Women have four different sizes in their wardrobes

by Taryn Davies | 15 March 2012

Are you hoarding clothes that don't fit?

We all know it's hard to let go of certain clothes, they can be sentimental, a gift, we looked really slim in them, or most likely, we just like to hoard things

About 80 per cent of British women admit to hoarding ill-fitting clothes, especially jeans, with one in 12 keeping items of four different sizes, according to retailer TK Maxx.

More than one in four of the more than 1,000 women surveyed had been four or more different dress sizes during their adult lives and one in 12 of the women surveyed currently have four or more sizes of clothes in their ’four-drobe’.

A study by TK Maxx and Cancer Research UK found a quarter keep expensive, designer clothes that no longer fit as they can’t bear to give them away.

But holding on to clothes that you don’t wear does more harm than good, warns top psychologist Linda Papadopoulos, she says:

“There are many reasons why people keep clothes they no longer wear but clearing out your wardrobe of sizes and styles that no longer fit and giving them to ‘Give Up Clothes for Good’ will help you to love and value the person you are today. You’ll feel even better knowing that you’ll be making a huge difference through your donation by helping to beat children’s cancers.

“People can also develop an emotional attachment or sense of nostalgia to clothes making them hard to let go of – whether it’s the dress you wore when you got engaged or that lucky suit you wore for a job interview. Donating clothes to charity helps to release that reluctance to part ways with the item because you know that you’re giving a child the chance to have a better life as well as giving your clothes a new lease of life.”

The women who hold on to their clothes that don't fit admitted that they hope they'll come in handy at some point, and some even bought them in the size too small as 'thinspiration' in the hope of fitting into them soon.

To support ‘Give Up Clothes for Good’, drop off a bag of unwanted quality clothing at TK Maxx from 1^st-30^th April 2012. Special donation bags available free in all TK Maxx stores from late March, however, any bag will do – from bin bags to carrier bags.