The “cost per” idea isn’t new…people talk about “cost per mile” when it comes to transportation, “cost per square foot” when looking for space to rent or homes to buy, and “cost per click” when it comes to online advertising; but the idea of “cost per wear” didn’t really occur to me until Courtney started bringing up the term in the shop in response to women who would mention that bras are too expensive.
I had a customer in the dressing room the other day actually do the math. She came in wearing one of the same two bras she’d worn for the past eight years and said she recalled them being “expensive” at $50 a piece. I asked her to think about the cost per wear of the eight-year-old bra she was wearing. Eight straight years rotating the same two bras…that’s a lot of wear!
“I can actually do that,” she said, “I’m a retired math teacher. Will you get me a pencil?”
She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and started doing the math the long way…the old fashioned way…the way I understand…which is no small feat because math was definitely NOT my favorite subject in high school. There she was standing in her bra in the dressing room doing math with a pencil and piece of paper…
“There are 365 days a year and I’ve probably worn this one bra twice as much as the other because I like it better. So…let’s say I wore that one bra 240 days out of the year for eight years. That’s 1,920 days…”
She went on and on with her longhand and the cost of that bra came out to be under three cents per wear (2.6 cents to be more exact). We agreed that that’s not very expensive at all and pondered why we women have such ideas in our head. Maybe we just have never thought of bras – or clothing in general – in a “cost per wear” kind of way. I just bought a dress for example that I’m planning on wearing to an upcoming gala. I can guarantee you that the “cost per wear” on that thing will be way higher than three cents. In my mind it wasn’t expensive at $75, but I’ll probably only wear it once! Cost per wear = $75!
I’m sure I’m going to burst some bubbles here, but most bras don’t last eight years – would anything that you wore day after day after day last that long? This woman was slender and slight and well, truth be told, her bras didn’t have to do that much work. Also, that eight-year-old bra didn’t look a year over two…she took really good care of it. That said, if you do a little math, you might be surprised about how much your bra costs vs. the rest of your clothing (and shoes!) on a cost per wear basis. How you take care of your bras (hand wash/no dryer…), getting the best fit and style (bra fitting, anyone?), and giving your bras a rest (having a few to rotate) will help them last longer and get those “cost per wear” dollars – heck, cents – down even lower.
I gave my math teacher friend an “A+” and she went on her way with her two new beauties. Math and bras…who knew such things could be kind of fun?
It all adds up. Go math! Go bras!
xo
Joy
Joy Slusarek is a bra fitter and the owner of JOY all things underthings in Manchester Center, Vermont, a full-service bra and lingerie shop. This was one of her most pleasant experiences with math.
