The skeleton in the closet is your favourite T-shirt
(Believe me. You wouldn't know how scary that white cottony goodness actually is.)
Psst. Hey. Yes, you over there. Do you wear clothes?
Yeah? Me too. In fact, everyone I know does. Most of the time.
Look in your closet, or your dresser, or wherever you keep these clothes.
Look at their tags.
Where were they made?
If you live in what is these days called the Global North, chances are they are NOT made in your home country.
Unless you have a vintage item made before the ‘90’s.
Or you buy clothing from a local designer.
The country your favourite shirt was made in? It’s not the only country its been in. Most likely, no matter what it’s made of, your duds were in at least three countries before they even got put in a container and driven to your local mall.
Now look at what it’s made of. More and more, synthetic fibres or blends are what ends up on clothing racks.
If you’re an average person - about 70% of your clothes have some synthetic fibres in them - even if all you wear are jeans and T’s.
Whaaat?
Yes! It’s true. The stretch in that denim? Elastane - a polyether-polyurea copolymer.
A what whaaa?
A synthetic. Made of oil. Not to mention the thread that holds it all together. Most likely polyester.
Finally. Since you’re already digging around in there.
How many items of clothing do you have?
I’m guessing quite a few.
If you were born before 1981, you might remember a time when your drawer bottoms weren’t popping out from so many sweaters.
When there weren’t so many things in your closet you forget you even have some of them.
When you may have had one shirt for each day of the week and 4 or 5 bottoms.
When you didn’t get new clothes every month…or every week.
And when your clothes didn’t look worn, or actually fall apart after a handful of wears.
Why has our relationship with clothing changed SO drastically, and yet SO insidiously in a generation? What’s been going on behind the scenes driving these changes? How do these changes impact people and the environment?
And WHAT can I, a simple wearer of clothes, begin to do about it?
Well, my friend. That’s what we’re planning on finding out here.
So subscribe. It’ll be fun.
And if not, I figure at least we’ll learn some important and useful things along the way.
I have clothes from the 80s that still rock and items from 10 years ago that are suffering from what my Mom would call "shop rot".
I am a lover of fabric. I went into a ritzy store during my first time in Toronto with my husband. We didn't have the budget for shopping. I walked through and touched everything. He asked if I wanted to try some things on. "No, I felt the fabrics. I am happy."
How to confuse a man.
Linen. My favourite clothes have been linen. Wrinkle like mad, but are a joy to wear.
Looking forward to the blog.