More is Less for Everyone
Clothing is the only commodity that has not changed price since 1980s.
Clothing used to be 10%-15% of a household income up until early 1980's. Now it is less than 4%. That is not good news for humanity. I took this picture of a t-shirt tag I found from 1985. As you can see the t-shirt was $22.00. In 2016 that is $49.78. How many of us are willing to pay that for a t-shirt?
In the 1980's production and manufacturing started moving overseas and using slave-like labor to produce clothing. It has these negative effects:
- It causes us to buy more junk because, hey why not, it's only $9.95, I can just toss it after one wear.
- Our clothing waste creates 15.1 million tons of waste a year. Imagine that visual. That is literally barges and barges full of clothing. It has become such an issue we are baling clothing in giant bales and selling for pennies a pound to other countries.
- The unwillingness to pay $50.00 for a high quality t-shirt made with fair labor causes the exploitation of people all over the world.
- When you give clothing to the Goodwill or other resell outlet, that warm feeling you get for helping out the needy is bogus. These resell centers have such an influx of clothing they toss or bale most of it.
Ask yourself these questions:
Do I need 80 tops and 40 bottoms in my wardrobe? It sounds like an extravagant number but it's the reality for most of us. If we actually took a look at our personal inventory we might be surprised by the number of items hanging in our closets.
Can I get by with 20 shirts and 12 pants that I love, are high quality and will last season to season?
The answer is yes! You can make a difference in reducing waste and exploitation of cotton farmers and garment sewers around the world. Let's do this together. It's a simple way to make the world a better place.
(initial image via import.io)
All the best!
Your Clothier Design Source family
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