The 'Per Wear' Math That's Making People Return Half Their Closet Purchases

A simple division problem is ruining shopping trips everywhere — in the best possible way.

The formula is older than the internet, but a new wave of videos made it hit different: price divided by number of times you'll realistically wear it. That's the item's true cost.

A $30 novelty top worn twice costs $15 a wear. A $90 jacket worn a hundred times costs less than a dollar. Suddenly the 'cheap' item is the expensive one, and the comment sections are in shambles.

Shoppers are filming themselves doing the math out loud in fitting rooms — 'Where am I wearing this? To whose wedding? In what weather?' — and putting pieces back on the rack mid-sentence.

The trend's dark-horse hero is the boring basic. As one viral post put it: 'My most glamorous purchase was a plain white shirt. It's at four cents a wear and still dropping.'