Welcome to Outfit Repeater

The best sustainable fashion lessons I ever learned came from being an outfit repeater *and* an outfit rememberer.

I grew up during the Forever 21 era fast fashion boom and the rise of Instagram #OOTD posts. Outfit repeating was always taboo, but picture evidence of said outfit repeating was the ultimate scandal. It has taken me years of conscious effort to get over that fast fashion “I always need to be seen wearing something new” mindset, and there is still work to be done.

The iconic “Lizzie McGuire, YOU are an outfit repeater!” quote has lived on repeat in my head for as long as I can remember, but I only recently found out that Lizzie McGuire Movie moment actually continues:

I’m an outfit repeater and an outfit rememberer (and let me assure you, it’s not pathetic)

I have been documenting what I wear every single day in a spreadsheet since January 1, 2023. Some of my favorite classes in college and graduate school were entirely based in Microsoft Excel, but the generic business or operations problems didn’t always hold my attention. Making a closet spreadsheet was the perfect blend of my love of fashion and my analytical mindset.

I LIVE for the data and love putting together recaps with what I bought, wore, and learned each month or quarter. I even did a big 2023 recap last year to celebrate one year of outfit tracking.

Being an outfit rememberer has empowered me to be a better outfit repeater, and tracking what I wear has become a core part of my sustainable fashion journey.

Confessions of an outfit rememberer

Here are some of the things I’ve learned from documenting my outfits, purchases, and purges:

👟 how many items of clothing I currently have in my closet (296)

✅ the percentage of clothes I own that have actually been worn (87%)

🆕 whether I tend to buy clothes new or secondhand (43% new, 57% used)

🌈 what colors I wear most often (black, blue, and white)

🥇 the most worn items in my closet (a pair of genusee sunnies & platform old skool vans)

💰 how many times an item in my closet has been worn on average (13 times)

and so so much more.

I have even been able to reduce my consumption habits just by tracking my purchases: in 2023 I added, on average, 17 items of clothing to my closet PER MONTH. In 2024 it decreased to just 7 items per month (which is still way too many, but we’ll save that for another day).

What to expect from Outfit Repeater

Outfit Repeater is the official destination for my musings on all things closet audits, outfit tracking, and data-informed slow fashion. Stick around for weekly pieces diving into my closet spreadsheet, analyzing my consumption habits, and picking apart the idea that sustainable fashion is only for the wealthy.

xoxo Megan