5 items not to overlook when valuing your wardrobe

When it comes to home and contents, wardrobes tend to be routinely overlooked and undervalued. At Chubb, it’s one of the most common areas our clients pass over when taking stock of their possessions, despite often having highly valuable clothing collections.

From bespoke designer pieces to extensive shoe collections, over time it’s easy to forget just how much your wardrobe may be worth. As our policies operate on a new for old basis, we encourage our clients to think just how much it would cost to replace items in their wardrobe as if they were new.

The figure can be often eye-opening. As a broad rule of thumb, we tend to expect an overall contents sum insured of £300,000 to have around £40,000 of clothing protection for ladies and £35,000 for gentlemen. For people with a dedicated interest in clothing, these figures can increase significantly.

Suits can easily be overlooked, especially if they’re kept in storage covers. Tailored suits typically cost between £800 and £2,000, and we routinely encounter wardrobes containing 30 or more.

Dresses from some of the world’s leading designers such as Alexander McQueen can cost from £2,000 to upwards of £70,000. Even multiple nondesigner items, when combined together, become significant in value. This also applies to clothing types which tend to be higher cost anyway, such as winter jackets and overcoats.

Designer shoes for both men and women have a distinct reputation for carrying large price tags. Heels from Christian Louboutin start at £450 and range anywhere up to over £6,000. The average person owns between 10 and 20 pairs of shoes. Often, we see collections that greatly exceed this.

It’s not uncommon for our home appraisers to encounter high-value handbags such as a crocodile Hermes bag worth £40,000, or a Bottega Veneta crocodile shopper at £80,000.

Designer luggage collections by the likes of Louis Vuitton can be routinely valued at £10,000. We frequently see carry on luggage from Gucci which can be valued at over £2,000 for a single case.

To put an accurate assessment on replacing a wardrobe, Chubb appraisers visit our clients’ homes and arrive at a figure that is representative of full replacement and protection. This isn’t strictly an itemized process, and is more of a discreet, individual conversation taking into account brand preference.