What I Think of Luxury as Wardrobe Investment Pieces and If They Are Really Worth It

If you are like me and spent more time than they are willing to admit watching YouTube videos about luxury fashion and luxury fashion hauls, then you probably heard the phrase “wardrobe investment pieces” more than a few times. After hearing more and more often by more than one YouTuber, I began to wonder if luxury wardrobe investment pieces are actually worth it.

Before I began to write this post, Sophie Shohet, a YouTuber and business woman from the United Kingdom, posted a video about this topic. In the video, she talked about if luxury pieces are actually a good financial investment and why the phrase “wardrobe investment pieces” is used by the luxury influencer community. If you are interested in seeing the video, you can watch it here.

As for me, I don’t really like to think of luxury clothes, shoes, and accessories as wardrobe investment pieces unless I’m planning on buying it once and use it until it’s so worn I cannot use it anymore. I don’t plan on selling anything I own unless I absolutely must. I also don’t like to buy things, especially luxury items, that I know I won’t enjoy owning or using because I believe they will be a collectable and the price of it will go up in the future.

My ideas about luxury items, and fashion items in general, came from watching the PBS TV show Antiques Roadshow. In it, many appraisers talked about buying things not as an investment or collectable, but because you like it and want to own it. That way, no matter what the market or the appraisal value of an item is, the person that owns the item will not loose. The reason why they said this is because predicting the value of items is unpredictable. Even owning property as an investment is uncertain. In 2004-2005, I had a high school teacher that was quite proud of the fact he owned a home that increased well over $250,000 since he purchased it a few years prior. That was impressive, but when The Great Recession happened, his home price dropped well below what he purchased it for. Because of this, he also couldn’t sell the home and recover over half of what he paid.

Life is highly unpredictable and the future is uncertain. That’s why when it comes to fashion, I feel very wary to call many pieces I own “wardrobe investment pieces” unless it deals with my desire to buy something and keep it for many, many years. Even then I will call it something else, such as a “wardrobe staple”.

One of those things is my love of scarfs. I started to collect Burberry scarfs a few years ago and enjoy buying a new one every year. And it’s not just Burberry scarfs I love to collect. I have plans to buy scarfs from online stores from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. (I’m still debating which style I would like to own) I also make make myself scarfs by knitting them as well as sewing them. The thing is, I don’t call them “wardrobe investment pieces” because they will depreciate the more I use them. Especially Burberry scarfs, which don’t hold their value extremely well unless it has a special, limited edition (And I mean VERY limited edition) print. Nobody really cares so much about scarfs bought from Scotland, Ireland, or Wales. And just forget about recovering my supplies cost to make my own scarfs! But that doesn’t mean I will stop buying and making them. It just means I know their worth on the second hand market and I buy (and make) accordingly.

These kinds of things must be taken into account when buying luxury. Having a set price and sticking to it is also important, as well as buying something you enjoy no matter the price tag. But when it comes to buying something in the hopes to resell it for a profit, then it’s better to put money towards something with a better track record of retaining it’s value.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!