Chase Quality, Instead

It's easy to confuse new with better.

A new jacket... because it was on sale!

A new pair of shoes... because some celebrity was wearing them?

A new trend that suddenly seems to be everywhere...nah.

There's always something else we're told to buy, isn't there?

But the older I get, the more I think the better question is a simpler one:

Is it good enough to keep?

Almost immediately after my son was born, I started putting his initials in my gear. I know it will last. Why?

Because quality has a way of revealing itself over time.

The jacket you reach for year after year, and it never gets old.

The shoes that get better with wear. Resoled and worn again and again.

The shirt that still sits in the sweet spot of the wardrobe.

Those things don't need much explanation.

They simply work. (Even though we're not 100% sure why time doesn't affect them)

And I think that's the difference between buying something and choosing something.

When you choose well, you don't have to keep replacing it. You don't have to keep looking for something better.

You already know.

Maybe that's why the best wardrobes I've seen aren't necessarily the biggest.

They're the ones where almost everything has earned its place.

There's a certain freedom in that.

Less searching.

Less deciding.

Less chasing. Literally, less is more.

Just good things, chosen carefully, and used often.

Stop chasing what's new.

Chase what's worth keeping.

Something to consider.

–DW