It’s been about six months since I started wearing the skirts everyday. It was done in part so I could connect with my more bohemian self, and also so I could simplify my outfit choices. It worked wonderfully at first. And then, in one misguided trip to Macy’s I got carried away. I bought about $150 worth of clothing, on sale and all that. I walked away with two giant bags filled with stuff.
Now that I have many more clothes, I find myself at a loss of what to wear most mornings. Without blogging, I find myself falling back into my old habits. It’s time to purge again and get rid of the junk. (And return to writing, too)
Furthermore, I haven’t had most of this stuff more than a couple of months and some of it already looks like crap. These clothes aren’t meant to be worn frequently. I feel like I’ve wasted my money. Many times I don’t want to wear what I have simply because it looks shoddy. How often does that happen to you? I’m tired of it happening to me, so I have officially quit shopping at the mall.
It is a shame that these large companies don’t take the time to put together quality clothing, but it’s not surprising. I mean, they are paying scraps to little kids in China to put these scraps of clothes together. Clearly, they care more about their profits than anything else. If profits weren’t their main concern, they’d pay their manufacturers better. Why not cut corners on quality, too?
Do you know what “pilling” is? It usually happens when a fabric has little tiny balls of fabric stuck all over it. So if a canvas tote bag you’re carrying rubs up against a synthetic, polyester t-shirt, you get pilling. Pilling is the bane of my existence. It makes relatively new clothing look pretty shoddy. I’m starting to think clothes were only meant to be worn once. I saw an article on Yahoo! over the weekend, “Britney Spears Explains Why She Wears the Same Outfits in Public.” We as a people in this country have serious problems if we have to explain wearing the same clothes over again. I know it doesn’t apply to me, the regular, not-famous human, but the fact that this even made the tabloids, speaks volumes about our society. And us normal people don’t want to repeat outfits too frequently either. So of course clothing manufactures can get away with selling this clothing of such poor quality. Besides, this low-quality crap is the only thing that most of us can afford.
Nonetheless, I know how to pick out high-quality items on sale. However, the time required to find the style/color/size I want coupled with the availability of superior quality items (and fair price, anyone?) makes it very difficult to find what I’m looking for, especially last minute–and that, of course, is how I do most of my shopping. It takes work. Work that I’m just not interested in doing. Malls really aren’t my favorite place, ya know?
So at one point, I thought, to save money (and time, and stress, and frustration) I should sew my own clothes. I thought that going old-fashioned was the solution to the crap at the mall. “Old-fashioned” has been my solution to slowing everything down a bit. It worked very well for improving my diet, but apparently not for my personal style. See, I’ve had the machine for a while now and the only thing I’ve made is a giant pillow-bed for my dog. I’ve hemmed a couple of things, but I really don’t think I’m going to do much more sewing than that. Sewing projects really just aren’t for me. I think it is an important skill to have, but I’m going to stick to crocheting hats and scarves for now. So lately I’ve been perusing Etsy for people who hand-sew clothing. I bought a hand-sewn purse a good while ago (not online) and it is still in wonderful condition. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything of that quality at the mall. I paid $50 for it. A tote of that quality is worth FAR more than $50 dollars retail.
It is clear that these big companies, really aren’t looking out for the needs of the consumer. I need durable clothing (purses and shoes) that can stand frequent wear. I think I would save far more money if my clothing didn’t wear out as quickly as it does now. The items I buy would stay nicer, longer. The reality is, I’m just not going to be able to find that at the mall, for the amount of money I’d like to spend.
P.S. I also decided to stop shopping at the mall because I want to support black businesses. It is very difficult to do that at the mall. My community is suffering and the least I can do is spend my money where it’s needed.
Slow Paced (Living) in the United States 