How long should clothing last? When should garments be retired from wear? What should our chief concern be when we are purchasing clothing? Price? Style? Should we perform a cost benefit analysis whereby we try to determine what the price per wear is going to be? What it should be?
I think the answers to these normative questions are not universal. Rather, the individual has their own sort of price sensitivity, traditions and aesthetics they take into account about their clothing choices that makes any sort of large-scale search for a catholic answer nearly impossible. That said, I think there are probably some answers that many believe to some degree, but I’m not sure what they are or to the extent some prefer. For instance, I think it is perfectly acceptable to retire a pair of socks when they become worn and develop a single hole in the heel or toe. Conversely, some may find my throwing away of such a sock (and its mate!) to be quite wasteful when it is, to their mind, only mildly damaged and able to be further worn.
I mention these questions to highlight the fact that there are no definite answers. This is a matter of personal choice. Even then, we occasionally change our long held answers when the facts change, such as when we hold on to something we ordinarily wouldn’t due to sentiment or some other significance. I didn’t hold on to my Bills Khakis M2 Poplin shorts because I had some sentiment about them. I held on to them because, so far as I can tell, these are the best fitting and longest lasting shorts I’ve ever owned.
It behooves me to point out that Bills Khakis corporate headquarters is located here in Georgia. More importantly, their garments are made here in the US, perhaps one of the last companies to do so. You get to look good while feeling good by putting some money in an American working guy or gal’s hand. How can you not like that?
These shorts were purchased in April 2010 from Sierra Trading Post. I paid $33.00 apiece plus shipping to get them here (NB: This was a great price that was extended to me by the use of a coupon code and special day deal. I imagine the MSRP on these to be significantly more than what I paid, but in any case, I believe they are easily worth double what I paid for them). I purchased two pair with the idea that I would attempt to wear one pair out before even trying on the other pair. Little did I know it would take two years to do so, but that’s what it took. I didn’t keep a record of how many days I actually wore the shorts, nor did I record how many times I washed them. What I do know is that from approximately April to September, the weather is suitable for shorts in Atlanta, and so I would have worn them every day of every week between April and September. This is 180 days. In that time, I would have washed the shorts at least once a week, sometimes twice if heavily soiled. So, let’s say 30 washes for the shorts, though not always following the instructions provided for proper launder care. Double these figures and we now have 360 days and 60 washes before I noticed the failure of the pocket.
I should also point out that I wore these while working a day job in a hardware store, which is an environment which would dish out the very worst to clothing every day, all day.
What determines the durability of clothing is how it is designed, its purpose and what it is made from. Poplin isn’t known as a very durable fabric (instead, it’s known as a breathable one), but I think getting a full calendar year out of these shorts speaks for itself. Try a pair of Bills Khakis. You won’t be disappointed!