Reflecting on The Overconsumption of my Twenties

A stream of consciousness about my consumption habits: regret, sustainability, and the never ending search of "drip."

I’ve been reflecting on my twenties a lot lately. On the precipice of 31 years old, entering my “Reggie Miller” year, I’ve grown very nostalgic about my prior decade. I think back to the booze-fueled nights under the lights with my best friends and being out way too late, going out to eat, trips to Vegas, LA, Napa, etc..I think about all the friends I’ve made and the ones I left behind. When I think back to my youth (and I still believe that 31 is young), I realize that being young is a brief and fleeting period in one’s life that you constantly refer back to and measure the rest of your life against, a momentary era where things were as easy as they could ever be.

We all have regrets from our twenties. I’ve chosen to make peace with mine. I try not to live with regret, that is, until I try to move clothing around in my overcrowded closet or go into my garage and take a peek at my shoe rack. I over-consumed for all of my twenties, and I don’t know what to do with all of the things I accumulated over the decade. The simple concept of a closet purge terrifies me because I do not know where to start.

It all starts the same way. You get your first job and a first taste of real, adult freedom. Whether most of your money goes to rent or you’re living with your parents, you’re seeing what a big boy paycheck looks like. I have friends who started throwing all their money towards traveling. You know, the semi-annual big ticket trips to trending locations like the Amalfi or Tokyo. Others are really into their cars, pouring money into giving it all the upgrades and special packages. I also know people who blew all their money on bottle service or gambling. People always find their vice. Mine just happened to be the endless search of jawnz - always looking for the next come-up at the hands of the Supreme web store or a Yeezy sneaker raffle. Back then, I tried hard to stay away from the pieces that I considered too “hype,” but who am I kidding, it was all hype. Digging through the closet now is like showing up at a consignment store in 2019 with the remnants of Frozen Yellow Yeezys, GOLF le FLEUR* converse and Supreme x Undercover collaboration t-shirts. Who even was I?!

The second we all start making an adult salary, and for our golden decade, we begin to hopefully make some vertical moves and begin to move up the ladder, we begin to spend more on our vices. My first real job out of college was in finance, so I had to wait until the weekend to wear all of my drip that I’d purchase on my entry-level salary. It was when I got my first fashion job at 24 that I decided to let it all fly. I was buying up pretty much everything I could get my hands on. I worked at a San Francisco company with a rich history of sartorial excellence in the Bay Area over the last half century or so, and with my employee discount, I bought up a ton of clothing from their brands. The word “collaboration” had me in a chokehold. Converse x JW Anderson, Palace x Calvin Klein, ALD x New Balance..I wanted it all! I purchased a Gucci hoodie, an Acne Studios jacket…all sorts of shit I didn’t need. Pieces that trended so hard 7-9 years ago that I’d look like that meme of Steve Buscemi trying to look young.

I don’t know what I was running from or what I was trying to avoid by buying all of these clothes. I remember when I first started my fashion job, I didn't repeat an outfit for the first 90 days. At the time, it felt like a badge of honor, but these days it’s just another symbol of the pointless consumption I was too deep into.

At 30 years and 11 months old, I have gotten rid of a lot of clothes over the years, but I still feel overwhelmed every morning when the stacks of t-shirts are overflowing from the chest of drawers and I break a hanger because my closet is too congested. I have bags of clothing that need to go to either Crossroads or The RealReal, but I haven’t even scratched the surface. There are just too many bags of t-shirts and boxes of shoes on the rack in the garage. There are times I want to purge everything and start over with a blank slate - a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans, a white t-shirt - and begin building up my wardrobe piece by piece with versatile, high-quality garments that will last a lifetime.

One of the universal truths about style, whether we like it or not, is that our tastes change as we age. The clothing I loved at 24 won’t be the same clothing I love at 34. Our wardrobes are alive - they grow, and like snakes, sometimes we have to shed our previous skin to become better versions of ourselves. There are plenty of pieces I own that I haven’t worn in months or even years that no longer suit my style, which makes me sad. Fun, colorful pieces from brands like Supreme and Rowing Blazers that I no longer need.

All of this buying and selling, and donating is not good for the environment. To shop more sustainably, I try to buy vintage a lot these days. I shop on eBay more than I shop at Uniqlo. I try to keep my rotations to a minimum. I still have too much stuff, but I feel like I’m making strides towards refining my style and being more selective about what pieces come into my collection. I don’t think I had it in my bones to dress boring like so many people opt to do as they age, but I feel my wardrobe is more controlled, more thoughtful. When I was in my early twenties, I was putting that shit on and seeing what stuck. People said I was stylish. I used to get a lot of eyes on the streets, but looking back, I don’t love a lot of the outfits I wore.

I’ve ranted long enough. Thinking back to all the unnecessary purchases I’ve made over the years, I wonder what would have come of all that money I spent on a decade’s worth of jawnz. I probably would have blown it all on another timepiece. Mistakes were made, and here I am with a house full of clutter that I need to make sense of. There is real weight there holding me down. I’m being bogged down by a mountain of sneakers I don’t wear and an assortment of Supreme jackets that no longer suit my style. In the end, we’re all being held down by the overwhelming amount of possessions we have, but it took me a decade to learn that. We’re all happier with less stuff, and I’m looking forward to the journey of figuring that out for myself.

Peace and Love