The joy of old clothing

Now that winter temps have actually arrived here in Minnesota (-19 this morning), I’ve started wearing the warm cap you see in the photo above. A photo that was taken over 15 years ago.

I genuinely enjoy wearing my old clothes. The long sleeved t-shirt I wore on Kilimanjaro in 2010. Warm socks that have held together for years. A leather jacket that has been to the shop for repairs. And soft flannel shirts that still bring warmth and comfort despite being purchased in some previous decade of brands no longer made. The Carhartt coat I am wearing in the photo above still hangs in my garage as my work coat.

Old clothes make me happy not just because they are physically comfortable, but because they often stir good memories.

The vest and shirt I am wearing in the photo above, taken on the Inca Trail’s Dead Woman’s Pass in 2006, still hang in my closet. (I just wore the shirt last week.) I think of the challenge of that hike each time I button it up.

Sadly, due to physical aging, I have no pants from days gone by due to an increased waist size. How did I go from 34 waist, 36 inseam to 38 waist, 34 inseam? My favorite shoes that I wear daily, Merrell Jungle Mocs, have been the same style and color for heaven knows how many years, but they get replaced due to wear and tear now and then.

As a wannabe minimalist living with limited closet space, I make a real effort to only keep what I need. I have made it a habit that when I buy a new shirt, I donate an old shirt to a charity. When nearly every shirt one owns is loved, it makes buying new ones quite difficult.

One clothing category I am struggling with weeding out is my old dress clothes - the sports jackets, dress trousers, and neckties I wore over the 43 years of my professional career. The odds of my needing dress clothes for work in the future are miniscule and I only get invited to swanky dinners and dances once every other decade. I do still have a 20+ year old black suit that I wear to funerals and weddings. Maybe it is enough and I can free up a few more coat hangers by ditching some jackets.

I wonder if we all might be better at living within our means if we knew that when we purchased any new thing, an old one had to go. May all my donations find loving owners.