My 100 Day Dress Challenge

 

I’m on day 24 of my 100 Day Dress Challenge. The challenge is a marketing strategy that asks women to wear a Wool& dress for 100 days straight. Upon completion and submission of photographic evidence you are rewarded with a $100 coupon to use on your next Wool& dress. Fortunately, I find myself at a time in life when monetary reward is not as important as other outcomes associated with the challenge:

·       Removing decision fatigue from my mornings. Every day there are so many decisions that begin in the morning with “what should I wear today?” During the challenge, I no longer need to answer that question – the decision has been made.

    ·      Moving towards minimalism. I will never be a true minimalist but am very attracted to the idea. After years of following Flylady and decluttering daily I’m ready to pare down what I own even further. Fewer things magically create more time. In this case it is straightforward: I am doing much less laundry.* (see below for explanation)

    ·      Enjoying indulgence in both quality and comfort. Wearing natural, well-constructed fibers feels incredibly good. In the heat of summer I’m cool and in the chill of cold air-conditioning I’m warm. Wool breathes and regulates your body temperature. It releases odors, debris and stains.

Before I began the challenge, I read blogs of wearers’ experiences, so I knew to expect a mental challenge to join me. I’ve had days that I thought I would just give up,” I’m tired of wearing this potato sack!” And I’ve had many more days I would comb the Wool& website planning my next dress. Most days I’m grateful that I can be ready for the day in such short time. Yesterday I had a revelation while planning my work wardrobe. Initially I thought I would buy 2 more dresses and begin a 3 day rotation. As for the challenge: 1 – I’m really not in it for the money and 2- putting the original dress on after work and wearing it for about 6-8 hours still counts. However, buying more is antithetical to my lofty “being a better person, kind to the environment” ego. I realized that wearing the clothing I have is even better than buying more, so there’s no need to purge my closet. I still like the minimalist idea of the 3-outfit rotation though and will try that as I use up my current clothing.

Many reviewers report that no one notices when you wear the same dress daily, but I’m still vain enough to think maybe people do. I’m more concerned with other teachers noticing than with my students. I considered a little announcement at our department meeting, but didn’t want the attention. Hopefully I’m close enough with everyone, that if gossip start flying “why is Carol wearing the same 3 outfits?!?!” someone will clue me in and I can then explain.

Finally, for those who are intrigued or still have questions here is the practical application:

• The dress must be worn daily and the company recommends 8 hours of wear. Many days I wear the dress for 12 hours, so a few days of 4 hours balances out.
• Every night I put the dress on a felt hanger between a doorway so it can air out. Even if it looks wrinkled or bunched up (perhaps after wearing it belted) by morning it looks as if the night fairies came and ironed it.
• *Yes, you can wash your dress during the challenge, but you will find that wool is a naturally forgiving fiber. I’ve been washing the dress once a week, but even on day seven the dress looks and smells clean. Dog hair releases and falls away, spots are easily treated by rubbing a cloth with warm water over the spot.
• Styling is encouraged. Scarves, belts, sweaters, jackets, leggings, can all be used to change your look. Some women even scrunch up the dress to look like a top and wear jeans. Apparently a “hijab clip” may be in my future to help alter the dress temporarily.
• There are different wool blends. I am wearing the Sierra dress which feels like French terry or a light sweatshirt material. The weight allows it to drape well.
• My dress is the Sierra in XXL/Long. When ordering, the sizing changes based on regular or long. At the time I ordered not every size was available in Black. I think I would prefer the 1X/regular length.

    My day 30 (there is a smaller 30 day/$30 challenge that I can do instead) falls on the day I go back to work for the school year. My day 100 falls on Halloween.

This is not a paid promotion/sponsorship and if you choose to give it a try, all I get is another buddy to join me on this quest.