As a college student, money is often tight. We think that we have to buy cheap clothes because it’s all we can afford, so when I stood at the checkout line of Forever 21 purchasing my third pair of $3.90 black leggings last fall, something finally clicked in my head.

The first pair had ripped at the seam, and the second pair got so stretched out after a couple wears that it didn’t fit. Why was I buying them again? On the one hand, they were cheap. But if I’d already bought three pairs in a little over a month, how many more would I have to buy to get me through the fall and winter? I decided that I needed to change my shopping habits and walk away from the scary 95 percent cotton, 5 percent spandex blend in my hands.

No matter what budget you are working with, you shouldn’t have to choose quantity over quality. Affording high-quality clothing is all about buying less and re-evaluating reasons for buying.

If you have $50, you could buy five inexpensive shirts at fast-fashion stores like Forever 21 or H&M, or you could buy one nicer shirt at your favorite higher-end store. The obvious dilemma with this scenario is that you then only have one shirt, but this works out in the end. When your next shopping trip comes around, you can buy one or two more high-quality pieces and slowly build your wardrobe. Chances are, the five cheap shirts would have already shown wear or lost your interest, and you would have had to start all over.

When we spend more money on clothes, we typically think about them more before purchasing. If we are about to drop all of our money on one nice piece, we will naturally consider it first and debate whether we need it, like it or love it. If we need it and we love it, it turns out to be a good buy. This is how we should make all of our clothing purchases.

Although higher-quality items are crucial to having a wardrobe that will last, it is unrealistic to think that you can only buy expensive clothes. Think about cost per wear when deciding what to splurge on. If you will wear a pair of boots almost every day during the winter, make sure you love them. If you’re only going to wear those funky pants once or twice before everyone’s already seen you in them, don’t invest. In general, spend more money on staples that you wear a lot — maybe jeans, leggings, sweaters, shoes and coats.

Buy less expensive party clothes and trendy items that might look dated in a year or two.

Even if, once in a while, you decide to impulsively buy something of lower quality, make sure you still love it. In other words, don’t buy something because it is cheap or on sale — buy it because you know it will fit into your wardrobe and make you happy when you wear it.

Buy what you love, and you will have a wardrobe that will stand the test of time.

Jackie Homan is a sophomore magazine journalism major. You can email her at jahoman@syr.edu or follow her @jackie_homan on Twitter.

Published on October 19, 2015 at 10:08 pm