Cost per wear is what a garment costs you each time you put it on. Take what you paid, add anything you spend maintaining it, and divide by the number of times you wear it.
Cost per wear = (price + upkeep) ÷ times worn
A worked example
Two coats, in a shop, on the same afternoon.
| Coat A | Coat B | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $90 | $280 |
| Expected life | 2 winters | 6 winters |
| Wears per winter | 70 | 80 |
| Total wears | 140 | 480 |
| Cleaning over its life | $0 | $40 |
| Cost per wear | $0.64 | $0.67 |
Almost identical — which is the useful result, because it says the decision is not about money at all. It is about whether you would rather own one coat for six years or two coats for three years each.
Change one assumption and it separates sharply. If Coat A lasts one winter rather than two, it costs $1.29 per wear, twice Coat B. If you stop wearing Coat B after two winters because you tire of it, it costs $1.75, nearly three times Coat A.
Why it changes decisions
At the till, all you can see is price. Cost per wear converts that into the thing you actually care about, which is what owning the garment costs over its life.
$2,041
The reversal it produces is the interesting part. The cheap thing bought three times is usually more expensive than the good thing bought once — but only if the good thing genuinely lasts and you genuinely keep wearing it. Both conditions fail often enough that the rule is not automatic.
The price you would actually pay, after any discount.
Be honest. For most people an occasion dress is under 5, a winter coat is 80 or more.
Dry cleaning, resoling, alterations. Leave at zero if there is none.
Cost per wear
$4.00
$120 across 30 wears.
- To reach $5.00 per wear
- 24 wears
- To reach $1.00 per wear
- 120 wears
- To reach $0.50 per wear
- 240 wears
Cost per wear is a comparison tool, not an accounting one. It is most useful when weighing two specific options against each other — this coat against that coat — rather than as an absolute verdict on a purchase.
Where it misleads
Three further limits worth naming:
It says nothing about whether you needed it. A garment with an excellent cost per wear that displaced something you already owned has saved you nothing at all.
It treats occasion wear unfairly. A wedding outfit worn twice will always score badly. That does not mean it was wrong to buy — it means this is the wrong question to ask about it.
It assumes survival. A projected 100 wears from a coat that falls apart at 30 was never a real number. Construction is what turns the forecast into an outcome.
Using it honestly
The reliable method is to stop imagining and start anchoring. Find the garment in your wardrobe this would replace, and work out how many times you actually wore that one in the last year.
If you cannot answer that, it is worth knowing — and it is the reason to keep some kind of wardrobe inventory. A cost per wear calculated at the till is a forecast. One calculated after two years of records is a fact, and the gap between the two is the most useful thing your wardrobe can tell you about how you shop.