How old...

[Snicklefritz]

is the oldest piece of clothing you still wear?

My dad finally bought new swim trunks. His old ones were hot orange and went thigh-high.

They had to be at least 20 years old.

My mom has a t-shirt with a puff painted parrot that I made for her when I was 8, so it''s about 17 years old. She still wears it all the time. Mostly around the house though.

I still wear a pair of Mickey Mouse sleepwear shorts that I got when I was probably 13, so they''re about 12 years old.

What about you?

 

[MonkeyPie]

First of all, how freaking awesome are you that you can still wear sleep shorts from when you were 13?! I couldn''t, ack.

My oldest item of clothing is probably not that old - only a couple years. But it''s because my weight has fluctuated over the years so I toss stuff once it no longer fits.

 

[Lauren8211]

I still have some clothes from when I was a freshman in high school.

So.... Since 1996?

 

[soocool]

A few years ago I ventured into my closet and finally got rid of all my 80''s clothes. The ones with the humongous shoulder pads. My daughter said if I held onto them longer they could be considered vintage.

But the one thing I still wear is a hand knit sweater my sister brought back from Ireland almost 25 years ago. It refuses to wear out and is all snuggly and warm.

 

[monarch64]

I have a vintage Hang10 tank top of my mom''s that she wore in the ''70''s. I break it out occasionally b/c it still looks great! It''s just a heavy ribbed, red-and-white striped tank with the little feet embroidered on the chest, but it''s super cute. She wore it with the coolest red gauchos that had white topstitching and huge pockets, but she doesn''t have them anymore, bummer.

 

[jcarlylew]

SHOES. its the only thing that still fits, along with head bands, hair thingies and pillow cases. oh and jewelry. i still wear my bracelet my mum gave me for graduating college (20 years old at the time). so thats 6 years old.
but i am a opposite ends pack rat. i keep things for years and then throw it out all at once.

and then remember i threw out EVERYTHING so i have to shop all over again.

most of my stuff is no more than 5 years old.

although technically when e pops the Q, the center stone will be over 20 sum years old in the family, and possibly older!!

 

[doodle]

I have a Pat Benatar tee from her Get Nervous tour (1982-1983). I was born in December of 1983, so the shirt is literally older than I am. I slept in it when I was little, and I busted it out about a year ago for an 80s party. It''s so thin you can see through it, but it''s soft like Charmin, and me loves it long time!

 

[Bia]

I have a pair of gray converse sneaks that I had back in high school. I wear them all the time!

Similar to these but solid...

 

[dragonfly411]

I have several shirts I''ve had for about 8-9 years. I have a dress that is 8 years old, do horse shirts for bed count? I have one that is 12 years old. Still going strong.

 

[tlh]

I have a couple t-shirts that I love that are old and I wear them running. The cotton got really thin after years of wear... and is now.. AWESOME. One is from a family reunion in ''91. Another is a t-shirt from a goofy truck stop my dad got me when on a business trip back in ''89, and another is from my dad''s high school reunion... from ... late 80''s early 90''s. To be honest, I don''t wear that one anymore, and may have trashed it... the armpits began to have a life on their own.

 

[meresal]

I still wear my volleyball shorts from 8th grade... unfortunately the elastic around the wiast is shot, so they are not used for workout anymore, just lounging on the couch and to the pool.

That makes them... 13 yrs old!!

 

[Pandora II]

Evening dress that I bought in 1990 and still love.

For my wedding my father wore the morning suit that both he and my grandfather were married in, so it must be going on for at least 80-90 years now. Couple of moth-holes if you look very closely but otherwise looks amazing...

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Date: 4/30/2009 1:09:18 PM
Author: Pandora II
Evening dress that I bought in 1990 and still love.

For my wedding my father wore the morning suit that both he and my grandfather were married in, so it must be going on for at least 80-90 years now. Couple of moth-holes if you look very closely but otherwise looks amazing...

Wow what a neat thing to have!!!

 

[HollyS]

I have some regularly worn items of clothing that are at least a decade old. They weren''t expensive. And they still look good. How you say . . . .

If something is dry clean only - - don''t. Unless and until you have to. Hang it up to air it out; brush off any dirt. Stick it in the dryer for a few minutes with a Bounce sheet to freshen or bring it back into shape.

If something is wash/dry - - skip the dryer if you can. Hang it. Iron the wrinkles out instead. Dryer heat damages fiber more than washing agitation.

I always use a fragrance free, dye free, bleach free soap powder; and use it sparingly. Water is warm wash/cold rinse on the delicate cycle.

Right now, I''m wearing a sweater bought at least five years ago. It looks brand new and quite nice thank you. It looks as good as it did three years ago at my godson''s college graduation.

 

[E B]

My favorite t-shirt is an old Bruce Springsteen concert tee that was my Mom's before I 'stole' it. It's incredibly soft and more than 20 years old. I love it.

 

[LGK]

I have an ancient black sweater- christened The Sucky Sweater, for reasons I will explain shortly- that I got when I was 13 (20 years ago!) that I wear regularly around the house in the winter. Sucky Sweater is baggy and comfy and warm, and all sweaters are fitted now, which is fine for work but not for sitting around the house.

Sucky Sweater is so named because Rat, my 13 year old kittyboy, looooves to suck on it. As soon as he sees Sucky Sweater- and yes, he does recognize it- he will start plotting his sneak attack on it, and so all of a sudden I''ll have this armload of sucking/drooling/crazy-happy cat. He actually bites onto the sweater, sucks at it, and kneads blissfully. It''s icky cute (and yeah, he was taken from his mama too young, hence the drooling/kneading). And the sweater is thus cat-spitted on regularly, which adds to its general allure of bagginess, pills, paint spots, holes, and burn marks. Awesome!

My mom is worse though. She wears a hand-me-down purple cotton button-up shirt I got at maybe age 11 from a friend, then I wore it, then mom stole it from me, and then dad spilled bleach on it, and then the bleach speckles (pink) wore through, and then the whole thing started falling apart. And she still wears it as a jacket! I swear there isn''t enough material there to call it a shirt anymore... I tease her about it pretty regularly actually.

 

[musey]

Oh gosh... hmmm...

I have a sweatshirt that I "stole" from an ex-boyfriend ~9 years ago (never got around to returning it until almost a year after we broke up, and he said that I could just keep it since I liked it so much, he is a sweet guy), but I very rarely wear it. I don''t think my husband knows its origin

A pair of dance pants from when I was 12 that I still wear for working out, man those must be high quality pants

Some cheer shorts from sophomore year of high school that I sleep in sometimes


So I guess the dance pants win!

 

[Elmorton]

I have a t-shirt from with the name of my grandparents'' resort/neighborhood printed on it - they lived there when I was about 8. The shirt used to be huge on me, and now it''s a baby t. Have a couple other t-shirts that I got in HS that I still wear.

I love vintage clothes though, so I''ve always loved wearing random old clothes - both my parents are pack-rats and I used to dig through their closets before going to school back in the day. I wore my dad''s frat sweatshirts, my mom''s 70''s plaid stuff, my dad''s awesome pea coat, my mom''s polyester scarves as belts...the only time I got in trouble was when I found this awesome mechanic''s shirt with my dad''s name on it and this sweet car on the back. Turns out he''d been on the pit crew on a drag team when he was in HS and it was a bigtime memento - complete with oil stain. Whoops!

 

[Snicklefritz]

Date: 4/30/2009 9:41:50 AM
Author: MonkeyPie
First of all, how freaking awesome are you that you can still wear sleep shorts from when you were 13?! I couldn''t, ack.


My oldest item of clothing is probably not that old - only a couple years. But it''s because my weight has fluctuated over the years so I toss stuff once it no longer fits.

Thanks MonkeyPie! I''ll admit, the waistband is pretty elastic though.
I love everyone''s stories of worn out t-shirts and favorite sweaters that have magically held up throughout the years. Makes me want to take a little stroll down memory lane in my closet.

 

[April20]

I''m pretty sure I still have my penny loafers. That I got when I was 12. So they''re about 20 years old....

 

[monarch64]

Date: 4/30/2009 1:50:32 PM
Author: HollyS
I have some regularly worn items of clothing that are at least a decade old. They weren''t expensive. And they still look good. How you say . . . .

If something is dry clean only - - don''t. Unless and until you have to. Hang it up to air it out; brush off any dirt. Stick it in the dryer for a few minutes with a Bounce sheet to freshen or bring it back into shape.

If something is wash/dry - - skip the dryer if you can. Hang it. Iron the wrinkles out instead. Dryer heat damages fiber more than washing agitation.

I always use a fragrance free, dye free, bleach free soap powder; and use it sparingly. Water is warm wash/cold rinse on the delicate cycle.

Right now, I''m wearing a sweater bought at least five years ago. It looks brand new and quite nice thank you. It looks as good as it did three years ago at my godson''s college graduation.

Totally agree with your entire post, Holly, but especially the dry clean only portion. The solvents/chemicals used to dry clean garments eventually break the fabric down.

 

[steph72276]

I''ve still got a pair of athletic shorts from my cheerleading days (12 years ago). I just wear them around the house when I''m cleaning and stuff....they don''t look quite the same as they used to but I feel pretty good I can still get in them!