5 items not to overlook when valuing your wardrobe
When it comes to insuring your home and its contents, wardrobes are often 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 replacement cost basis, it’s a good idea to do a careful assessment of how much it would cost to replace items in your closet if you were to buy them again new.
Generally, the standard amount of coverage for possessions—including clothing—is 50 to 70 percent of the insurance you have on your home. This may not be enough insurance for people with a dedicated interest in clothing, so it’s important to assess exactly how much your wardrobe is worth.
Here are five key items you should be sure to keep in mind when assessing your wardrobe.
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Suits.
Suits can easily be overlooked, especially if they’re kept in storage covers. Tailored suits typically cost between $1,000 and $3,000, and we routinely encounter wardrobes containing 30 or more.
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Dresses, jackets and coats.
Dresses from some of the world’s leading designers can cost from $2,500 to $80,000. Even multiple non-designer items, when combined, become significant in value. This also applies to clothing types which tend to be higher cost anyway, such as winter jackets and overcoats.
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Shoes.
Designer shoes for both men and women have a distinct reputation for carrying large price tags. Many women’s shoes start at $550 and range anywhere up to over $3,000.
The average woman owns 17 pairs of shoes. Often, we see collections that greatly exceed this.
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Handbags.
It’s not uncommon for our risk consultants to encounter designer handbags averaging $3,000 - $10,000 in value—and the occasional high-value collector bag can be as much as $50,000.
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Luggage.
Designer luggage collections can be routinely valued at $12,000. And some carry-on luggage can cost over $2,500 for a single case.
This document is advisory in nature and is offered as a resource to be used together with your professional insurance advisors in maintaining a loss prevention program. It is an overview only, and is not intended as a substitute for consultation with your insurance broker, or for legal, engineering or other professional advice.
Chubb is the marketing name used to refer to subsidiaries of Chubb Limited providing insurance and related services. For a list of these subsidiaries, please visit our website at www.chubb.com. Insurance provided by Chubb Insurance Company of Canada or Chubb Life Insurance Company of Canada (collectively, “Chubb Canada”). All products may not be available in all provinces or territories. This communication contains product summaries only. Coverage is subject to the language of the policies as actually issued.
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