Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Fashion Forward Wardrobes: Investment Pieces Worth Keeping in the Closet

In England, as in most of the western world, we have a very throwaway culture when it comes to fashion. Recent research in the UK by Big Yellow reveals that despite spending over $130,000 on clothes in our lifetime, two-thirds (63%) of us view our purchases as purely functional and throw away rather than something that could make us money. But the reality is, our wardrobes are an investment. If we're smart with our purchases (and store them securely), the clothes we buy today could be worth much more tomorrow.

Maison Martin Margiela for H&M
Here are some top tips to help you find and store investment pieces:
1. Seek items that are only available for a short length of time. H&M collaborations with high end designers, for example, quickly increase in value.

2. Look at pieces from the emerging breed of new designers. British examples include Olivia Rubin, Louise Gray and Holly Fulton. They will grow into fashion icons of the future and the cost of items from these type of collections will rise rapidly.

3. Classic pieces always stand the test of time but won't necessarily become sought after in the future - wacky, quirky, fun and controversial pieces are more likely to command interest (especially if they have a designer name attached such as Vivienne Westwood or Alexander McQueen).


4. Store your clothing in an environment with a controlled temperature to avoid damp, mould and mildew getting onto the clothes (such as a storage facility). Never store in the attic or cellar as these are prone to extreme heat in the summer & a freezing cold atmosphere in the winter which will ruin the clothes instantly.

5. Art, colour and embellishments reign supreme with fabulous prints and/or sparkles always attracting attention with collectors.
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Drew writes for Big Yellow Self Storage in the UK. Read more tips on storing handbags and shoes on their blog.

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