Getting Rid of Clothes That No Longer Fit

Clothes which no longer fit are often kept because they represent money spent, a former size, or an imagined occasion at which they may become useful. None of these reasons makes them easier to wear on the following morning.

You know which items are meant: the trousers from three years ago that you keep because you might lose the weight, the shirt that fits in the shoulders but not in the middle, the jacket you bought on sale that has never quite worked but cost enough that discarding it feels like an admission of something you would rather not name. They hang there, taking up space.

Take each doubtful item from the wardrobe and put it on, since the hanger is a poor witness to fit. Anything which pinches, gaps, rides up, or remains unworn because it feels wrong should be set aside. A garment kept for a particular ceremony or season has an intelligible purpose; one kept because it may somehow become agreeable after twelve unused months generally has not.

Have the well-made garment altered when a tailor can correct it economically. Sentimental clothing may be kept with letters and photographs if it genuinely carries a memory, though it should then be stored as a keepsake rather than allowed to occupy the working wardrobe under false pretences.

Sort the remainder according to condition. A charity shop may find a wearer for clean, sound clothes which can be sold as they are. Do not make a charity pay to dispose of what the household is unwilling to keep. Textile recycling varies considerably by place and material, so check what the local programme actually accepts. Repair, reuse as cloth, recycle, or discard the remainder according to its condition and the available service.

What remains should fit, be in good repair, and answer to the life presently being lived. A sparse wardrobe of serviceable clothes is easier to use and maintain than a crowded rail in which every suitable shirt must be searched for among several old disappointments.