for wool pants – see suits below). I’ve found no difference between the cheapest of cotton pants and ones that cost $100 except for how nice the fabric is.

For suits, stick to second-hand shops. I have scored a $40 suit and a $55 suit which look like they were tailored for me, buying both second-hand. A well-made suit will last for decades, whereas most other clothing wears out much faster.

T-shirts I buy massively discounted. Under $5 is fantastic. They’re all going to fall apart quite easily. I’ve had one – just one! – last a ridiculously long time, and I have no idea how it’s survived over a decade of constant wearing.

Sweaters are the one thing I often pay a little more for because they last so long. I have no problem spending $40-50 on a sweater. Often times the nicer ones last 10x longer than the $10 ones, while looking nicer and fitting better.

Fit is the most important part before you buy anything. If it fits like crap it’s no good, no matter how cheap it was. Most guys seem to make the mistake of going for looser clothing. Looser does not equal comfort, it just makes you look fatter. A quick guide….

Dress shirts should be slightly looser than snug. Sleeves should go past your wrist but not to the base of your thumb. Polos should be slightly looser than snug as well. Cotton will stretch and mold itself to your body the first few times you wear it.

Pants should be tight enough, yet not restrictive, at the waist. They should be snug, not tight, around the thighs. Again, cotton will stretch.

Sweaters should fit comfortably over whatever you’re going to wear them over. If you’re buying crew necks, try them on with a t-shirt. If you’re buying v-necks, try them on wearing a dress shirt. They should drape nicely over your under layer without hanging loosely or being tight.

Suit jackets should feel snug. Always. Button it up (never button the bottom button unless it’s a one-button jacket) and see how it feels. If it’s too small the lapels in the chest area will bend and pull if your arms are by your side. If it’s just right the lapels in the chest area will bend and pull a little when you move your arms. If it’s loose the chest area will feel loose no matter what you do for movement.

What colors should you wear? Check out the color guide on Ask Andy About Clothes: http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/

I suggest going big on neutral pants (khaki and gray) with maybe a navy and/or olive pair thrown in. Stay away from neutral colored shirts, unless it’s a gray sweater or two. The mistakes a lot of men make is either wearing a lot of black or wearing too many bold colors.

Now that you have an idea as to what fits you, find out what those companies and stores which sell them do for sales. I know exactly when I should be buying clothes from the brands I know fit me. I never buy sheerly for need in a time of desperation, I buy when the opportunity strikes during the year I know I’m going to have a need. Once you get this down you’re golden.

Last bit of advice: own two weeks of essentials. I always have about 10 dress shirts, 3-5 sport shirts (dress shirts I wouldn’t wear to work), 5-7 pairs dress pants, 3-5 pairs of jeans, at least a dozen t-shirts, 3-5 pairs of cords, and a few sweaters for each style I wear including cotton vs wool. Just enough that I wear everything every single year and so I always have something respectable (that matches) to wear while I’m doing laundry. I say two weeks because you will have times you can’t get laundry done every week, yet it’s not so overwhelming that I have no idea what to wear.

Building a wardrobe – start with the basic ‘staples’. Start with a good-fitting pair of jeans and some T-shirts for ‘casual’, then toss in a pair of khakis and a polo shirt for ‘dressy casual’ and a pair of black slacks/trousers and a button-down shirt with a collar that you can add a tie to for a ‘dressier’ look (toss in a jacket if that might be needed, but just one in a neutral, solid color that can be worn with just about everything else you have). Add other color shirts to go w/ the pants, keep belts and shoes simple (maybe a little stylish if you’re a shoe person). The key is ‘multi-tasking’ the clothing pieces – make sure each piece can be worn w/ multiple other pieces – like T-shirts can be worn with jeans and khakis, polos the same, the button-down can be work with all three – jeans, khakis, slacks. Build a little with the bottoms so they don’t wear out too fast, but build a little broader with the tops to keep them rotating. =)

I usually don’t cheat like this, but I’m not going to make time to read 182 comments! Brooks Brothers will be having a sale in January. You’ll get quality classics that will give you your money’s worth, especially if you buy on sale. You could also get stuff that would make you look like a preppy jerk, but if you’re selective, you can outfit yourself very nicely with simple classic pieces that will absolutely stand the test of time.

J.D.-
Since you live in Portland, I would recommend Well Suited for your dress clothes. They sell used dress clothes, especially suits, for cheap. I got a Brooks Brothers suit for $50, in great condition. They also have a tailor who is great, for $30, the suit was fitted perfectly for me. Also, I lost 20 lbs and probably a lot more in fat and had the tailor at Well Suited redo pants I had that were in great shape but didn’t fit anymore. I spent $9 per pair of pants, instead of spending $70 again to get a new pair.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/well-suited-portland

Otherwise you just need to start shopping at the end of the season sales. I have also had luck at Banana Republic and often get their clothes for 75% off at the end of the season. Buy a few quality items you need now, and then start shopping and waiting for sales on the items you can wait for. There are many websites that sell quality shoes and clothes if you know your size. Spend a month to see what coupons they email out, and then you will have a good idea of when to buy.

I admit it. I am a clothes horse. I am not as bad as I used to be, but I still like to buy name-brand, fashionable clothing. With anything else in personal finance, you just need to make sure you are buying within your budget and buying something that you know you will love and wear.

I end up doing most of my shopping online via online designer clothing discount stores. These include (in order of preference): gilt.com, ideeli.com, and hautelook.com. I also have found screaming deals on niemanmarcus.com.

I do find that there is a correlation between quality and price. I can’t be bothered with clothes from places like 15dollarstore.com that, while it has very cheap prices, the clothes look and feel cheap, too.

I have no real advice, and at 180+ comments, I think the question must have been answered!

I wanted to chime in with a huge thumbs-up for lightweight wool clothing, especially for travel. I spent 3 weeks in Ireland & Scotland last year, and a week in New Zealand this year; both trips were in the not-so-warm times of year. A thin wool shirt as a base layer made a HUGE difference in my comfort.

I’ve started a small collection of items purchased on sale: I now have couple of Ice Breaker items, a couple of Smart Wool, and one purchased in NZ, Glowing Sky Merino. All totally worth its weight in gold.

I agree with Ali: make a list!~ And my favorite “off-price” place to shop is Nordstrom Rack.

Buy clothes that fit you now. Feeling good about how you look and present yourself is PRICELESS!

The sort of wardrobe you’re talking about is, in general, going to take more sustained effort going forward. Since you can’t rely now on trips to Costco to fill your needs, you’ll probably want to shop frequently in more stores and buy in small bites. A nice shirt this week, a pair of jeans on sale next week, and so on. This also keeps you from ending up with “make do” pieces, as Elizabeth mentioned.

Make a list of the pieces you’d like to have. Keep it in your wallet or on your computer and refer to it often. Then look for those pieces *everywhere*. We shop catalogs, on-line, discount stores, TJMaxx/Marshall, thrift stores, and department stores. After a couple of visits/buys you’ll get a feel for which store is best depending on what you need.

Some things are worth spending more money on, yeah, but it depends on your lifestyle. We live up north so we collect great sweaters. We buy good quality coats (on sale). We don’t skimp on boots, but have 1 great pair each, not 3 mediocre pair. Summer clothes come from Target since we don’t wear them long!

Keep your day-to-day climate and activities in mind when you make your list, then go have fun. Bargain hunting is half the pleasure of it for me. And the REI Outlet on-line is one of my favorites. :^)

Also fun – see if your library has “Chic Simple: Dress Smart Men” by Kim Johnson Gross. Lots of photos and good tips for building a wardrobe from the ground up.

Re your question down-thread: How do I know what looks good on me?

You have 2 choices: develop your own “eye” for this, or put yourself in the hands of someone who can help you. I’d recommend the first, because face it, you’ll have to deal with dressing your self the rest of your life, so you might as well learn how to do it right!

Until your “eye” develops, you probably should avoid discount stores and cheaper mall stores like TJMAXX or the Gap–because to use these you need to be able to tell the good stuff from the bad stuff. If you’re clueless, you’ll end up buying too many things that don’t suit you and/or are weird colors or styles. Instead, it will save you money in the long run to (for a while anyway) only shop at certain higher-end retailers where the choices have already been made for you so you can’t really get into trouble. I’d recommend J Crew—as others have mentioned–it is a great choice because virtually anything you buy from there will look very good both style and color-wise, and the prices and quality are reasonable.

To figure out which colors are good on you–this is really only important for shirts/sweaters, ie stuff you’d wear near your face. To determine if a color will work, just hold the clothing up under your chin and look in a mirror. Does your skin look good? Does it make your eyes “stand out”? Do you look healthy? If it makes you look pale or worse, if it makes your skin look yellow-y, skip it. You can also do this with clothes you already own–just put them on and check yourself out in the mirror. And then take note of which colors are good for you and which you should avoid.

Another short cut: Start to determine your ideal overall style by first deciding who to “copy”. Do you have a male friend who you think has great style? Or check out guys pictured in clothing catalogues, or even celebrities. Is your style goal–ie how you want to look & come across—more like David Arquette (quirky) or Gabriel Audry (classic) or Brad Pitt (underplayed classic) or ??? Then, find lots of pictures of that person on the web and pay attention to what they are wearing in each one. Take note of the items of clothing, the fit, the colors–and what they wear for casual vs work vs more formal occasions. Then, deliberately copy that look!

Use eBay alerts. You can set up an alert for “Icebreaker merino t-shirt” with the right size, and they’ll tell you if it comes up.

If you have other favorite items but now you need a smaller size, set up alerts for those too. I’ve gotten a lot of things this way, particularly brand-new bras, which cost a fortune full-price. Of course, you need to know your size.

I haven’t read every single one of the comments, so someone else may have mentioned this, but one of the most budget-friendly things I do is … sew. Granted, I don’t whip up a new dress shirt for my husband every time he needs one, and I have yet to make myself a pair of jeans (though I do have a pattern and some denim for when I get up the nerve to try), but I can and do pull out my sewing equipment when I need/want a new blouse, skirt, etc.

Now, that being said, I do have an ace in the hole that a lot of people don’t – my city has a couple of very good fabric stores (not just JoAnn’s) that do have great sales if you know when to go. And, I’ve inherited a ton of quality fabric and notions from family members, so a lot of my supplies have been free.

I’m not recommending that you turn into an expert tailor and never buy ready-made again, but garment sewing is becoming a bit of a lost art, and that’s really a shame, for a lot of reasons. Not least of which is that it can be a very economical way to supplement your wardrobe.