u/truth_hurts_mainly

I work on a clothing brand that hasn't launched yet. Nothing to buy, no product exists. But this post is a genuine question and I'd rather ask it honestly than pretend I'm a neutral party.

Here's what set me off. Everyone quotes the line that we wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time. I went looking for the study behind it. There isn't one. It traces back to closet organisers, styling blogs, and a company that's literally named after the Pareto principle. It's an analogy that got repeated until it sounded like a fact.

Which annoyed me, because I think the underlying thing is probably true and nobody has actually checked. Definitely not here.

And Singapore should be the easy case, right? We have one temperature. No winter coats, no seasonal rotation, no "what's the weather doing." In theory getting dressed here should take four seconds.

It doesn't. At least not for me. I still stand there. And I've noticed my actual problem isn't choice, it's that I keep re-deciding something I already decided. Same five things, same hesitation, every morning.

Then there's the local version of the problem, which I don't think exists anywhere else in quite the same way:

• It's 32 degrees outside and 19 in the office, so you're dressing for two climates in one outfit
• The jacket that lives permanently on the back of your chair
• Anything that survives the MRT platform but still looks fine when you arrive
• "Smart casual" meaning six different things depending on the office

So, some questions:

1. How many genuinely different items do you think you wore in the last seven days? Guess first, then think about it properly. The gap is usually the interesting bit.
2. Do you have an actual uniform, or do you re-decide every morning?
3. What's the one thing you own that solves the aircon problem without looking like you're wearing a jacket indoors?

Genuinely curious what people say, because my suspicion is that most of us settled on a uniform years ago and just never admitted it.

Full disclosure first: I work on a clothing brand that hasn't launched yet. Nothing to buy, no product exists. But this post is a genuine question and I'd rather ask it honestly than pretend I'm a neutral party.

Here's what set me off. Everyone quotes the line that we wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time. I went looking for the study behind it. There isn't one. It traces back to closet organisers, styling blogs and a company that's literally named after the Pareto principle. It's an analogy that got repeated until it sounded like a fact.

Which annoyed me, because I think the underlying thing is probably true and nobody has actually checked. Definitely not here.

And Singapore should be the easy case, right? We have one temperature. No winter coats, no seasonal rotation, no "what's the weather doing." In theory getting dressed here should not take long.

It doesn't. At least not for me. I still stand there. And I've noticed my actual problem isn't choice, it's that I keep re-deciding something I already decided. Same five things, same hesitation, every morning.

Then there's the local version of the problem, which I don't think exists anywhere else in quite the same way:

• It's 32 degrees outside and 19 in the office, so you're dressing for two climates in one outfit
• The jacket that lives permanently on the back of your chair
• Anything that survives the MRT platform but still looks fine when you arrive
• "Smart casual" meaning six different things depending on the office

So, some questions:

1. How many genuinely different items do you think you wore in the last seven days? Guess first, then think about it properly. The gap is usually the interesting bit.
2. Do you have an actual uniform, or do you re-decide every morning?
3. What's the one thing you own that solves the aircon problem without looking like you're wearing a jacket indoors?

Genuinely curious what the community has to say. Thank you!