5 jackets × 5 trousers × 3 shirts = 75 outfits+ Olive, Charcoal, Pale pink = 196 in all

5 suits, 75 outfits: a capsule wardrobe calculator

No. 01 / 75 · Wardrobe calculator

Five suits,
seventy-five outfits.

Buy the five colours once and the choosing is over: every jacket goes with every pair of trousers, and all three shirts go over both. Take any combination below and it works.

Unsure? Put black on the bottom — it carries anything above it, and the shoe is picked for you either way.

Olive and charcoal cloth and a pale pink shirt are additions, not part of the five. Each passes the same test — it goes with every other piece — so the outfits they make are counted after the seventy-five, never among them.

How it works

A capsule wardrobe that multiplies.

The idea is a piece of suiting advice that did the rounds: buy five suits in the right colours, wear them as separates, and you own seventy-five outfits. 5into75 is a free capsule wardrobe calculator that does the counting: it numbers every combination, keeps the extras apart from the claim, and picks the shoe.

The five suits

Black, navy, grey, brown and tan, each a jacket and a pair of trousers, with a white, a powder blue and a cream shirt. Every jacket goes over every pair of trousers and every shirt goes under both: 5 × 5 × 3 = 75 outfits. Five of the pairings are matched suits; the other twenty wear the jacket as a sport coat.

Beyond the 75

Olive and charcoal cloth and a pale pink shirt are additions, not part of the five. Each goes with every other piece, so with them the closet makes 196 outfits — but those are numbered after the seventy-five, never among them.

Shorts & t-shirts

The summer capsule is five plain crew-neck t-shirts — white, cream, powder blue, sage and sand — over shorts in the same five colours as the suits: 5 × 5 = 25 outfits, and 35 once olive and charcoal shorts are counted after them.

Off duty

Chinos and jeans are pickier than suit cloth, so nothing multiplies: three styles, eleven pairs of trousers between them, and four tops known to work on every pair. 11 × 4 = 44 looks, the shoe already decided. The jeans-and-tees looks follow the wash: pale tones on a light wash, dark or vibrant on dark, anything on a mid wash, earth tones on black, neutrals and pastels on white.

The shoe follows

Footwear is never a choice that counts. Black anywhere in a suit outfit means black calf, tan takes cognac, brown and olive take dark brown. Shorts take white leather, sand suede or navy canvas; the casual looks take white sneakers, black jeans a dark shoe. Any pick can be overridden.