How to decide if clothes are worth buying

Matchy is the fix. A piece is worth buying when it completes at least three outfits with clothes you already wear, fills a job nothing in the rotation fills, and will be worn in the next 30 days, not in a hypothetical season. If you cannot name the outfits, it is not a gap. It is a want. Price, brand, and 'cost per wear' fantasies come after that test. A cheap duplicate is still a duplicate.

Matchy's shopping check is that test: does this piece fill a gap in the closet you already have. Download it on iPhone.

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The three-outfit rule

If you cannot name three real looks with owned bottoms, shoes, and layers, walk away. Stylists use versions of this rule because it kills almost-pieces. Closet apps that only show a pretty photo of the candidate next to a white background will not save you.

Jobs that are real vs jobs that are marketing

• Real: walking shoes, rain layer, office layer, one dinner look
• Marketing: 'vacation shirt', 'new season pop of colour', 'treat'

Where analytics help after the fact

Whering and Indyx stats can show that you live in black and grey, or that 49 percent of the closet never moves. That is a rear-view mirror. Use it to donate and to refuse the next similar buy. Do not wait for a yearly report to catch this week's cart.

Do this in Matchy

Download Matchy on iPhone. Add the clothes you already wear. Take tomorrow's look. That is the product. Free to start.