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The high price of cheap clothing
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Stacey Vanek Smith: Americans spend an average of $1,100 a year on clothes. That's less than a laptop and a lot of that is spent on so called "fast fashion" -- super cheap clothes in the latest cuts, and it's the subject of a new book by Elizabeth Cline called "Overdressed."
I caught up with Elizabeth in New York's fashion district where she gave me a tour of some local fast fashion outlets. We began the interview near a Kmart. The store is the setting for a personal story in her book.
Elizabeth Cline: In the summer of 2009, I was actually in a Kmart on Astor Place, which is in Manhattan, and walked in and saw that a pair of shoes that I liked was on sale for an astonishing $7-a-piece, and I ended up clearing the entire store out of my size. So I bought actually seven pairs of shoes that day.
Vanek Smith: And what happened to the shoes?
Cline: Oh you know, they fell apart within a couple of weeks, and I think that actually they went out of style before I could wear them all. I've still got a couple of pairs clogging my closet.
Vanek Smith: How did you get from there to wanted to write this book because it sounds like you are consuming the way that a lot of us are right now?
Cline: Right, I started looking into it and realized that Americans are now buying a little over one garment per week, so it's not just me. I think most Americans are trapped in this cycle of buying a lot of clothing for very little money. And I really just wanted to delve into why that is and what's happened in the fashion industry that's created this situation.
Vanek Smith: And it does seem that especially right now since the recession, there has been such a huge focus on sales and markdowns and fashion being cheaper than ever -- how does that affect the industry right now?
Cline: People should be looking at clothes as an investment, I think that's what's different about this recession is that you would think that people would say, I actually want to spend my money on something that is going to last. But instead, it's just made us more deal-conscious and we have become even cheaper. And I think part of the reason why is because we have really killed off the middle market of the fashion industry over the last 10 to 20 years. So I see where consumers are coming from because there aren't a lot of options out there anymore.
Vanek Smith: What does that mean for consumers? If someone is maybe interested in changing the way that they shop, what's a good way to start?
Cline: Well, there are so many different things. Just a handful would be supporting local designers, designers when they are starting up -- honestly, they don't have the capital to produce overseas, so a lot of them are producing in our communities -- so support them, help them thrive. I would say also people should use their tailors and their seamstresses in their community, get your shoes repaired, take care of what you own. And lastly, I would say take that $1,100 a year, that American's spend on average on clothes, and buy less but just invest your money in things that are a little bit better made.
Vanek Smith: Elizabeth Cline, her new book is called, "Overdressed."
Several years ago, I realized the "fit" problem with most ready-to-wear pants. They are made to fit women who are well proportioned. That isn't too many of us who carry our weight through our hips and thighs. I couldn't find pants to fit my mother, a very petite woman, or my mother-in-law, a larger woman, so I started making pants for them. When I was laid off from my job at the age of 59, I decided to start my own business, making custom pants for women who want to look fit and elegant in custom pants. The business is called "To Your Measure" and the pants are made in NY State. Visit www.ToYourMeasure.com, if you wish to support this start up that refuses to go overseas for production at the expense of American jobs.
This is the most vanilla, puff piece article I have ever read about the "high price of cheap clothing". Articles like this are the reason the American public is am0ng the least informed among developed nations. The article completely omits the horror of overseas sweatshops, child and slave labor that are in place which enable Westerners to buy cheap disposable clothing, it also ignores how giant multinational corporations use puppet governments in devoloping nations to crack down (and in many cases murder) leaders of labor rights organizations and it doesn't address at all the economic costs paid by the developed nations in the form of job losses from outsourcing and falling wages.
I, too, sew and have done so since my teen years, sewing garments I could never have afforded as the child of a single mother. The problem now is availability of quality fabrics outside of major metropolitan areas (in which I do not live). I made two beautiful dresses last year and the fabric literally shredded at the seams.
I decided several years ago that I've taken a Vow of Shabbiness; I'm having a kind of contest with myself to see how long I can go without buying any clothing. So far it's been a year since I had to replace a six- or- seven- year- old pair of sandals that were simply falling apart; two years ago I bought a dress, a pair of summer slacks and a top, but nothing else since then--not even socks or underwear. It makes me feel terribly disiplined--but true confession here: I am a woman of "a certain age," about to retire at the end of the summer, and have never liked clothes-shopping anyway.
I got tired of being forced to buy cheap mass-produced clothing that didn't fit my body right, only came in 'this seasons hottest colors' (usually colors that looked awful with the pale skin I inherited from the British side of my family), and made me feel like a carbon copy of every other middle class, professional female I passed on the street.
So, I did something about it. I learned how to sew. Now I have clothing that I LOVE to wear, that fits my body/skin tone perfectly because it's custom tailored for me and that displays my individuality. The best part is: it saves me money, because I'm the quality control department and I make sure that the pieces I make will last for years rather than weeks or months.
But on the other side of that... here's Tory Burch telling women to buy a $3000 handbag. Fashion magazines have ads for clothing I could never afford on a public service salary. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/11/tory-burch-instyle-column-blog_...
Also, my weight fluctuates and I’m not going to invest a lot of money in clothing that may not fit in a year.
