• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Discussions about the fashion industry thread

willy cheesesteak

Distinguished Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
5,696
Reaction score
9,841
post ur hydroflask
hydro2.jpg
 

jah786

Senior Member
Affiliate Vendor
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
356
Reaction score
527
I really enjoyed reading about James Forman's overalls on NMWA @gdl203. It was history, activism, and fashion rolled into one. There's been very little escape from the pain and sadness of recent events. That's not a bad thing, not being able to escape forces reflection and the shedding of ignorance. You can't have unity without empathy. But it is also heavy on the heart and there are moments when you want to read something lighter. It's phenomenal content and worth a read.
 

gdl203

Purveyor of the Secret Sauce
Affiliate Vendor
Dubiously Honored
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
45,595
Reaction score
54,356
I really enjoyed reading about James Forman's overalls on NMWA @gdl203. It was history, activism, and fashion rolled into one. There's been very little escape from the pain and sadness of recent events. That's not a bad thing, not being able to escape forces reflection and the shedding of ignorance. You can't have unity without empathy. But it is also heavy on the heart and there are moments when you want to read something lighter. It's phenomenal content and worth a read.
Thanks. I’ve always liked that piece by Melvin. It seemed like a good week to republish it.
 

cb200

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
1,418
Reaction score
1,970
Been studying up on the upcoming changes to thew old NAFTA agreement. This is dumb, but each country in the agreement calls it something different in their country.

Mexico? "T-MEC".
USA? "USMCA".
Canada? "CUSMA".

It appears that this agreement is getting rammed through as one party in particular has an upcoming election where it was promised that NAFTA would be scrapped.

For apparel a few small changes, but of significance is that Pocket linings and thread need to be whole made in one of the countries in the agreement for apparel to be considered originating inside the trade agreement region. You can have up to 10% of non originating otherwise, but thread and pocket linings.

I'm surprised, it appears that there is a thread and pocket bag lobby somewhere pushing for that.
 

imatlas

Saucy White Boy
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
24,693
Reaction score
28,389
I'm surprised, it appears that there is a thread and pocket bag lobby somewhere pushing for that.

All it takes is one rich dude with a pocket bag factory and a checkbook.
 

Joytropics

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
690
Reaction score
582
I'm not sure what you're asking or implying. That globalization isn't nuanced? Or that I support the use of forced Uighur labor?

Yeah I'm saying that the cost/benefit analysis for globalism isn't always complicated.

And we should be awfully suspicious when the complications provide cover for internationalist billionaires.

I think it's pretty simple here.
 

Joytropics

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
690
Reaction score
582
And i understand the argument that sweatshop labor may actually be preferable to subsistence farming, and it's the first step towards modernizing rural communities in southeast Asia.

It's one I used myself as a younger, libertarian-leaning entrepreneur.

But I don't find it that compelling any more.
 

dieworkwear

Mahatma Jawndi
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Apr 10, 2011
Messages
27,320
Reaction score
69,979
Yeah I'm saying that the cost/benefit analysis for globalism isn't always complicated.

And we should be awfully suspicious when the complications provide cover for internationalist billionaires.

I think it's pretty simple here.

I think globalization is quite complicated and anyone who says otherwise -- whether saying globalization is absolutely good or absolutely bad -- is a polemicist.

Chris Blattman, a political economist who studies Africa, did an interesting set of experimental studies on "sweatshop" labor in Africa. You can read his website for articles. Some of it was covered by journalists in the NYT and Vox. I enjoyed this paragraph in the Vox article and wish more popular coverage of this topic was as nuanced.

"So perhaps the most fundamental takeaway is that we need to have a more nuanced picture of globalization’s effect on the global poor. Instead of thinking in binary terms, we need to separate out the ways globalization has benefited the poor versus the way it hurts them.

Something as complicated as globalization is never going to be just good or just bad. We need to divide the good and the bad, and figure out how to address the latter without eliminating the former."



And i understand the argument that sweatshop labor may actually be preferable to subsistence farming, and it's the first step towards modernizing rural communities in southeast Asia.

That's one argument.

There's a UN study that shows how the EU once found that children were forced to make something like soccer balls in Pakistan. When European citizens found out, they demanded that companies pull out of those countries. So they did. A follow-up study found that many of the children went into sex work.

If you care about something like child labor, then you have to have other implements in place, such as funding schools, so children have other opportunities.

It's also very difficult to parse out why some countries are able to reap the benefits of globalization, while others are not. My main work is in researching this topic, and I can tell you it's very complicated.
 

Joytropics

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
690
Reaction score
582
Sure, I can't disagree with anything substantive you posted.

But I think there are some lines in the sand we can draw.

Nike's been doing this sort of thing for decades.

I don't think anyone who cares about making the world a better place should be buying from Nike right now.

And while globalism exists on a spectrum, I think you can say we've swung too far in one direction.

There's something really wrong with disposable fast fashion. It's bad for workers, it's horrible for the environment, and frankly there's a deep aesthetic wrongness to it. I don't need to have a complex solution ready to be able to conclusively say that.
 

cb200

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
1,418
Reaction score
1,970
We all saw the NBA get nuked from a couple social media statements supporting HK. Unsurprising that Nike may be much quieter in their condemnation and may be working more with compliance in their supply chain than political statements. They can tell their suppliers, we need to ensure that this doesn't happen- if you can't we will take the business elsewhere. Patagonia , one of the "good brands" revealed that they found slavery in their supply chain. That happens but the penalty of termination of contracts is real leverage.

It's ******* messy and I don't blame any one for completely boycotting brands for personal reasons.
 

Joytropics

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
690
Reaction score
582
It's not always messy.

You can find US-made New Balance for $100.

I've been dirt-poor, but still able to come up with $100 for sneakers.

FWIW I think the NBA is awful too, and the NCAA are perhaps the most hysterical hypocrites in all of sports, building a billion dollar empire on the backs of unpaid minorities, most of whom will never have a lucrative professional sports career.

(All of these groups are posting histrionic support for #BlackLivesMatter right now)

I'm far from perfect, but I vote with my dollars where I can.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 36.7%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 59 39.3%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 15 10.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 26 17.3%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 26 17.3%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,125
Messages
10,578,695
Members
223,881
Latest member
Thomasaevers
Top