Your Closet Is Allowed to Have a Personality

I don't know about your closet, but mine has never been particularly good at sticking to a theme.

There are shirts that mean something to me, shirts connected to places I've been or things I care about, shirts I bought because they made me laugh, and shirts that mostly exist because I apparently have a complicated relationship with coffee.

Of course, we all have the oddball or two that scream, Why did I ever buy this? We need to get better at donating and purging our closets of these head-scratchers. Because it's so much more fun getting dressed when your clothes have a personality—your personality.

And you know you have more than one side of you. We're human; we're beautifully complex.

We Don't Actually Live in Categories

We organize stores into categories because we have to. Coffee goes here. Fitness goes there. Zodiac gets its own collection. Retro and humor end up together because apparently sarcasm needed a home.

People don't work that way.

You can spend the morning doing serious work, stop for coffee wearing a shirt that makes fun of your dependence on said coffee, hit the gym later and be perfectly satisfied with a workout nobody is going to make a documentary about. Then October rolls around and you're standing in an apple orchard wearing matching pumpkin shirts with your kid.

Beautifully complex.

That's actually one of the things I enjoy about graphic shirts. They don't have to explain everything about you. Good Lord, imagine the size of the shirt we'd need. But they can explain the part of you you're feeling today.

Coffee Apparently Became a Personality Trait

I'm a coffee guy; I'm not the most objective person to tackle this subject.

There are people who drink coffee because they want caffeine. That's most of us, I'd guess. There are those of us who want our sugar and coffee is our vessel of choice. There are people who genuinely love coffee black. And then there are those of us who have opinions about beans, roasts, brewing methods and whether decaf should be allowed to participate in the conversation.

This is how you end up with shirts like Emotionally Supported by Coffee, Cancel Plans for Coffee, Currently Avoiding Decaf and Decaf Was Never an Option. None of these need an explanation. The right person reads one and laughs because they recognize themselves—or somebody they know. Maybe it's me they know.

The Gym Is Funny If We're Willing to Admit It

Fitness apparel can get awfully intense. There is apparently no middle ground between sitting on the couch and preparing to storm Normandy. Beast mode. No excuses. Pain is just weakness leaving your body. Oh my gosh! Have you met them? Let me tell you, pain is pain, no nothing leaving. I digress. Meanwhile, a whole lot of us are just trying to get healthier.

That's where Slow Gains came from. From that human struggle to fit it in, get it done, and recognize the journey can be long.

I like progress. I like getting stronger. I like seeing the results when consistency starts adding up. I also know there are days when getting yourself into the gym—or getting out for the walk—is the accomplishment. And you know what? Those days count too.

Slow progress is still progress, and sometimes having a sense of humor about the whole thing makes it easier to come back tomorrow.

Besides, if every workout required beast mode, some of us would need a nap before we got started.

Some Things Just Take You Back

Retro is different. You can see a phrase you haven't heard in twenty years and suddenly remember exactly who used to say it. A typeface can do it. An old expression can do it. Sometimes it's something we thought disappeared for good until some youth dug it out of the years-past lifestyle and suddenly it's cool again. Thanks, youth. You're cool and all, but uh, we invented that.

That's a lot of the fun behind our Retro-Sayings & Humorous Collection. It isn't complicated. Recognition is fun. Nostalgia is fun. Finding something that reminds you of another time in your life can make an ordinary shirt feel surprisingly personal.

And remember, I'm rubber, you're glue—Neener, Neener.

Apparently the Stars Wanted a Collection

Then there's the Zodiac. Some people know their sign. Some know their sign plus enough additional information about the moon and planets to explain why you are the way you are. Some people think the entire thing is ridiculous. We have 3 different collections for the first two groups.

I'm kidding. Mostly.

What I like about the Zodiac/Astrology Collection is the same thing I like about the rest of this stuff: people connect with different things for different reasons. Maybe the symbolism means something to you. Maybe you love the artwork; our collections are unique. Maybe being a Leo has become part of the running joke your friends have been making about you for thirty years.

You don't have to defend why you connected with the shirt. You like it. Buy it. Wear it. It's your sign, your shirt.

Then Fall Arrives

This one fascinates me because fall seems to have extraordinary power over otherwise reasonable adults. The temperature drops a few degrees. One leaf turns orange.

And bam! Pack up the car, we're going to the orchard. There will be pumpkins. There will be pictures. Something will taste like cinnamon. Someone will put on a sweatshirt several weeks before Northern California weather has actually justified wearing one.

We're completely onboard. Our Fall Collection is exploding because there is so much material to work with. I'm Fallin' for You. Hey, Boo. Resting Witch Face. Too Ghoul for School. Fall apparently has a sense of humor, and Halloween makes it even easier.

Of course we started working on family designs too.

Mommy and Her Little Pumpkins. Little Pumpkin. Daddy's Little Monster. Little Monster.

This is how perfectly independent adults end up coordinating outfits with small children for a trip to the pumpkin patch. No judging from me. I think it's adorable. Besides, they're only going to let you get away with it for so long. You might as well get the picture while you can.

Maybe That's What the Closet Is For

Some clothes are practical. Some are beautiful. Some carry memories. Some tell people a little about us before we've said anything. And some just make us smile when we pull them out of the drawer. That's enough variety for me.

It's also a pretty good explanation for why Clothed in Kindness keeps wandering into new collections. We're interested in people, and people keep being interested in things. Coffee. Fitness. Old sayings. Astrology. Halloween. Their kids. Art. Something ridiculous somebody said twenty years ago that still makes them laugh.

There will probably be something else next week. Actually, knowing me, there almost certainly will be.

So no, your closet doesn't need a theme. It could probably use a purge. Mine could too. But after that? Fill it with things that sound like you.

Clothed in Kindness — Apparel That Sounds Like You. Say Less. Mean More. Find Your Fit.