How To Transition Your Wardrobe Like A Pro For Winter
With October fast approaching, the temperatures dropping and the days growing shorter, the time has finally come to transition your wardrobe: swap out sandals for boots, strappy tops for woolly jumpers and shorts for jeans.
With the warm summer days fading, the beginning of Autumn marks a great opportunity to refresh your wardrobe in preparation for the colder months ahead.
Why Should You Transition Your Wardrobe?
Trust us; by putting some thought into which items are accessible and on display in your wardrobe now, you’ll reap the benefits of a functional and uncluttered wardrobe for many months to come.
There’ll be no more rifling through summer dresses in the middle of winter or frantically searching for your favourite pair of leather gloves on a crisp morning.
Taking the time to transition your wardrobe from summer to winter in a systematic and organised manner is easy when you know how; here’s our process for getting your wardrobe organised for the new season like a pro.
Step One: Decide what to keep, discard, donate or sell
The initial step in transitioning your wardrobe from summer to winter involves sorting through every item currently in your wardrobe.
Take one category at a time, e.g. tops, and begin carefully sorting into the following four piles:
Keep
Items that you love and have worn over the past few months.
Discard
Items you haven’t worn over the past few months that are damaged / worn out.
Donate
Items you haven’t worn over the past few months that are in good condition.
Sell
Items you haven’t worn over the past few months that are in good condition and valuable.
As you sort through your clothing, you may find it helpful to ask yourself these questions:
When did I last wear this?
Does this fit into my current lifestyle?
How often do I wear this?
How long have I had this for?
Is this comfortable?
Do I love this?
Being honest with yourself when you answer these questions will help you to declutter your wardrobe of items you don’t wear and create space for new items that you love in the future.
Step Two: Give Your Wardrobe An ‘Autumn’ Clean
With everything removed from your wardrobe, you should take this opportunity to give the thing a thorough clean. In doing so, you will create a fresh canvas on which to plan out your new seasonal wardrobe display.
Start by dusting and hoovering all shelves and drawers, (don’t forget those high shelves where dust can hide!).
Next wipe down all surfaces and dry thoroughly.
Finally, if you don’t have any in place already, now is a good time to add anti-moth products to ensure a moth free wardrobe.
Step Three: Wash Items That Have Been In Storage
Maybe it’s just us, but rediscovering items that have been packed away for months can be a fun and inspiring activity! Ready for a change in season, it’s exciting to start planning outfits with these newly rediscovered items of clothing.
However, clothing that has been in storage can have a musty smell and will be in need of freshening up. That’s why, before slipping into these outfits, it’s best to wash them, or for more delicate items, have them dry cleaned.
This way, you can ensure that everything you’re looking forward to wearing in the new season is clean and fresh and ready to go.
Step Four: Store Out Of Season Items
With your storage bags / containers / bins now empty, it’s time to free up some wardrobe space and store away any out of season items that you won’t be wearing in the months to come.
To determine what you won’t wear through the colder months, you should consider fabrics, prints and colours. Linen or lightweight fabrics, pastels colours and florals, swimwear, spring/summer dresses, sandals and shorts are examples of items that should be stored away.
Storage options should be decided upon depending on your wardrobe set up. If your wardrobe has high open shelves, you can opt for uncovered baskets that fit with the wardrobe’s aesthetic.
If you have under bed storage, you can choose covered bins that can be tucked neatly beneath. If you have a basement or storage room, large, stackable clear bins work well for storing off season clothing and shoes.
Finally, if you’re tight on space, vacuum storage bags are excellent for condensing down the size of what you need to store.
Always remember to add labels to every storage bag / container / bin, for easy retrieval in the future!
Step Five: Set Up Your Wardrobe
Finally, with all your clothing sorted, it’s time to set up your wardrobe for the new season.
Before placing anything inside your wardrobe, consider the items that you wear most often and will need to have most accessible. Taking the time to do this now will make getting dressed in the mornings a breeze!
You might also like to consider adding some organising products to make the most of your space.
Space Saving Hangers
Whilst heavier items such as coats and jackets should be stored on wooden hangers, lighter items can be hung on slimline, space saving hangers. We recommend hanging items such as shirts, dresses, jeans and skirts.
Drawer Dividers
If you’re not going to be hanging all of your clothing, file-folding is a brilliant method to maximise drawer space. Adding drawer dividers between rows of file-folded clothing will help to create clear sections and enable easy maintenance of the system. We recommend file-folding items such as loungewear, pyjamas, t-shirts and sportswear.
Need Help With Your Seasonal Wardrobe Transition?
At Homefulness we have supported many clients in transitioning their wardrobes between the seasons, implementing systems of organisation that make selecting outfits so much easier!
Be sure to check out our wardrobe how-to guide for some more in-depth guidance on organising your clothing and accessories the Homefulness way. Whether your wardrobe storage space is large or small, there is an organisation system that will work!
If you need help with your wardrobe transition, don’t hesitate to get in touch - Homefulness is here to help!
