I was once eating a fast food sandwich during a lunch break when I overheard a lady compliment another woman. “I love your top!” she said, in which the other woman responded “thank you, it was $8 at Urban Outfitters!”. I stopped to think about the fact that my mediocre lunch cost me $2 more than that woman’s top. When did it become a point of pride to tell strangers how little you spent on a garment? We’re all guilty of it; I know I have been. It’s almost impossible to simply say “thank you” without also divulging what a bargain it was and where it came from. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that people are more embarrassed to expose if they spent a lot on a garment.
We’ll carry around a reusable straw, drive a hybrid or electric car, and petition to ban plastic bags. Yet the average consumer has no idea where their clothes or shoes come from, who is making it, or what it’s made out of. Check the care tag on most of the garments you find at a fast fashion store and you’ll start to realize that they are in fact made of “Frankenfabrics.” How that fabric is made, or from what, is a mystery to most of us. I recall some tops I owned from Forever21 that literally said “DO NOT WASH. DO NOT DRY CLEAN. ” That’s basically saying “this top isn’t meant to be worn and you’ll have to throw it in the trash after two wears”. Except this won’t biodegrade. It’s made of petroleum. And those strappy “faux leather” heels from H&M are made of polyurethane. You know, the same stuff used to make roller coaster wheels and floor sealants.
There is a misconstruction and expectation nowadays that clothing should be cheap. People think that if clothes are expensive, it’s a rip off and that it’s unjustified. The irony there is that most cheap retailers make more than twice the average profit margin of their more traditional competitors¹. Quality has gone by the wayside, and we’ve encouraged it by our shopping habits. Most people don’t even know what quality and a proper fit look like anymore, and don’t bat an eye if their clothes fall apart after a few washes. The average American buys over 60 pieces of clothing a year. As a result, the equivalent of one garbage truck worth of used clothing is being dumped in a landfill every second.
It is possible to shop smarter and buy better products without spending a lot more. The revolving door habit of shopping cheaply is adding up in more ways than one. So many fashion bloggers are enabling this epidemic by showing you that we shouldn’t wear the same thing more than once (God forbid be photographed in it twice!). They simply follow trends (which by the way, can we please just stop with the high waisted shorts and crop tops?), and I see very little originality. Take a look at top results for #fashionblogger on Instagram and you’ll see the same style over and over again. Fast fashion, despite its seemingly infinite, ever changing styles, has somehow created a generic uniform. Mass produced clothing cannot, by the very nature of the requirements needed to make it quickly, be unique and intricate. Most overseas factories do not have highly skilled sewing machine operators, the time (after all, they’re making hundreds of thousands of the same garment within a matter of days), or the funding from their employers (retailers) to handle the intricacies that you will see in higher end clothing. As a result, clothes are simple. Few seams, plain hems, little detail in stitching and no draping. All in all, nothing remarkable. No wonder we have become a nation of jeans and tee shirts. Buying cheap clothing has sped up the ultra casualization of our society.
This blog is about the fashion industry (the good, bad, ugly, and beautiful), as well as the sociological and environmental impact it has on us. It’s aim is to educate people on how to spot quality, how to actually love their clothes, and maybe encourage people to ditch what’s merely trendy and appreciate timeless style. And perhaps inspire people to enjoy being a little overdressed.
-Shelby
