What I Learned By Wearing the Same Dress for 100 Days in a Row

Don’t Worry — I Washed it

Disclaimer: I don’t work for Wool& and my views here are my own.

In early fall 2021, I got a Facebook ad for a clothing site named Wool&. I liked their styles and I generally like wool clothing, so I decided to purchase one of their dresses, the Rowena Swing. It was then that I learned about their 100 Day Challenge.

Basically, the challenge is this: wear one of their dresses every day for 100 days straight — and take a picture every day to record it. Share those pictures with Wool& (or post them in a public place, like Instagram), and they’ll send you a $100 gift card at the end of your challenge. There’s also an extremely active Facebook group where people post pictures of their outfits, ask questions and get support throughout their challenge.

I wore the dress a couple of times before I committed to the challenge (I wanted to know what I was getting myself into!), but I thought “Sure, I can do this”, and took my first picture on November 8th, 2021.

100 days later, on February 16th, 2022, I finished my challenge. Here’s what I learned:

Wool is an Amazing Fiber

As a knitter and crocheter, I was already a big fan of wool (especially merino wool), and my winter closet already contained a lot of Smartwool products. It’s sustainable, it’s comfortable, it helps you regulate your temperature and stay dry, and it’s naturally odor-resistant. Doing this challenge only solidified my love of wool.

You can Really Cut Down on Laundry

I washed the dress about every 5 to 7 days — it never really got a bad smell, and I never spilled anything on it, but I still felt the need to wash it. (I learned in the Facebook group that not everyone does…)I still had other laundry: leggings, workout clothes, etc., but for everyday wear, I was able to cut laundry down to a couple of loads per week. Win!

Sometimes it’s nice to have a Uniform

I work from home, but even then sometimes I debate what I should wear so I look different from my last Zoom call. Wearing the dress alleviated this. I knew what I was going to put on every morning when I was getting ready: I only had to pick which color leggings for the day.

No one Notices what You Wear

I expected someone to comment on one of those Zoom calls — “Weren’t you wearing that gray dress yesterday?” or “The last 10 days?”. No one ever said anything! The biggest comment that I got out of anyone (who wasn’t already aware of the challenge) was “I noticed that you’ve been wearing a lot of dresses recently.” — They hadn’t noticed it was the same dress!

Maybe people noticed and just didn’t say anything, but I thought after two or three months of wearing the same thing someone would have said something, right?

It Made Packing Easy

When traveling over the holidays and visiting friends, there was not a lot of debate over what was going in my suitcase. Again, I just had to pick what I was going to wear with it — and a grey dress is pretty easy to dress up or down for the occasion. My suitcase was really light!

It Helped Spawn Other Habits

The worst part of the challenge was having to remember to take a picture every day. Wool& gives you up to 5 missing pictures as leeway, but that’s still 95 pictures to remember. To help me remember, I tried to take my pictures on a daily walk I took after lunch — I’m still going on my daily walk, but now I don’t have to stop for a picture!

I also got in the habit of hanging my clothes up after I’d worn them. If I knew I was going to wear the same thing the next day, I should hang it up instead of letting it wrinkle on the bathroom floor.

My Dress Held up Well

After wearing something for 100 days and washing it repeatedly, I expected that the dress might need to be replaced, but that’s not the case. The fabric in the underarms may be slightly thinner than on Day 1, but there are no holes or piles. I’ve seen other people with varying results in the Facebook group, but during my challenge:

1. I worked from home, so it was mainly my uniform for sitting in front of a computer.
2. I don’t have pets or children to muss it up, and I wore an apron over it while cooking.
3. I was pretty “basic” in the way I styled the dress. I didn’t put a lot of strain on it.
4. I washed it by itself in the washing machine on the hand wash cycle, using Soak Wool Wash, and would let it hang dry (it was always completely dry overnight). On days when I wasn’t washing it, I hung it on my shower wall to steam.
5. I went for a walk in it almost every day, but I didn’t do anything like “work out” in the dress. (Although I did use it as a cover-up over my cycling bibs a couple of times after a long ride.)

Overall, I enjoyed doing the challenge although I felt like it got a little tedious toward the end — I have other clothes I want to wear! I probably wouldn’t do it again, but if you’re interested I encourage you to give it shot. Have fun!