Dressing yourself can be an expensive business. But arm yourself with our clothes-conserving tips and your credit card won’t need to take another beating.

This is our guide to making what you’ve already got earn its keep, and your wardrobe go the distance.

1. Bark Up The Right Tree

Anyone who’s actually seen a pair of shoe trees in all their Instagrammable glory should need little convincing of their worth: not only are these handsome pieces of craftsmanship, they’ll add years to your footwear, too.

Suppress the temptation to stick them in your slippers, and lodge in your favourite leather footwear instead. Shoe trees will retain the shape of your brogues, Derbies and Oxfords, wicking away moisture from wear and stopping creasing in its tracks. Who said you can’t have beauty and brains?

2. Banish Bobbles For Good

Jumper plagued by unsightly bumps that just won’t seem to budge? Unlike acne in your adolescence, bobbling on clothes is one problem that doesn’t get better with age. Thankfully, though, it’s a lot easier to fix than a facial flare-up.

Invest in a cashmere comb or an electronic fabric shaver to gently remove pesky pilling and give your knitwear a new lease of life. Cheap, easy and oddly therapeutic.

3. Don’t Wash Your Clothes Too Often

Getting overzealous with the washing machine is just about the fastest track to reducing your most-loved garms to a pile of scrap. Save your wardrobe – and the planet – with a hefty dose of common sense when choosing what to wash: if it looks and smells clean, it’s probably clean.

Yes, gym kits, underwear and that tee you don exclusively for demolishing mounds of spaghetti should be washed after wear, but jeans and jumpers – provided you’ve steered clear of the stables – very rarely need the same treatment after just one outing.

4. Seal Your Suede

It doesn’t take a medicine degree to know that when it comes to crisis management, prevention is invariably better than cure. So take a leaf out of your doctor’s book to keep your suede stain-free.

Apply a light layer of fabric protector before your first wear – remembering to keep your distance when spraying (15-20cm should do the trick) – and rest secure in the knowledge that your nap’s safe and sound. Just remember to give it a top up every now and then.

5. Know When To Fold, And When To Hang

Turbo-charging your wardrobe’s longevity requires a stellar storage strategy. Ignore this and certain items will instantly give away your slovenly stowing habits.

Knitwear has a tendency to head south when hung, so fold yours neatly and place in a drawer to ensure it doesn’t look like your prize from a sample sale tug of war. As an added bonus, you’ll ditch those weird hanger marks, so no more jutting pseudo-collarbones. Always good.

Suits and shirts, on the other hand, should always be hung on natural wood hangers which will help maintain shape, relax any creases that have developed and wick away all that moisture soaked up during boardroom showdowns.....

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