I wear a shirt that many times in a year, and they last many years.
Granted, my shirts probably aren't as fancy as his and don't cost as much, but that's even more reason to be horrified.
Washing certainly takes its toll. In my case, wear shows both "technically", as the fabric and details weakening, but also as a general decline in freshness. And i don't mean fresh-as-new, but rather pure whites turning yellowish. They become unfit for my work context. Some of this wear is from washing, some is from deterioration during long days at work.
I also was my socks after each use. Here it would seem washing really is the main source of wear as it is very evenly spread.
Shirts with print, for me, would fall under T-shirts and tanks. The few ones I have, definitely wear faster.
My underwear shirts are the ones that tend to last 20-25 times. After that, they are no longer fresh. And I don't mean fresh as new, but rather unfresh to the extent of not being ok through a long day at work.
Some, I continue using as sportswear also :)
And yes, mine would have been "wearable" too, only not at work anymore. I did keep wearing some of them in a rather casual way at my summer house for a while. But in that use, I considered them divested.
My accounting data says I got those shirts in August 2018. I have worn one of these 15 T-shirts everyday since then (with very few exceptions, e.g. when formal wear was called for). Let's round that to 2.5 years, i.e. 912 days, i.e. about 60 wears per shirt. I'm not seeing any significant degradation on these shirts, so I can easily see myself wearing these at least another 3 years, which would be over 130 wears per shirt.
For reference, this is the model I'm wearing right now: http://www.gildan.se/en/o61001-en-grey
FWIW, like the author, I spend a small fortune on clothing/shoes, but I tend to wear items until they're threadbare. A few items here and there end up donated, but largely by the time I'm done with something, it goes into a rag pile for cleaning bicycles.
I actually also keep wearing many of the clothes until they are really worn out. The exception is work clothes, mainly button down shirts. In this context, I consider something divested when I no longer can wear it in its original intended context (e.g. work). I might continue use at my summer home or digging in the garden. And likewise, eventually if not donated they also end up in a rag pile for cleaning, or into the cotton recycling that fashion stores have to provide.
Just to say, each their own. The article is interesting on its own without people judging the author's habits.
They have been demoted of course. But the wear is fine as long as I don’t attend a wedding or a job interview.