Beit Kvetch

For a number of years, I've been thinking about what an alternative to fast fashion might look like that wouldn't rely on companies to decide suddenly to stop selling us garbage or government regulators to actually make rules with teeth on planned obsolescence and externalities.

Obviously the goals would be to have the whole process from field to closet to waste degradation be environmentally sustainable and rely on fair, well-compensated labor.

The items themselves would need to be designed to last for a very long time: socks and underwear for a minimum of five years; bras for a minimum of ten; leggings, undershirts, t-shirts, and shells for a minimum of five hard-wearing years or ten light-wearing years; and outerwear, bags, and accessories for decades. Wool and leather coats, properly maintained, should be able to be passed down to your grandchildren. Shoes would vary greatly based on the exact material and purpose, but would be designed with the same durability considerations.

The fit should be unique to the person, and tailored to fit their exact proportions, body fat, and hard-wearing points. Therefore, items would not be labeled by size at all, but generally shown in different schematics to demonstrate what the item would be tailored to look like on different body types. Instead of just designing items for straight sizes and items for plus sizes, make general design plans that are easily adjusted to be shrunk or hemmed in some places, reinforced in others, and let out or expanded in others.

How the person wants to wear the item should also be taken into account: is this going to be a neck scarf or headscarf? Is this sleeveless dress going to be worn as a sundress or over a shell? Is this person going to be wearing breast forms or binding? Does this person use a wheelchair and if so, what are the touch points/hard-wearing points based on their actual chair? Etc.

Lifestyle should be taken into account: what is this particular item going to be used for? Are you hiking? Climbing mountains? Working on a farm? Working in an office or courtroom? Working retail or in a restaurant? Lounging with friends in your home? Playing sports? Wrangling small children? What do you need to do in your clothes? And what if you need something that will get your kids to daycare, yourself to your office day job, to a post-work workout or date with friends, and then to moonlighting as a cashier at a pizza place? (This is a real example of one of my friends, btw.)

It should not only be possible to move comfortably in the clothes to be able to do everything you want to do, but should be possible to easily modify the look to allow for multipurpose use with a simple reconfiguring of the garment and/or changing up the accessories. Pockets and ways to adjust the clothing for different external factors like temperature, weather, and time of day would be a must for basic items like button-up shirts, dresses, pants, and skirts. Additionally, sensory aspects should be taken into account as well - no itchy tags or ill-placed seaming, and certainly no plastic seam support tape or interfacing to make up for poor base materials. How the item wears over time should be considered, so that it starts out feeling good and wears into being extra comfortable and lived-in.

Simply put: the clothes need to be designed for practicality and comfort.

To the greatest extent possible, it should be easy to do immediate care for the clothes at home - stain removal, washing, drying, and even basic mending. However, for items with more technical maintenance and/or repairs, that service should be provided in-house to allow for more durability and control over sustainable practices for things that can't simply be washed, like wool coats. Repairability would need to be considered for common hard-wearing areas; extra panels in the inner thigh, elbow, knee, and armpit areas could help to make the garment easily repairable to look as good as new would be things to consider.

Similarly, the look and style should be considered for the intended duration of the item. If it needs to look elegant for twenty-five years, then it needs to be designed with a classic look that will last the full time. Things like consistently flattering lines, colors, and that tend to stay in fashion should be prioritized, with the ability to easily add or subtract embellishments to update the base garments. Accessories should be designed with a much greater range of colors and styles to allow for outfit variation and customization.

And the idea I keep coming back to is of a subscription styling, tailoring, mending, and recycling service with a lot of different plans and multiple payment structures to offset the cost of all of this. Realistically, the Vimes boots theory of economics is well in effect here. A dress that could replace thirty cheap fast-fashion items but will cost $5000 isn't going to happen for anyone who isn't exceptionally wealthy, even if over time it actually costs the individual less. The only real way to do this would be to treat it like an asset and structure payment accordingly. In the meantime, having a staff to handle maintenance of the items (such as repairs, style updates, and refitting as the person's body changes) would help to improve the sustainability of it as a business.

Anyway I'm not a business major, but I'm curious about what y'all think of that approach? Is this something you'd consider?

I'm studying fashion and tailoring in trade school and my teachers have all been in the fashion industry in some capacity, many have their own brand, and some have decided to do other things. However, one problem now is that there is an expectation of cheapness. One of my teachers has been in the industry for thirty (30) years!!!! And she has her own label, a dress made by her is over 200 CAD bc it's made in Montreal, there's a focus on sustainability and ethically sourced fabric (y'know, normal things for a business in Montreal).

Now, she doesn't have those other elements you mentioned but here's some experiences I've had from growing up around upper middle class people as a poor person. One time a pair of fancy sandals I thrifted broke and an acquaintance told me "eh just throw it out and get a new pair" bc they don't have a concept of "hm, this could probably be fixed, I will go find a place so I can ask about fixing this item"

So while I do fully and wholeheartedly greed with what you're saying, realistically it would take a full overhaul of the entire fashion industry and government and all that.

Yeah, it would definitely be a perspective change for sure. For environmental reasons, the whole fashion industry *needs* an overhaul. Personally, I would want to market the "service" angle as well as the "this is an asset" angle in order to help shift that perspective. Basically, what you're paying for besides the item itself is the tailoring, alteration, maintenance, repair, and

To be clear: this is not a completely original idea of mine. This is partially influenced by the sale structure of a corsetier I purchased from (who built the service and alteration part into the sale) and historical examples of how things worked prior to large scale industrialization of clothing. People used to view their clothing as assets (there are even rules in the Torah about how long you can hold onto someone's garment as a method of surety) and the disposable nature of fast fashion is an historically very recent development.

I'm curious about what your instructors have to say about how to wind back the grip of fast fashion without losing the late-stage capitalism battle, though, if this is a thing you're taught? (I would honestly love to go back to school for fashion and tailoring, but that is just... not in the cards for a while, if ever. So! I am very interested in what you are learning.)

The idea of something being able to be altered as my body shifts would be huge for me. Or even if a quality piece could be swapped out for a different size if it no longer fits for a smaller fee than the full purchase price. I want to buy higher quality items that will last longer, but it’s hard to justify when I don’t know how my body will change from year to year

Environmental nerd milestone: asking an citizen science project for their data so I can do a more localized analysis

And HERES THE THING. Cities who partner with them receive the data. My city is partnered with them. But my city doesn’t do anything with it or even publicly publish it like some of our neighbors do. So I’m like hi hello send this data to ME.

so i’m watching that cutesy cringey little middle school movie with adam sandler’s like (entire family?) in it and his daughter is so adorable i’m loving it. she’s so cute. i’m declaring her my new favorite nepo baby. her performance is so cute.

also i saw critiques on tiktok about how it was unrealistically cringe, but it’s not. it’s literally the perfect amount of 8th grade angst and cringe. yes the children were spewing a whole bunch of tiktok performative activism all over the place every few minutes .. that is what middle schoolers sound like know just a tad less hyperbolic.

also i thought it was such a cute detail how when she has her little issue (after her cliff jump) that none of the girls actively made comments about what happened, even one of the girls who had kind of been snubbing her made a comment about how it was just a period, it was normal, and the guys couldn’t handle it if they had one.

“why do you keep disabling reblogs on popular posts” this is the website where seeing someone’s username too often is legitimate reason to dox them

Sims mpreg Piter de Vries can stay though

I regularly get irritated messages from people complaining that they see my posts too often while theirs never seem to leave their personal circles and I’m like. I don’t think this is my problem. If you want popular posts you need to smoke more weed and publicly humiliate yourself. Skill issue.

just saw a post about how normal people aren't equipped for internet fame, no one teaches you how to deal with going viral, ordinary bloggers don't have PR teams, etc

it was a nice post, but it drove me nuts in the same way that otherwise empathetic disability posts that posit [some mythical neurotypical that doesn't have those issues at all] drive me nuts – actually famous people are not equipped for internet fame. You could be the richest person in the world and the harassment of millions will drive you almost literally insane. Check out this not-even-that-famous guy's account on what his life became:

internet hate is utterly unsolveable and horrifically bad, and the implication that it's okay to do it to people "if they have a PR team" disgusts me. Unless you have an atypically strong personality, material resources won't make more than a big dent. There's no fucking follower count after which psychotic treatment of them becomes fine

The notion that any material or human resource can protect you from the downsides of visibility-to-millions is fantasy. The notion that we can do it to other human beings without guilt is an even uglier fantasy.

If you have a public figure you loathe, and it seems fine and good that they get death threats for their repulsive behavior, I believe you've made them worse.

Oh hey, I’m 30 now 💅

I took the day off work so I could play outside