The Cost of Modern Fashion
Clothes are cheaper today than they’ve ever been. What exactly does that mean?
Now more than ever, people’s wardrobes are crowded with mass-produced, cheap garments. Spending hundreds of dollars on a piece of clothing is something reserved for designer splurges or bespoke suits.
Yet, in the past, most people would only have a handful of outfits. Nearly everything they owned was customized for them. Fashion the way we know it would be considered very strange, even only a few generations back. The idea of having something custom made for everyday wear is foreign to us. The idea of having 20 shirts would be bizarre to most people 100 years ago.
So, what’s changed about the way we consume fashion and why is it so cheap?
Design
For all the dozens (or in some cases hundreds) of items in our wardrobes, how many of them actually fit well? Since fashion is mass-produced on such a scale, it’s designed to generally somewhat fit a large number of people.
This translates to a lot of shapeless sheath dresses, elasticated waists, spandex infused fabrics. Especially in the case of women’s fashion, most clothing doesn’t feature the darting and seaming necessary to accommodate feminine curves. That’s why most women have had the…
