What is cost-per-wear?
Have you ever been shopping and found a piece that you just swoon over? You think “I must have this!” so you purchase it, wear it once or maybe a handful of times, and then realize it’s not everything you thought it would be?
Or maybe you realize it really doesn’t make sense for your lifestyle, or you didn’t realize that it required special cleaning (maybe it’s dry-clean or handwash only), and you just feel the frustration of having purchased something that you now can’t return and every time you see it in your wardrobe you get annoyed all over again.
Just me? Anybody else? If that has never happened to you, please tell us your secrets for never regretting a purchase!
If, however, that has happened to you then I’m going to share with you a little trick I use to help me make better, more informed decisions about whether I should purchase something and how beneficial it will actually be for my wardrobe.
I’m talking about factoring in your cost-per-wear (or CPW) before you purchase something. Factoring in your CPW before purchasing an item can help you make better purchasing decisions because it helps take the emotion out of the equation which helps keep your wardrobe (and your finances!) on track.
So, what exactly is CPW?
Simply put, CPW is determining approximately how many times you think you will wear any given item and then dividing the cost of the item by the number of times worn. This is especially helpful to do when the item you’re thinking about purchasing is on the pricier side.
For example, let’s say you’re considering purchasing a pair of shoes for your job that you believe you will wear several times a week or at least ten times a month. If the shoes cost $200 and you wear them ten times that first month then your CPW would be $20. If you wear those shoes ten times every month for a year, then your CPW would be approximately $1.67!
The more you wear an item the lower its CPW will be and a low CPW is ideal if your goal is to have a wardrobe full of versatile, functional, practical items. A low CPW means that you are repeatedly wearing the items in your wardrobe (which hopefully means that they are items that you genuinely want to wear and enjoy wearing!). Personally, I love the ‘thrill’ of seeing how low I can get my CPW on any particular item! To me, it means that I’m consistently reaching for that item and really getting my money’s worth out of it.
In addition to the actual purchase price of an item, part of determining your CPW is realistically thinking about the care and upkeep of an item. If you purchase something that has to be specially cleaned (maybe it’s a leather jacket that you have to send out for cleaning), then you need to include the cost of cleaning when determining your CPW.
Let’s say you purchased a leather jacket five years ago for $300 and you get it cleaned once a year. If this is your go-to jacket and you wear it almost daily, then even with the cost of cleaning added to the purchase price, you will still likely have a low CPW, making it a great investment.
One other thing to keep in mind when determining the CPW of an item is to try to make sure you’re investing in items that are good quality and will actually last. You want to ensure you’re purchasing something that is well-made and will last through years of multiple wears and washes. You can’t achieve a low CPW if the item doesn’t last longer than a few weeks or months!
Obviously, not every single purchase you make will go through the CPW analysis. I’m specifically thinking about wedding dresses, but I’m sure there are other purchases that just wouldn’t make sense to analyze through the lens of having a low CPW.
Sometimes there are pieces that are just so special to you that it doesn’t matter what your CPW is — you simply derive joy from owning them. (I confess that my vintage Dior wool coat is one of those pieces for me — where I live, I might get a chance to wear that coat a few times a year, but I don’t care. I will always have it, and it is one of my favorite items in my wardrobe!).
Practically speaking, taking the time to factor in your CPW is especially helpful for those items that you might be on the fence about purchasing, the items that you might want to impulse purchase because of how you feel in them, or those items that you think you’ll wear ‘someday’ when the right scenario comes along (hands up if you’ve ever done that — yes, me too!).
As I’ve already said, factoring in your CPW on those types of items can really help take the emotion out of it and help you objectively determine whether that is an item that truly makes sense to have in your wardrobe (and whether it makes sense for your finances!).
So, to recap, CPW involves determining approximately how many times you think you will wear any given item and then dividing the cost of the item by the number of times worn, keeping in mind any additional expenses that may be incurred after purchase, and ensuring that you’re investing in good, high-quality items that will last for years and years.
The idea of a well-rounded wardrobe is to fill it with pieces that are versatile, functional, and practical — pieces that you are consistently reaching for and wearing on repeat — so ideally, you want the majority of your wardrobe to be pieces that have a low (or at least, a moderately low) CPW.
What about you? What are those pieces in your wardrobe that you’ve worn so much that you know your CPW must be just pennies? Or what about those pieces (like my vintage coat) that are so special that you don’t even think about your CPW? I’d love to know!
As always, you can reach out anytime by emailing me directly at hello@awellroundedwardrobe.com or by submitting a comment through my contact page here.
Amber
Hi, I’m Amber
Creator and founder of A Well-Rounded Wardrobe. Whether you’re looking to start building a wardrobe from scratch or simply want to fine tune what you already have, you’re in the right place. Start exploring.