No Buy / Limited Buy thread

[ATWM]

Well aware this thread could get buried quite quickly, but in case not I’m putting it up. 

I made a goal for 2026 to only buy one pair of jeans (if any) and nothing else new that falls outside the category of obvious need when it comes to clothing. The one loophole I’ve given to myself is that if I sell something, I can use those funds to buy something else used for similar - basically if I can make it a trade, okay. 

So far so good, but seeing a lot of stuff I’d like to jump on. Resisting for now. I find writing out goals to be helpful - really I just want to slow down my consumption habits back to what they were a decade or so ago, before I learned more about this whole world of stuff. Especially because at this point I’ve got a collection of garments I really like and want to get good use out of, as is in the spirit of this sort of stuff to begin with. 

Anyone else trying to focus on what they’ve got for awhile? 

Edit - oh, and also a few pre ordained items that if they become available or come into existence I will except, but am trying to find used or second hand versions of first if possible. 

Edited March 25 by ATWM

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

Didn’t make a years resolution or anything similar, but recently decided I want to shift the use of the given funds for other stuff. I have plenty to go by now, the one thing I might add are t shirts and socks, because I reached a point where the ones I have now are started to go. 
 
I think the main shift here is that I am not and will not actively look for things in store websites etc, therefore not creating the false feeling of ‘must-have - ness’. 
 

what do you suppose we can further share in this thread? 
struggles of not buying?

Perhaps outcomes of using the current stuff?

Edited March 5 by Hopethisoneisnttaken

[Alec Leamas]

I am fully on board with this. I’ve become a bit overfaced with all the “stuff” and have been aiming this year to stick to a prescribed list of things I want to get, rather than browsing and wanting endlessly. 

It’s obviously a constant challenge, but I also want to wear in and care for the things I do have, rather than be on the constant hamster wheel that is getting new stuff.

I feel like it can only be a positive outcome - enjoying what I have, being more grateful for it, and moreover (in the spirit of this forum) watch the items age gracefully as I wear them.

@Hopethisoneisnttaken in terms of what to share in the thread I feel like both the things you mentioned would be good - wear on existing items (I guess that’s across the whole forum, really) but then also the struggles of remaining disciplined and resisting buying new stuff. Sharing how we logically go about making decisions to not buy, etc.

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

@Alec Leamas sounds good! Let this be the one corner in the forum for non enablers 🙂

[ATWM]

@Alec Leamas @Hopethisoneisnttaken probably all of the above, really. 

I will probably post some stuff I want to buy instead of actually buying it! See how that works…ha. Though that could make this thread tougher. So maybe not. In reality I haven’t purchased new jeans since last summer or fall, but they were pre-orders so deliveries came at different times, so it feels like a much shorter time period. 

The one pair of jeans I’ve thought about for a long time are a logwood, walnut or wattle dyed pair of Tenders (wearing my old 129’s right now, always happy when I pull them out). Or if FW makes a 1946 again…

I’ve kept an eye on those both for a while but in the meantime have gotten a bunch of others that don’t hit the same notes for me, not to knock anything. 

Those are the two I think I’d excuse myself to spring for.

The contest has helped but those pairs even with a recent repair I need to be careful with them now, so I’m not wearing them as often or as hard. 

I also have a few pairs I’m particularly excited to wear in, all while some of my favorites that I’ve had for years still have good life in them.

For me I never really meant to become a collector and always liked their idea of one or a few pairs simplifying life, somehow I ended up with a haphazardly curated collection ha. (But pretty good if I say myself). A factor for me was that for a few years, Covid and following years I could hardly travel or do much else due to a young son, having to be caretaker for a large part of it, his health struggles etc. When you’re stuck inside more it’s easier to fall down such a rabbit hole…I like learning more about the history of this stuff, but learning can be the end goal too. 

Things are better these days and any disposable income (shrinking though it seems to be in this world) I know has better experiential uses, or…investing etc (also something that helped me in the past). 

 

Edited March 5 by ATWM

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

So, for me, one of the ways I deal with wanting something new is using something old in a way I never did before. 
 

I recently re - read for the who know how many time the interview die!workwear did with Yukio Akamine. Something he says there always makes view clothing in a different perspective. He says: “I choose clothes that will reflect the natural colors that will be around me for that day”. 
 

Although his style is obviously very different from mine I always feel like there’s so much to be learned. 
circling back to use existing clothes in a different way - I almost never pair jacket and trousers a similar color, but inspired by the browns/khakis and greens around me these days I wore only these colors in different shades - 

Punctuation waxed canvas hat / TCB brown denim tabby’s jacket / Merz Henley (olive green) / buzz Ricksons 1945 military trousers in khaki, Jim Green (with green laces). Also invisible in the picture is a dark brown Tarnsjo leather belt from pigeontree. 
 

it’s definitely nothing special, and a billion miles away from the actual meaning in the interview, but the change of perspective and context helps me to see old clothing items in a new light.

 

Edited March 5 by Hopethisoneisnttaken

[Geeman]

I've tried previously to slow down on purchases to no avail, as above end up trawling sites looking for the next must have... Recently I made of list of genuine wants, a specific pair of sunglasses, a pair of boots I very had my eye on etc and committed to only buy from that list. Curbed my purchasing no end and after few months bought an item of the list. (RM Williams boots) 

[Double 0 Soul]

Best i ever did was a no-buy between June 2017 and May 2019

2017 SunSurf

2019.. the fast was broken with Junky 46s

I bought absolutely nothing in this period.. zilch, nada i didn't even have a smart phone.. my kid was growing up fast, spending time at work to earn £££s to buy yet more shit i didn't need just didn't feel right so i worked less hours and bought time with my kid.. i was still buying camping gear, fishing tackle and bikes but they were just a means to enhance our leisure time.. now he's almost entirely independant, i'm working more hours again and buying more clothing.. truth be told, i'm enjoying buying clothing again but not having a kid to go camping and hiking with every weekend has left a bit of a hole in my life which needs filling with something.

Edited March 5 by Double 0 Soul

[ATWM]

^ That's a good stretch, I'd be happy to get to half that. But the motivations right now are similar. In the end it's more about trying to get back to my previous long term habits, for me habit changes are usually not all or nothing but a sort of good enough over the long term. 

Would love to not have a smart phone, but I've cut down my use on it where it's not nearly the issue that it used to be. I still fantasize about chucking it in the goose pond I ride past all the time. 

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

1 hour ago, ATWM said:

. I still fantasize about chucking it in the goose pond I ride past all the time

Same. 

[Double 0 Soul]

The good thing is.. after a period of abstinence, i didn't auto-tune back to my old ways of consumerism, as you say, habits have been broken, i did track down the Junky 46 jacket (because i had to) ..but then nothing again for another year.. i'd just stopped looking for things to buy.. my next purchase was a pair of RRRs in March 2020 which i sold to @Thanks_M8 ..my clothes hunting / buying only resumed in November 2024.

[Thanks_M8]

^Still lovely RRRs mate! Should post an update when I get around to it. 

Funny enough am also on the no buy trip, have only bought second hand in the last few years with the exception of underwear and socks. Trying out the no buy approach to jeans for this year after I got my second pair of Resolute 711s.

Edited March 6 by Thanks_M8

[ATWM]

9 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

i did track down the Junky 46 jacket

Happily gracing my upper half as we speak. Hope it's happy in its new home. Best fitting type 1 I've got, and one reason I don't wanna buy anything is to give this thing more proper attention! 

[Double 0 Soul]

I remember when you signed up here @ATWM .. i still didn't have a smart phone, my previous one died in a storm while cycling to work and i refused to replace it, i think you described living without a smartphone as "trying to stand up in a hurricane" or words to that effect.. ..life certainly was harder without one.. it's much easier with one.. but this is what they want us to think.. i tried and i failed but i gave it my best shot for a good 5yrs ..i only succumbed when my elderly aunt gave me her iphone 4 out of sympathy ..yet i still never search for clothing on my phone.. always on the laptop, it's serious biz!

[smoothsailor]

Did the same thing, don’t remember what yr, maybe 2018/19.

the key was to just don’t look at websites etc. When I finally looked at stuff again I sort of lost interest. Now I occasionally buy some stuff and my wife gifts me clothing on my birthday.

still a few yrs left on my fullcount,s .

but we are seriously talking about a trip to Japan coming summer, that’s going to be a test

[Double 0 Soul]

^

https://denimbro.com/no-buy-2019_topic4092_page1.html

[ATWM]

1 hour ago, smoothsailor said:

but we are seriously talking about a trip to Japan coming summer, that’s going to be a test

Probably something I'd make an exception for, because I know for a fact that I am much more discerning when I can try stuff on in person - so I don't think I'd come away with all that much. We've got a good local shop (a lot of it is not of my interest) - and the stuff that I do think I like there I try on. Mostly I end up not buying. If I do like it, then I know that I really do. 

Buying online there's always an element of just wanting to see it and how it works - but the shop experience lets you get that out of your system. 

The thing that spurred me to maybe try a little harder this year than others (even though it's always on my mind) was a pair of books I read that come from quite different perspectives (converted Orthodox Christian and then a Marxist...well maybe a revisionist Marxist). Both are at times pretty ridiculous books - yet make core points that are annoyingly persistent. The books are Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth (mentioned here before) - and Slow Down by Kohei Sato (a Japanese philosopher - so I'm not sure how great the translation is). Both books get quite ranty and display at times, to my mind, a failure of attitude to say the least - but both are right about one salient thing. That most of us need less stuff and the momentum behind us getting stuff is largely malignant on an individual and global level. Mixing those books with wanting to be more diligent in spending time and money in other ways has me...a few months in, ha! 

[PBTony]

I'm also on board with this. I made a kind of loose resolution not to buy any more jeans unless I sell a pair or find one for a great price used. I did allow myself to buy a TCB type 2 jacket but I justified that by not having a nice repro denim jacket and going back and forth on which one to buy for a some time.

I've sold a couple of pairs of jeans I just didn't love as much as others so I've cut down a fair bit too which paid for the jacket.

I was thinking recently that late last year my purchases and constant online clothes browsing was at its highest which also coincided with removing all my social media apps. I obviously was looking for that dopamine hit. Now when I have an urge I tell myself to check at a certain time so I'm not depriving myself completely. Seems to work.

So so far I've bought the TCB jacket and some vintage 501s which I managed to get for £30. Not sure how long I'll last but so far I'm doing alright. Only issue is I've ran out of fits for WAYWT 😬

[reallypeacedoff]

I have bought one thing since the start of the WOMJ comp. 5 months to go. Have a couple of things I "want" to get when my abstinence ends. Makes looking forward to getting them a bit more of an occasion.

[ATWM]

1 hour ago, PrettyBoyTony said:

Only issue is I've ran out of fits for WAYWT 😬

Nah - nothing wrong with wearing and posting the same thing all the time. Over time it changes anyways!

Probably wouldn't fly on any other clothing forum but for denim, you can do that - when the wear is good it's even better than different fits. At least IMO. 

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

Met a neighbor today who was wearing a dragon ball Z t shirt from early 90s he recently bought in Tokyo. 
 

it’s been quite difficult to not look up something similar and order it. 

[Double 0 Soul]

There is no hope for you @Hopethisoneisnttaken 

[beautiful_FrEaK]

Been doing quite good in this no buy thing (apart from FW 601 47 and 506). Was about to break it for a deadstock pair of DENIME XX from the Orizzonti era but just got outbid and won't increase my bid. So this will help me with no buy 😅

[Double 0 Soul]

You can’t claim ‘no-buy’ if someone made that decision on your behalf.. that’s like saying I haven’t bought anything for 6mths because I’ve been in a coma or I haven’t bought anything because I’ve been in prison!

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

1 hour ago, Double 0 Soul said:

There is no hope for you @Hopethisoneisnttaken 

Nope. There’s none 😅

I find it most difficult when the stuff I want are a little bit different from the usual stuff I wear, cause I somehow justify it in my head as something that’s worth it and not another pair of jeans to fade. 
 

edit: 

@beautiful_FrEaK let’s all put our hopes in increasing prices of vintage repros 🙂

Edited March 7 by Hopethisoneisnttaken

[beautiful_FrEaK]

35 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

You can’t claim ‘no-buy’ if someone made that decision on your behalf.. that’s like saying I haven’t bought anything for 6mths because I’ve been in a coma or I haven’t bought anything because I’ve been in prison!

I could still increase my bid. So there is that ☺️

[Double 0 Soul]

If this was any other thread.. I’d tell you to do it! 

 

[mlwdp]

This helps influence my no buy.  Mind you, this is just for a tshirt.

Edited March 7 by mlwdp

[indigoeagle]

11 minutes ago, mlwdp said:

This helps influence my no buy.  Mind you, this is just for a tshirt.

Is this still on?
I thought it was repealed by the Court.

[ATWM]

5 minutes ago, indigoeagle said:

Is this still on?
I thought it was repealed by the Court.

The legal measure used to justify it was struck down, but they’ve implemented other rules in the meantime - it’s going to be a constant back and forth and I don’t know if consumers are going to see any change for awhile yet. Some large companies are filing suit for refunds but who knows how long this will all take/what will happen.