Why are we all looking for ‘the new’?
The consumerist conditioning of the term ‘new’
Roti, Kapda, Makaan as they say in India — food, clothes and a roof over your head are your basic needs to live by. Once those needs are fulfilled by one generation of changemakers in the family, there are more aspirations to live by, or precisely soul searching. That’s the phase I’ve been in with a specific breakthrough I’ve had professionally and personally. However, as I observe around me, from eavesdropping on conversations in the coffee rooms, or glimpsing through the windows of stores in the streets — it’s always about something ‘new’.
The whole ideology of the ‘new’ is quite a mental conditioning trap that baby boomers and those ahead have fallen into. What’s the ‘new’ feeding into us? The concept of ‘new’ has been fueled by the consumeristic values of the compulsive need for consumption.
‘oh that t-shirt’s old for this season, let’s buy a new one!’
So, even though the t-shirt isn’t exactly used for long, or utilized completely in different forms, there is a time when it gets obsolete, why? Because the brands want us to consume more than we need? And what are the repurcussions you ask? More cotton plants are grown, taking up a lot of water resource. This also needs more land space or soils that are protected with pesticides. Pesticidesized lands further spoil the land for years, leading to eradicated nutrients, no place to grow your veggies.
- The cotton then becomes a vehicle for inhumane levels of degradation and violations of human rights in diverse areas, when it goes into a ‘factory’. The first step is to ‘wash’ this cotton — needing more water, then certain steps from carding to spinning, finally coming into yarns, which all requires energy(often coming from coal or hydraulic power, causing further pollution to the environment)
- Now starts your dyeing process, which needs more water and the chemical dyes further endanger your water resources even more, so let’s say good bye to drinking water and living life for more years, so you can flaunt a new t-shirt on your instagram feed.
- The first step is to ‘wash’ this cotton — needing water, then certain steps from carding to spinning, finally coming into yarns, which all requires energy(often coming from coal or hydraulic power, causing further pollution to the environment)
- What’s next? Now the fabric goes into your garment factory, where export houses generate a couple of thousands for every style forecasted for the season. This happens in unlivable situations across third world countries, where people don’t even have access to clean water in their workplaces, in fact not even security of staying alive after an honest day’s work. And even though they’d have skills which can enhance the garment as a whole, things are segmented into ‘assembly lines’ which cater to no ‘human’ development at all.
- Eventually, this promise of employment is nothing more than a meagre living wage, and expanding the gap between the rich and the poor even further, since only one ‘assembly line’ skill won’t be enough.
- After all this, a buyer from one of the big brands would come in to pick a few styles, and reject the rest. Some of the selected might also be rejected for minor flaws, all landing into dumpsters. Luckily in a country like India, that still keeps a little bit of our circular economy tradition going, we find these in local markets where they’re sold at a tenth of their rates than in the brands.
Either of these will be styled, photographed and worn by aspirational street-style instagram fashion bloggers, who will make you think that the only thing that’s keeping you from your new job or your crush is a t-shirt. Nothing more, none less. Styling is about what’s trending, but it is also about holistic thoughtfulness.
I’ve got nothing against fashion influencers or bloggers, I occasionally run a blog too, but it is more than mindlessly adding pieces to your closet for a new look everyday, instead it’s about pairing the ones that didn’t go together yet do, or about really talking of issues like body image, confidence, and developing your own style — instead of running behind trends.
- Eventually enters the next season, where what you bought about two months or even a week earlier is obsolete or out of fashion, and you need something new, and who feeds that? Question yourself, is it really a need or is it something you hear on the taglines like, ‘new year, new you!’ or ‘new style, everyday!’ or when you see celebrities look dapper in outfits straight out of the airport or on an advertisement?
I ask why? Why do we need to have something ‘new’ in order to break through the mundaneness of our lives? Of course, we need additions to our wardrobes and other areas in our day — to — day, but there are other options that are far more sustainable, fairly traded and thoughtfully crafted to utilize the innate sense of intellect that humans provide.
Buy, what stays for longer, instead of buying instant gratification. Don’t let consumerism led terms like ‘retail therapy’ fool you into thinking it’s good for your mental health, it’s not. Doesn’t solve anything.
The word ‘new’ isn’t just about products, it’s also about how we view ourselves out of situations.
A breakup, now here’s a new me. Yes, it is definitely great to acknowledge where you went wrong, and how you can improve, but that’s not a new you, it’s simply an evolved version of you where you’ve embraced yourself and are now self-aware. What makes me concerned is the connotation of ‘new’ always being considered as ‘improved’. But the question is, is ‘new’ always improved?
Often, divorcees or people out of recent relationship break-ups are considered damaged goods. Because we all want the ‘new’, the ‘fresh’ — it often also explains why the society is so fond of ‘virginity’ and protects it to the last breath. However, relationships take us towards embracing ourselves and deeper empathy for people and their space.
Are failed relationships just a waste of time or are they learning lessons for life beyond?
Someone experienced in a failed relationship has gone through the ups and downs of interactions, knows how to handle or rather how not to make things worse, and is self — aware. With often a mature take on things, they’d understand when things are not working and give an understanding, mature end to a relationship.
You won’t experience, drunken calls from an ex who’s gone through the process of knowing themselves better through other people that have been in their lives — then why are they damaged goods! They’re greatlyaware, is what they are.
So, I’m here questioning our, mine and your conditioning of the new. Consider this, why do you want the ‘new’, what’s wrong with the old or the owned?
Longer than my usual pieces, I hope you enjoyed this. Do applaud if this struck a chord, and do comment if you’re still questioning. ‘There’s more to life than increasing its speed’ — Gandhi.
