100 Day Challenge
Disclaimer: This may be the only time I ever blog about clothes :-)
I recently participated in Wool & Prince’s 100-day challenge, which entailed… me wearing the same shirt for 100 days in a row… without washing it once. Yeah, a little out there.
Why in the world would I want to do this? Well… why not? Don’t have to waste time picking out what to wear, simplified wardrobe, fewer laundry days. And as a reward for completing the challenge, you get a free shirt!
Wool & Prince tries to get people to do this to show the durability of their merino wool clothing, and also to challenge our perceptions and assumptions about how we choose and take care of our clothes. And true to promises, the shirt performed tremendously. It was comfortable, didn’t wrinkle or hold onto lint or pet hair, and - you can ask my wife - the shirt was virtually odorless the whole 100 days. I did spot-rinse the shirt in a sink as necessary, and I hung it up every night to air out. But other than that, it exceeded all my expectations, and the challenge was pretty fun to complete.
Here are some takeaways from my experience:
I don’t have to wash every article of clothing nearly as much as I thought.
People don’t notice right away if I regularly re-wear certain clothes.
Wearing the same shirt every day - or possibly living by capsule wardrobe principles - really simplifies things and saves time and headspace when it comes to deciding what to wear.
Compliments about people’s clothing can brighten someone’s day (I had genuinely never been complimented on my choice of clothes prior to this experience).
Merino wool is magical.
Wool & Prince owes me for being their unofficial spokesperson :-) I’m pretty sure they sold ten or so shirts because of conversations I had with people over several months.
It’s more difficult to remember to take a selfie every day than it is to wear the same shirt for more than three months in a row.
Would I ever do this challenge again? Maybe. I do have a free shirt from them and could restart the journey in a new shirt color. The experience has certainly changed some of my thoughts and habits around clothing, and I’m much more inclined to rewear clothing and not do laundry as often. This probably doesn’t contribute significantly to environmental sustainability, but it feels like a step in the right direction. I’m grateful for the prodding to think about clothing in ways I never did before.