Why tracking your wardrobe might make your life easier

The first big TikTok trend of 2024 is upon us—fitness phenomenon, the 75 Hard Challenge and its fashion-related offshoot, the 75 Day Hard Style Challenge, which tasks you to track what you wear for 75 days and not buy anything new. New year life and style overhauls are nothing new, but this particular movement reflects a growing trend towards wardrobe tracking, which—in theory—helps people appreciate what they have in their wardrobes more so that there are less unnecessary purchases made.

Wardrobe-tracking app Whering—which launched in June 2020 and was one of the first to jump on this idea—allows people to have a digital wardrobe at their fingertips so that they can style outfits from their phones but can also track how often they wear certain pieces, while being reminded about those that they may have forgotten about.

“Our mission is to extend the life cycle of clothes by taking our wardrobes digital and getting us to fall back in love with what we already have,” founder Bianca Rangecroft told us. “You can see everything you own in one place, plus receive daily styling suggestions and curated product recommendations to complement your existing wardrobe.”

Having an organised digital wardrobe allows you to identify what you really need to buy, if anything. You can track your most-worn items, decide what is worth selling or donating, and also be more creative with styling what you already own, with a little help from the app.

“We’re using machine learning to offer tailored styling suggestions that enable you to view your wardrobe entirely differently, receive outfits ideas you’d never have thought of and get that jolt of novelty not dissimilar from buying something new.”

Similarly, the idea of the 75 Hard Style Challenge—which was started by fashion analyst Mandy Lee—asks you to document everything you wear for 75 days, so that you can see what you gravitate towards most, encouraging you to make the most of what you already own, rather than being tempted to buy something new.

“I’ve used this method many times and it’s one of my favourite easy ways to get back in touch with myself and see my clothes in a new exciting light,” Lee explained, outlining that you must intentionally get dressed, document your outfits, and set yourself some style resolutions. “My personal goals are to start wearing pants more, firming up my casual style, and experiment with new shapes and silhouettes.”

However you choose to do it, tracking what you own and how much you wear it could be a great way of having a wardrobe reset—and will give you plenty of information that will help you avoid those impulse buys that you will inevitably regret.

This piece originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar UK.