May 2025

A Capsule Wardrobe for Regular People

There are seemingly endless techniques for organizing and managing your clothing. For those who live in climates with multiple seasons or have a strict dress code for work or school, the problem is multiplied. Even if you like your clothes, you probably have more than you like. If you experience frustration getting ready in the morning or going out at night, then the problem is managing your clothing, not organizing (though that can usually help).

“Capsule” wardrobes or closets are one of the most popular methods out there. And, it’s the one I have begun to use for my wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe focuses on a couple common techniques. First, is minimizing articles of clothing while maximizing combinations or outfits. Second, they typically combine a set of basics (simple, plane pieces of clothing that will work with most outfits such as plane white/black tshirts and jeans) and statement pieces (your leopard print trench coat goes here). Third, a rotation of statement and seasonal clothing. You aren’t wearing the same clothes year ’round, instead you are swapping out a good chunk of your wardrobe to meet the needs of the next season. The outcome is a relatively small set of clothing that punch above their weight in utility – more outfits with less clothes and enough rotation to keep you interested in your closet.

Conceptually, capsule wardrobes make sense. Pair down your items to what you use and what you need, make sure they can mix and match, rotate your clothing each season so that your closet isn’t bogged down, and rotate out a few pieces each year to keep it fresh. Sounds simple, yet surprisingly difficult to achieve when you walk into your closet and feel the overwhelm.

Despite their popularity few people use them and there are many reasons why.

• Too restrictive. Some people like having more clothes than they absolutely need (save a few statement pieces).
• Too rigid. As mentioned above, if your job or school requires a significant investment into clothing, this shouldn’t count toward your capsule system.
• Too ambiguous. How do you just start with a capsule wardrobe? People don’t start with a large budget and an empty closet. We start with an existing back catalog of things we like, things we have grown out of, and a few gems. It takes a lot more effort to work with this.

The capsule system that I am presenting today takes these critiques in mind. Instead of promoting a one-size-fits-all system, I am going to focus on augmenting the very solid base of a capsule system into something that works for you. The goal is to understand your relationship to clothing. Setting your goals and making sure you can achieve them with the clothes you have.

Let’s get started.

The Rationale

Somewhere between Steve Jobs and having three walk-in closets. That was the balance I was hoping to strike. To be honest, I was just in awe of how much clothes I could accumulate while still feeling like I couldn’t get many total outfits out of all the clothing. I felt shamed by online guides and confused by their methods.

I want to be able to inventory my closet for a season and just have it work for a few months. No fussing. Same clothes, same hangers for 3 months.

A capsule wardrobe is my solution to that hope. And it has been very successful! I still have many things I need to improve on, but the core system is flexible and fitted to my lifestyle, and that’s what matters. I am more intentional with what I buy, how I style, and getting dressed each day is not only faster, but consistently easier. Not just over a week, but months.

The Audit

Okay, this is going to be a lot of work. There is no way around it. It’s going to suck and it’s going to take time. So, as long as you have that in mind, you will be alright.

For each of these steps, keep in mind:

1. Be gentle with yourself: Everybody gains and loses weight. While it is normal, it doesn’t make it easier facing a back catalog of pants that don’t fit anymore. If you aren’t in a good state of mind, then you won’t make good decisions about your wardrobe, so be kind to yourself along the way.
2. Take your time: This doesn’t have to be done in a day. Just be cognizant of your purchasing habits so that you don’t nullify your progress.

Yes, “audit.” That word they love to use on HGTV organization shows. Auditing is simply the process of assessing your wardrobe. That usually means getting rid of stuff, but it doesn’t have to. I will try to keep this simple and the key is to pay attention to your feelings and reactions during the process. Take these into account to flex the guidelines below.

• Take everything out. Yep, everything. You need to see, with your eyes, every single piece of clothing you own. To be clear, under garments are not typically included in a capsule collection, so don’t worry about minimizing for the sake of minimizing, but this is a good opportunity to take inventory of these pieces.
• Sort, sort, sort. Once you have a pile on your bed or floor or chair, it is time to sort the clothing. There are the simple categories like seasonal, basics, formal, athletics, etc. Whatever you wear throughout the year should make up these categories. This is a bit of foreshadowing, but try to sort not only on clothing type (pant, skirt, shirt, etc), but based on the activity associated with the clothing. For example, you can have a pair of yoga pants, slacks, and a denim skirt. These probably aren’t all professional work clothes, nor casual outing, nor gym – they are distinct from each other. This is a core issue of online capsule guides that we will address later on, so you can get ahead of it here!
• Audit. Once you have each category created and all of the relevant clothing in each category, then it is time to figure out what you want to get rid of. The reason why you sort and then audit is because even if you know a pair of pants doesn’t fit you anymore, you may want to write down the brand to get another pair. It is also good to know how many of each type of clothing you already have to get an idea of how many you need/want in the future. If you have pieces that you love, you don’t have to let them go just because they don’t fit. We have tailors who can do adjustments for fairly cheap (especially compared to buying a new version) and you can learn a surprising amount for at-home alterations online.

1. 1. What is often left out in this space is the gray area of clothing that you are unsure of. Clothing that you haven’t worn in some time or is out of season, but still fits.
   2. When reviewing your categories (seasonal, basics, etc) sort out clothing you need to try on and style. Try not to make rash decisions about clothing you love (but conveniently haven’t worn in a year) or clothing you don’t like. TRY THEM ON. At least one more time before sending them to a donation center.
   3. Cheesy as it is, you should have to defend you reason to keep each piece of clothing: useful (as is the case with basics), works well (these are your reliable statement pieces), need (if you have a uniform for instance), and sentimental (wedding dresses, marathon shirts, etc).

• Inventory. At this point, you should have looked at and/or tried on everything you own. Congrats! You should have also thinned your collection with at least some items going to a consignment shop or donation. Now, you need to take inventory of these items. Yep! Write it all down. I would recommend separating your list by the categories you used when auditing. It can be general (3x Jeans) or specific (1 pair True Religion, 2 pair Levi 504, etc). Some level of inventory is important for a few reasons. One, it’s nice to know how much you own and what general type – this helps you be very intentional about any new clothing purchases. Two, it helps imagining and planning outfits.
• You should also be writing down what you feel good in. What colors, what types of clothing, and what cuts. This will be invaluable for the next few steps. This is basically adding on top of any steps you took if you followed the style method post.

The System

Okay, so I read tens of blog posts and watched just as many videos on capsule wardrobe systems to understand their logic. This is the best guide among them from Minimize My Mess. Her guide is much more rigorous and in-depth. It has survey responses and anecdotes. I think capsule wardrobes succeed when they are seen as tools that you are using to find your system, not to conform you to someone else’s. That’s what I did with the linked version, and also what I did with Bullet Journaling – the system was too feature rich, so I paired it down to what I actually used and now do so everyday. So, don’t be afraid to engage in play and experimentation! I personally find the constraint of the capsule wardrobe lets new outfits you didn’t imagine emerge organically. Also, I make two crucial clarifications to the capsule wardrobe system that were necessary for me to to make the system work for me, so I’ll talk in more depth about those.

Step 0: Style/Aesthetic

if you don’t have a grasp on how you want to present/express yourself, you’re going to run into problems. Checkout this blog post on finding your aesthetic and then come back to this system. There’s no point in optimizing your closet if the clothes – no matter the order or combination they are in – don’t make you feel good in them.

Step 1: Categories, Categories, Categories

A general starting point for capsule wardrobes is figuring out which items have good interplay with each other. This means one pant can work with all the shirts and jackets in your closet. It’s all about maximizing the combinations, the outfits. However, I always would hit a stop because I would only wear shorts for the gym, so that doesn’t count for my work wardrobe wear, but when I use their templates it does. So, now I’m exceeding their limits on the number of clothing items, while also putting my gym wear with my work wear, which only complicates the getting dressed process.

To circumvent that, we think about the use case of the clothing before we talk numbers.

What is it you do in a two-week or one-month period?

• School
• Work
• Going out/Date
• Dancing
• Specialized athletics
• Gym wear
• Lounging
• Sleepwear
• Winterwear

I would brainstorm a list, and then just live for a month or two and make changes as necessary. Ask yourself if this changes depending on the time of year. Try to delineate between different activities based on the clothing needed, rather than just different activities themselves. For example, if your lounging clothes are the same as your gym clothes, then you may not need to list both activities.

Take that list into step 2.

Step 2: Really, how many do you need?

No, this isn’t about minimizing for the sake of having less. Of feeling guilty because you have/can afford more. It’s actually a much more simple question: how many pieces of clothing can you possibly wear in between wash cycles?

To me, this is when everything clicked into place.

Capsule wardrobes felt overly constrictive, yet much too open-ended for this reason. How am I supposed to find out the magic number of t-shirts to last me the year, when I don’t have a grip on my closet already? Instead, we take things down to the fundamental constrain of our clothing: how often we can wear them.

Try out the Minimize Your Mess laundry calculator to get some estimates.

Using this as the foundation for your wardrobe eliminates anxiety about what you could have worn, or FOMO about leaving out specific items. You simply don’t have the time to wear it all, so what’s in your closet will get worn. Everything else can either wait a season, be removed without regret (you wouldn’t wear it anyways), or be tucked away to be checked in with next year. As she says in her blog, it’s not about whether or not you like the item, it’s how many do you need to get through the week(s).

At this stage, you know the general reasons you wear clothes (step 1) and how many you need (step 2), so naturally it’s time to pick which items make the cut, and figure out what to do with the rest.

Step 3: Enter the Matrix

Voila!

Now you know how many pieces of clothes you need and how long they will get you through – feels like a lot of relief, doesn’t it? Now is the really fun part – assembling your wardrobe!

You should have the start of the sorting of your original set of clothing already done, so now make sure everything is adequately sorted in a way that represents the matrix (both by activity and by clothing type). Now, just pick your favorites up until the number you set and you will have your first capsule wardrobe done!

What remains is a neatly organized closet, with (probably) a lot less items – all of which you see utility and/or excitement for. You know which items are for which activities, and you know they will get you through to the next laundry cycle. All that is left is to start wearing them!

Step 3a: Some Potential Loose Ends

To be honest, you could be done here. It really depends on what your vibe is. Given that a capsule wardrobe is a system, then it never is truly “done.” It will change as you do. When you job changes, when your life changes, when where you live changes, so too much the system flex and adapt to new constraints.

Some people like to stop here and then let the process of trying out the wardrobe teach them what they need to do to make it feel better for them over time. Maybe the categories aren’t quite right. Maybe you need more of a few items because you forgot how bad the humidity is. Maybe you inherited a bunch of clothing, or you want to switch aesthetics and need to regroup. It happens. If the system is living, then make notes when things are working well, and when they aren’t. Then, when your next wardrobe rotation happens, implement those changes.

I find that forcing yourself to live with little imperfections is a surefire way to make sure the problems you identified aren’t just discomfort or acclimation to the system, but instead real steps you can take to make the system more fluid and “you.”

Other folks will get too frustrated if the system isn’t pre-planned for a year in advance. What’s the point if you have to go through growing pains every 3-5 months? I understand. No matter what there will be tinkering, but you can get ahead of the curve and pre-plan for the next season or year if you are particularly motivated. The question you need to answer to get there is: what is your year ’round core?

Step 3b: What to Do With the Rest of It?

To me, there are only a handful of options, which are going to depend on who you are and what your goals/constraints are with your clothing. Here are some options to try:

1. Store: If you are unsure as to whether the system will work or have some clothing pieces that feel particularly sensitive about getting rid of so quickly, then pack them away in a tote and check-in next year. To make this work, you need to be one, honest with yourself about why you are doing this and two, disciplined in your use of the capsule system. You can’t wait two weeks and start pulling out items and fill up your closet – it ruins the balance that the capsule wardrobe depends on. So, give a good faith try and check-in next year!
2. Sell/Donate/Recycle: Pretty straight forward!
3. Upcycle/Alter: If you like a material or the item almost works, don’t discount getting a tailor to alter the item. You can get free, or near free, alteration from department and chain stores or very cheap, simple alterations at your local dry-cleaner. Or, you could invest in a sewing machine and DIY – though I know this isn’t accessible or of interest to too many people.

Step 4: Iteration and Evolution

Okay, so maybe there are few lingering steps/questions left before the system is working perfectly – and that’s intentional! 

The capsule wardrobe needs to be re-assessed periodically. This can happen naturally – when you are rotating items out during a seasonal transition – or perhaps annually when you are making larger changes.

I personally re-do the checklist process each seasonal change. It means I am more reactive to the changing season, and that I can setup firm goals for buying new items because I have either preempted my donation/selling, or because I have moved and need to get some specific items.

Crucial to the balance is being cognizant of keeping your wardrobe in check. This means when you buy something new, something has to come back out of the closet. If you stretch the quantities too much, then the system fails because it isn’t aligned with your use case anymore, so it becomes mostly useless.

Good luck and I hope this helped!