We do almost all of our
clothing shopping at thrift stores, other than underwear and foulie water-shedding top layers. Some of those were even bought used at sailing resail shops too. Even our foul
weather fleece mid-layers are thrift shop finds .
It is amazing what you can find at a thrift shop if you dig a little. Silk, rayon, wool, and "tech" drip-dry
clothing are there I'd you are willing to sort through the typical cotton and cotton blends that fill the racks.. I have found a lot of polo-type lightweight tech shirts lately, which are a little more informally formal than a basic T-shirt. I love these. One has to be willing to wear random logos from businesses, sporting
events, charity
events, and so on printed on many of this used clothing. A lot of it was probably giveaway items from special events or people's
work and was never or seldom worn before it was donated.
Most of my clothing purchases are in the $2-4 range per item. Living on a
boat and maintaining it yourself is hard on clothing and I can't imagine paying retail for this kind of stuff. A "new" article of clothing will likely have a
diesel or
oil stain, run in the stitching, or small hole/tear in it before too long when it is in my wardrobe. Our clothing
Budget is probably a couple hundred dollars a year between my wife an myself. We spend far more on
laundry at
marinas and laundromats nearby the
anchorages we stay at than we do on the clothing itself.
For underwear I wear bamboo rayon. It's almost as good as silk at staying dry, drying on the
lifelines, and doesn't get stinky.
Finally, I think cotton doesn't have a place on the
boat for me other than as rags for
cleaning. As a clothing
fabric is is not very good on the
water. Before I lived on a boat almost everything I wore was cotton. In a climate-controlled enviorment it is soft and comfortable, if worn for just a day or partial day. On the boat, where clothing may be called to be worn for multiple days, and in hot and cold conditions, cotton is a very poor performer IMHO compared to tech
fabric and silk/rayon/wool.