New Financial Year, New Wardrobe Guide

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Hello and welcome for Nothing to Wear, the podcast that solves fashion problems and levels up your wardrobe.

I'm Lee Camberllan.

Every week I chat to an expert who helps us work out how to get more out of the clothes you already own and tells us what is and isn't worth adding to our wardrobes. Now, before I get started, stick around to the very end, because there's an extra segment on this episode, The Wonder for Me of Freedman and I don't just say that because she's my boss, is coming to sit down with me and we're going to talk about pre Loved. It's the new financial year.

It's a new year.

So we're going to talk about saving money, doing a wardrobe audit, and then her very interesting four by four methods got nothing to do with cars, So let's jump into it.

Kim, welcome back. I'm so excited. This is your third time?

Is that a fourth? Yes, it's great that I'm using count I love it exactly.

That means we love you.

The returning guests, well, I've got various questions, but one that I want to ask you is do you have a fashion security blanket? And if so, what is it?

That's a great question. My trench coat is a really well loved piece. Actually put it from ced A. Just go it to toffee color cotton. I get compliments on it every time.

I wear You say toffee, Why I say toffee? Like not ten not brown?

Because I love food as well, so I can associate any colors with food. I love it even more. But it's this beautiful toffee color. It's really rich color and it goes with everything. I have to actually stop myself wearing it.

So you can wear your other things exactly because.

I want to wear more of my clothes.

It's security blank.

Yeah, it is a bit security blank it, especially at the moment it's chilly and you can wrap yourself up because that cotton actually does help the wind not get to you.

Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of it's not waterproof or wind proof, but it really does that kind much better. Tighten fine fiber, yes, exactly, really tightly woven, so it's actually a bit protective. Yeah.

And then light waiting it where.

Yeah, I'm just living in it.

I know it's winter, but god, I love it even for the summer. I love like waiting it where too.

So, Kim, you've been in the industry for over twenty years, which is bizarre. You must have been like eleven when you start. Of course you worked as a designer, so anyone that's listened to the show before will know that.

And then for brands like H and M. A source yeah, I was gonna say age and m and I didn't know that I'm as.

Yeah, yeah, right at the beginning when A soos was literally much more about Paris Hilton. Yes, yeah, just literally replicate like I've.

Seen screen, yeah, magazine.

Yeah, it's crazy thinking about then and how much it's evolved.

But then you also work with real people, so well, you have all shapes and sizes absolutely, So what are some of the common things women that you've worked with over the decades and all walks of live share when it comes to clothes and style.

Oh gosh, so many things that we all share. It's funny, there's this kind of like, so many things that we all share, and then when we get deeper, we're very different in lots of different ways, but there is a big, big area that we all share. A lot of it is not knowing how to shop, so being able to

Yeah, oh god, I'm fabulous that it shopping wrong. Then that's where you can't get dressed.

Exactly because you haven't got the outfit. So the whole nothing to wear concept is, you know, you look at your wardrobe and it's stacked, and it's all packed, but we've got nothing to wear is often because we haven't found the outfit yet. And that's so much of what brings me do. It really does light me up when I'm in wardrobes. In fact, I had two of them yesterday. I had a female client and male client and they're like, I've got loads of stuff, but I can't find the outfits.

No?

Yeah, because a lot of us will get say a dress, and then we'll put it with the black blades and black shoe and it's like, I've done that. Look, I'm really bored of it, I know. And then I'm like, how have you put it? With this blazer. They work perfect. Oh, yes, because a lot of the time what we do when we purchase we put things in boxes in our heads. You know that lighter blazer is a wedding blazer and

Because you said it's how to shop, so is how do we fix that problem at the shopping stage so it doesn't happen in the wardrobe stage.

That is a lot of it is fixed by my four by four formula.

Oh, we're going to talk about that later.

Oh okay, cool, Yes, I want to talk about that later because I'm terrible at maths and you love numbers, but you're going to teach me something. It's a new financial year, which I love. The first of julight, Oh, you know, the start of the new financial year. Because I've had quite.

A crappy start to the year.

Not fashion related, but I'm just gonna I'm like, you know what happier year, fresh energy, fresh, vibe, fresh everything, yep. And you know, of course it's the financial year, so we've all got money on our minds. What's the biggest money mistake you see people making when it comes to fashion?

So many well we talk about how we're going to fix them.

So three main ones. First one is buying on sale, so many can't say, oh, I bought this, but I've never worn it. Bought this, but it's you know, I haven't worn it, and it's all got tickets, and it's all got cel tickets being Red Mark, you know, stamps all over them.

In all the rest of it sale extra discount y, yeah.

Which sounds really enticing, but is not how I want you to shop. You know, if you really love that product and you've watched it go down.

Down, you would have got it full price.

Exactly, jump on it. But nothing is a bargain if you don't wear it. And you know, having like three or four pieces that oh I only cost thirty bucks or fifteen or forty or whatever your budget, it all adds up, but you never wear it, so it takes up space, takes up brain space, makes us feel guilty, takes up guilt exactly. And I don't want people to feel good. I want to actually have less that they wear more. So the whole buying on sale thing is

You don't shop the sales.

I only shop it if I really love it.

So maybe you were already across. Yeah, if you love that brand and you check out their sale, you don't just find a random website that s having a great sale with random stuff you've never seen.

Okay, No, So to Cuba, I've got beautiful pleated cream nitpants. I was looking for something like that. I happened to be shopping for myself, which is quite rare, and they're not on sale, and I was like, oh, I'm definitely going to buy them.

Okay because there, Yes, that star was already something you were seeing.

Absolutely. The other thing, yeah.

I need more.

Here is the buying three for two. You know, those whole spend and.

Save only good for andy.

It's just capitalism, yes, exactly. Yeah, it's just capitalism. They're trying to make you buy more. So we often think shopping is a numbers game, or if I buy three, that's going to make me happy, then if I had two.

Yeah, Also that I fall into this chap all the time of free shipping, I'm like, I've got to find something else free, but I don't really.

Need the other thing.

Yeah, I should have just paid the ten dollars, yeah, rather than trying to round up to forty.

Yeah, you know exactly.

So it is really keeping your eye on how desirable the item is that you want and buying one and buying right, rather than buying plenty and buying so.

One of the mistakes you see is people buy more than they need, more than they need. Yeah, Kim, stop following me everywhere.

And then the third thing is thinking we need five new tops when really we need one new top that we can wear five ways. Because you know, I could talk about shopping being a numbers game. The number I want you to care about is how many ways you can wear something? Yeah, yes, exactly. Rather than having all those five new items in your wardrobe, you're probably only gonna wear two. If you've got one that's really versatile, it flatters, you feel really good in it, layers under things,

I think it feels like we will feel better when we've got options, but then we oftentimes feel overwhelmed and it makes it harder exactly exactly.

And that's actually something I was talking about the other day. My clients feel really underwhelmed with their wardrobe, overwhelmed by the shops. Yeah, and it's like I feel, and that's when we feel start.

That's such a good way to look at it.

Yeah, me too.

So I just don't know what I do. I just I think.

Exactly because we haven't found the outfit yet that exists in our wardrobe. Because this is the thing, it was.

A desire because oftentimes I'm just shopping because I'm bored or said or getting my period or I'm rewarding my.

Yes, yes, but that's when you need to buy lipstick or something like that. Yeah, yes, facial something else will that will have that return on investment, because that's what I want people to think about when they're purchasing. What's my return on investment? Every textile you bring into your house, think about the return and investment that cost per weear?

Yeah, so, and the financially, it has just happened. We've ordered it all of our maybe the tax department has ordered it us. So we've done our finances. So let's order our wardrobe.

What do we do?

We go through our wardrobe and we work out, you know, what we already do have, and we work out gaps. And for me, this is something I really need to do because I've spoken to you before. I love to buy duplicates because I love a genre shirt and I accidentally buy another one.

I don't need another one. So we're going to do an audit of our wardrobe and then we're going to decide what to do with those things later. But what's our process when doing that audit? I love saying audit, yes, because it's.

The end fin that sounds very freshal So what we want to do. So basically, when we're looking at our wardrobe and we're deciding what we're wearing, a really good way to do it is to actually look at the things that you're wearing the most, So they're the things that you're washing the most, right, and you bring them out. Good way to do it, yeah, because you know that.

You're yeh, yeah, you know you love it.

Yeah, And so we're and also you know what part of the reason I do insta, as I've talked before, is because I want to just be able to look back at really what I'm wearing. Sometimes what you think you're wearing, what you really wear a slightly different, but you put them all out in your bed and then what you do because when we put things in our wardrobe and they're all side hanging, it's kind of hard. We think we know what's in there, and we think

Yeah, because it's in your head.

Exactly because we know the outfit is familiar, and we go back to what we know. You know, we've got that kind of photographic memory. I want you to wear that top with that bottom. So I want you to wear like outfit top number.

Three, wear them at least just try it on and.

See how the experiment.

Yeah, so you doing dress up absolutely the audit absolutely kind of order because that text apartment, and that's my kind of order.

It makes the text department a little bit more interesting. But what I find fascinating, and what I didn't realize at the time, is that we buy things and put them in our wardrobes, right, and we expect our wardrobes to work really hard for us and to give all this stuff back to us. As you know, I've bought this, I've spent two hundred dollars on the top. Now it's time to you know, to stop reaping the fit exactly and get some return on investment. But we don't actually

Yeah that's true.

Literally take it down exactly, and you have to take down the barriers that you've put in. You know, I go back to that jacket that it's like colored. Oh yeah, that's my wedding one, and then this is my work can and whatnot, and then we start combining them.

Like these are a body yellow and like a few people have said to me to say like, oh, I can't you cold, And I'm like, well no, because I think it's a summary.

Base yes, and then yes, yeah yeah, yah, way, I'd be like yellow exactly.

Yeah, and you've put your jacket over it exactly. But how do you not just spend a little bit of time doing that. You would have put that top underneath and that pan in your summer only wardrobe, and we put barriers up, and I want to knock all those barriers down. And by pulling things out on your bed a lot of time, the outfits make themselves. Yeah, because if you've got a style, which we all have, we have all got personal style, and we've all got a

And maybe not immediately logical outfits that. Yes, that's where they're like, yes, work comes in.

That's a really good point. We always want to take away the logic.

Yeah, yeah, like the wrong shoe theory, but for your fact exactly all right, So we've done the audit. Our happy colths are having a party on the bed. Then there's the clothes who have had a lovely life maybe.

But they're not going to make the party. You're not invited. Ye, what are we doing with them?

So we are either because basically we don't want to ever throw clothes away. It's either you try and sell it, and this is in the right kind of order, so you try and sell it and make some money to recycle that money into your Extperkay.

I want to ask, can I break them down there? Okay?

So I've got things that I are in my cell pie or that could be a coach bag or an oriiton bag or could be god, I've even got some fancy of things.

But then I've got your maybe dish or it's just I've got such a mix of things. I don't know where to sell.

What or like what's valuable? Yeah, because it's so personal.

Yeah, so sometime and that's it. In you only need one buyer. It's just getting to them, is it. So it's either going to places like you know, pre loved and consignment and all those care.

Places like your designer Like I've got one designer bag. I feel so guilty about buying, but I never use it, so I'd like to read.

Yeah. Yeah, and as long as you learn a few lessons, but why you don't wear it and use it, then you've learned the lesson from it and you can set it free.

And sing with exactly exactly.

So it's either consignment or might be on you know, the specific Facebook groups that you can sell it. There's lots of different ways to to sell it. You can just sell it on marketplace, you know, best collector all different.

Places, eBay, depop exactly.

Exactly there are there are and it might just be having a little bit of research to the type of brands that seem to sell quite well and that they've got you know, maybe not many listed on that actually might go quicker for example, that's kind of quite good to look at. If you can't sell it and make money, then give it to a friend, friend gift, or you swap it with a friend.

I was going to say, I've had some friends starting to do little swaps and a little swap parties.

Or great because it gives you life to that's all we want to do, because it takes such a takes such a lot of work when I've been designing to to get a textile into the world and make it beautiful. So to me, I look, I think of the long life cycle of that garment, not just the wearing part for the person one. I'm like, what you're going to do after the next thing is you if you don't give it to a friend or swap it, then you give it to charity, donating so many in a fashion

For They're here in Bondai, but there are Instagram.

Yeah yeah, yeah, last week actually oh did you then?

Love?

Tell you what I got? But it's all for charity. It helps children.

Yeah, I needed to drop off to the match.

We'll go to day and I'll buy your things and give them money to charity, but they really give vinis your.

Exactly and you can't take dirty things to them. They're not going to accept it. So all of that goes to rags. Anything it's really dirty, and I.

Think kids, daycare clothes and like stuff.

That's all that. Wash your car with it, clean the house, clean kitchen, you know, use that wash it, chuck it in with a wash and then and then keep using it. Because they're textiles, they would just want to be reused and used. So if we think.

About it, really trying to avoid landfillm absolutely because.

Someone else can get joy from it, and if they can't, it goes to rags.

Okay, I love that. All right, I've kept everyone waiting long enough. We need to talk about you. Four by four.

It sounds like a big truck that would fit my wardrobe dinner? Is that what it is? What's the four x four theory methods?

The four by four is basically right. So I have obviously lots of clients that will buy four new pieces and I'm like, cool, have you you know go around their house when.

Need say that, like in the one like season day.

Totally depends on the clients. Some people might buy four pieces in a month, okay, some people might buy four over the season. Totally depends on shopping habits, budget, all those things they've got, four they've got. If they've got four recent things, a lot of time, I'm like, okay, cool, because so have you worn them together? Like oh no, And I'm like, well have you tried one? Oh no, I just bought them randomly separately, and I can never

This is the process we go through before we purchase.

At the time of the purpose.

It has to like go through this four by four before it's allowed.

To be out.

Absolutely absolutely, it's very hard. It's not okay, it's not I've had my eye on this bomber. Let's pretend how do I fall by four it in my head?

So you make sure that the pant you want to buy next, yeah, is going.

To go with it, or the skirt or the dress. Okay, so it can be a dress and bought the bomber.

Now I see a skirt and I'm like, hang on, bombers new will skirt get along with bomber exactly?

And are they going to be friends?

That's so clever because even if it's beyond the four, you should think of your recent purchases and will at work, will at work, will at.

Work exactly, because I want every four pieces you buy, say's two tops and two bottoms to cross pollin eate. Okay, so you've got the four outfits going across, and then what happens is you do those outfits and then you look at them back with what you've bought last year, yeah, ten years ago.

And it kind of inspires the process.

Absolutely because you're always thinking about the outfit, not the item. And this is the thing. This, while I go back to the shopping, isn't numbers game. It's the numbers game, is also about the outfits you're creating, not the items you're purchasing. Because again, the whole numbers game, the capitalism part of you know, I'm going to go and buy ten items and I know that will make me happy. It doesn't It doesn't so really thinking about the outcome of the outfit.

Okay, Okay, so said skirt, I've just said, oh, yes, it goes with barmer, and it goes with that, and then I go, oh that top, So then I go oh that top, Yes, that goes with skirt, which also goes with bomber, and then it's kind of exactly.

And from that one top you can still create four outfits. So we've always got to think about, you know, because otherwise we're just buying items on their own in silo and we're never thinking really about the outfit. It's like, oh, what's the outfit? I can work with a gene or a black pant. That's not enough. So for every four items, we need four outfits. And the compound interest it's not it's not. I mean, it does take a bit of thought,

It's very expensive.

How wordre.

Okay on to bougie and budget. I mean, we've probably.

Should have done two budgets because we're talking about saving money and getting more out of your clothes. However, I've bought a bougie. Let's start with your budget though, what's your budget?

And why my budget is the assembly label coat. It's Cesadi coat. It's currently on sale from two eighty to about one nine five am.

I'm not allowed to shop the sales cam. I'm joking.

That is such a classic, so classic, you know, the one that belted lots of colors. So some colors are on sale, some aren't. And it's one hundred percent wall and that's a really good.

And that's the best thing to buy on sales. It's a staple quality.

That you're going to wear for saily.

Discounted, but it's saving you a bit of money on something you will like flog to death and I'm absolutely approved. Okay, my budget is a Target bag. I don't know if you've seen. They've been out for a little bit now. The Target swayed one hundred collection of bags. So if I first got some loafers at the start of winter, real Sway, I got the black ones. They're like wearing slippers. There's also a tan and then the bag.

I'm not getting it because it's a new financial u and I'm trying to save money and I actually need to sell some of my bags.

But before you replace them.

Correct, If I was in the market for a bag and it could go back with my fourth fife four, I would be getting. There's a few of them. Actually they've got like a big slapsy bo hoo. But this one's the premium Swayed leather bucket tote bag in khaki. Yeah, that's eighty dollars.

That's really good and I love how that's quite structured but also a bit slouchy. It's like lots of people's style.

I don't even work for them, but I'm just so impressed, Like they do the bow hoy slouchy shoulder.

Oh is that in this way too? It's that little gold class. Oh that's impressive. That's impressive.

Not for me because I'm but other people.

Other people in the market, just saying it would go really nice with your out.

You've gone today, all right, what else if you got for me? What's your boogie?

My bougie is Comla Mark because they do really really good outwear. Trenches and jackets and coats are really they're unparallel. Yeah, so they're Donato coats one one hundred.

I don't think. Oh so it's a worn Yeah, what called like a tidy coat.

Well, it's very similar to the assembly label. And the reason I like them a lot is because they're not too dressing gown ish.

You know.

Sometimes I had a short collar. They've got dressing gown fabric thingy. That's yeah sometimes and obviously you can put a nice structured belt on. It looks really cool if you're going, if you're dressing it up, etcetera. Purposing. But the Donato coat is augeous.

Because that's because we're such good people. We've got an amazing tax return and we're treating ourselves.

And again that will be really timeless, but it's interesting because that's not one hundred percent well it's woolen poly which is interesting.

Well, it depends because some of my natural synthetic blends.

We're the best.

All right, good, I'm glad you're bougie. Was bougie because my bougi is quite bousy. Okay, okay, so we're being.

A good girl. This isn't me. But someone needs to invest because we're talking about saving money and shopping on a budget, but also we're talking about purchasing things will watable.

Thing investment absolutely.

I mean I could not love Oriton anymore. In the last few years, they have just had the biggest go up. This is already sold out but coming back. But I'm just going to tell people about it so it's on their radar. It is the Mica workmanship small bowler like it's a bowler bag, which means like, but this is the small the mini. The mini is quite small. The bowler is like, like, that's that's her everyday handbag. Yes, you could fit your laptop. I would probably have a

Everything falls out. I love the black.

It's eight hundred and ninety nine dollars and already sold out. So what does that tell you? Yeah, And like we were talking before we started recording, I've got a green Oriton bag. I bought from the Origin outlet online. If you're not across the Oriton outlet online, where have you been all your life? It's online maybe five or six years ago.

And I use it a lot, Yeah, a lot.

And that's it. You want to think about the frequency? Am I going to wear this daily? Week yere, monthly?

And I bought that full price?

I didn't, so it was a good sale purpose yes, yes, yes, okay Kim?

So when are you coming over tomorrow? Okay, thank you so much for coming back. Love having you pleasure. So as I promised, the show is not over yet. I love how Kim.

Talked us through the process of auditing our wardrobe and then what we're going to do with it. So she touched on pre loved and reselling. So I've found Miya in the studio here and we're going to talk about reselling and also buying secondhand because it's very cool right now, me Friedman, Hello, Hi, I wanted to bring you onto the show and bring you back to talk about pre loved fashion because he noticed we talked about a year ago about thrifting. Have you noticed the boom of pre loved?

Yes? And it's now a flex when you ask someone. It's so funny because back in our magazine days, it used to be where's that from? And it used to be a flex if it was a label, yes, and then it was a flex if it wasn't a label, yes, but it looked like a label. And now it's a flex if it's shrifted, yeah, if it's pre loved or second man, it says not only am I sustainable and I'm helping the planet, but also I'm clever and I've put in the work. Yes, and I've got something maybe individual,

And I've got suitcases and suitcases of stuff I want to sell. Yeah, but I haven't. I can't set up a market stall. I'm too old, and it's too early in the morning, and it's too crazy.

No, I agree, So what I did is eBay contacted me and said, would you like to do a store with eBay? And I'm like, I used to do stores with abab all the time when I was showing all the time. I also shop on eBay all the time, and I will often find buy new things a lot of people don't know ye so by new things on eBay too. So now building this store, what's amazing now is that there's all this technology on eBay like AI

And that's what I was going to ask, how you decided what to culp? What's your filter for it's time to sell on eb and give it? Yeah, it's the toy that I'll be played with by someone else.

Yeah. So, like a lot of people, I sort of have clothes stored all over the house in bits of other people. I don't know it's all over that normal. It's just maybe you and me, maybe you're and me. And what I do is I will give something a two year grace period because sometimes things come back and it's like this year, I just took out all my winter coats and winter stuff and I tried it all on, and some of it. I was like, I'm going to

Oh my god, I love that. So they ended up equivalent, and that's much more efficient. The eBay thing is I have the bags in the boot my boot for months, and then the whole season will change. Like I had a bunch of winter stuff. This is how bad I am that. Then it got cold again and I was like, I'm freezing. I was at some soccer game or something and went to the back of my car opened their bags and I was like, oh, I quite like that

Yeah. And you can feel a little bit claustrophobic, like when.

You know, I feel like I'm drowning, and so I don't know what to wear because there's too much to think about.

So there's always someone who's going to want what you you don't want any more. So it's like freeing its future to find a new home, and it's.

A different kind of joy. Like I love walking into Westfield and buying something from a mass chain store.

Of course I do.

But when it's oh, it's the hunt, it's the hunt, and then it's just sometimes the human interaction.

Yeah.

I got a cardigan the other day that I brought an eBay. I wrote to her and I said, Hey, I love it so much.

I'm so glad.

We're like, yes, yeah, you.

Know, it was like a village transaction back in the day, but these two happy women. I bought it, she sold it, and the cardigan's living its best life.

Yeah, thanks for having me, love you.

Thank you so much for listening to Nothing to Air Now. Don't forget there's a newsletter that goes with this show. So there's a link in the show notes to sign up. That's where you'll see links to all the products we talk about, images some great extra info. You can also watch us on YouTube if you're not watching me right now. But this whole podcast is also visual, so watch us there, find us on Instagram. There's links in the show notes everything,