Discussions about the fashion industry thread

[smittycl]

@smittycl Come visit my shop. I can make you a version of the shirt I made for DC in Macbeth.

Did you make the black silk button down shirt? Most of his other stuff was pullovers apart from the pajamas he wore for bit. Lots of blood in the play of course! You must have made a bunch.

Sorry I didn’t have a chance to come by today.

 

[Shirtmaven]

Did you make the black silk button down shirt? Most of his other stuff was pullovers apart from the pajamas he wore for bit. Lots of blood in the play of course! You must have made a bunch.

Sorry I didn’t have a chance to come by today.

Made the black silk. I have not seen the play nor a photo of him in the shirt.
The shirts was cut very short and the collar had a fairly long point.
I have heard mixed reviews.
I think I made him 4 and 2 for the understudy.
Did not make his Pajamas.

 

[smittycl]

Made the black silk. I have not seen the play nor a photo of him in the shirt.
The shirts was cut very short and the collar had a fairly long point.
I have heard mixed reviews.
I think I made him 4 and 2 for the understudy.
Did not make his Pajamas.

Show was good, fun to watch DC chew up the scenery. More of an experimental staging which I found a little off-putting at times.

I would have taken a pic of the shirt if photography were allowed.

 

[styleforumfan]

Luxottica founder Leonardo del Vecchio dies

 

[BlakeRVA]

Interesting piece on what goes into the retail price of a garment. Leaves you thinking “How can clothes be so cheap?”

What Is the Right Price for Fashion?

Fast fashion is getting cheaper while luxury gets more expensive—so what’s the “right” price for clothes? Much of it comes down to fabric quality, ethical labor, and profit margins. Here, three designers explain what you’re really paying for.

www.vogue.com

 

[cb200]

Pretty good but the line in there "but it’s still polyester, and you shouldn’t waste $400 on something so environmentally damaging" is maddening. Synthetics aren't automatically bad nor are "natural" fabrics like cotton automatically good. Cotton takes huge amounts of land and water for the fibres and when recycled makes a poorer quality of materials while polyester when recycled is quite good. Historical and current labor (USA and Xinjiang) in the cotton supply chains not exactly kind.

Synthetics like polyester have a bias against them, it's a hippy dippy notion that they are more pure by default and of greater value. Have to look at the whole picture. Its a huge blind spot for folks.

 

[Gus]

Pretty good but the line in there "but it’s still polyester, and you shouldn’t waste $400 on something so environmentally damaging" is maddening. Synthetics aren't automatically bad nor are "natural" fabrics like cotton automatically good. Cotton takes huge amounts of land and water for the fibres and when recycled makes a poorer quality of materials while polyester when recycled is quite good. Historical and current labor (USA and Xinjiang) in the cotton supply chains not exactly kind.

Synthetics like polyester have a bias against them, it's a hippy dippy notion that they are more pure by default and of greater value. Have to look at the whole picture. Its a huge blind spot for folks.

There were a LOT of really bad synthetics in the 70's used on quirky, styled clothing that left a lasting bad impression in spite of improvements in the last 20 years.

 

[BlakeRVA]

Pretty good but the line in there "but it’s still polyester, and you shouldn’t waste $400 on something so environmentally damaging" is maddening. Synthetics aren't automatically bad nor are "natural" fabrics like cotton automatically good. Cotton takes huge amounts of land and water for the fibres and when recycled makes a poorer quality of materials while polyester when recycled is quite good. Historical and current labor (USA and Xinjiang) in the cotton supply chains not exactly kind.

Synthetics like polyester have a bias against them, it's a hippy dippy notion that they are more pure by default and of greater value. Have to look at the whole picture. Its a huge blind spot for folks.

Polyester isn’t inherently bad, nor is cotton inherently good, but in best case scenarios cotton > polyester, no?

This reminds me of a book I read several years ago (the name is escaping me) where they talked about how much effort goes into making products as functional as possible. However, almost no thought goes into how the product will “die” or potentially be reused. They provided several examples of ways to make common things easier to recycle and repurpose.

Wonder how that could be adopted at scale in the fashion industry. There’s probably enough buttons and snaps that have been produced in the last 50 years to never need to manufacture them again lol.

 

[peachfuzzmcgee]

Do all synthetics drop microplastics when washed? I don't mind synthetics at all, but I do worry that even in the lifetime of owning them, they cause damage to the earth. I rarely buy anything new anymore, but I'm still conscious of how bad things are even with used ****.

 

[cb200]

Polyester isn’t inherently bad, nor is cotton inherently good, but in best case scenarios cotton > polyester, no?

Fair labor, organically farmed cotton, naturally dyed with low water use, grown in a water rich region vs closed loop recycled poly fibres that's blue sign designated. Hard to say what's best if each were given their best case. I think it would depend on how it's quantified and they are very different fibres technically so apples to apples could be tough. A problem when it comes to sustainability and claims made on both sides - how is it measured?

 

[double00]

og cotton shows a natural variety of colors and presents fewer challenges and requirements than industrial cultivars :

Random Fashion Thoughts (Part 3: Style farmer strikes back) - our general discussion thread

If you're interested in the environmental impacts of fast fashion, Elizabeth Cline wrote a book called Overdressed a few years ago. It addresses just that topic. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/books/review/overdressed-by-elizabeth-l-cline.html Excellent book.

www.styleforum.net

 

[cb200]

Do all synthetics drop microplastics when washed?

All textiles can shed fibres as they breakdown. Synthetics are going to stick around for basically ever while the more natural theoretically will biodegrade. Recent studies did find natural fibres in deep ocean so they don't just disappear automatically.

 

[double00]

***

i'll go ahead and add that on a basis of equity non-industrial production is inherently more democratic and i'd argue more sustainable both ecologically and socially , poly vs cotton is a very apples to oranges comparison but on any basis it's very easy to my mind to favor cotton as the more responsible fiber .

 

[Mariokartfever]

what do synthetics break down into?

obv necessary in some sportswear/rugged clothing, but organic materials dont have risk of turning into microplastic waste, right?

 

[zissou]

One of my biggest complaints about the sustainability of recycled synthetics is that it first requires the production of massive amounts of virgin synthetics to be recycled. And, I wouldn't be surprised if less than 2% of synthetic clothes are actually recycled. Even the HIGG Index doesn't account for the production of virgin polyester when analyzing the impacts of recycled polyester. As a result, it looks more sustainable than many cottons. Knowing that synthetics shed fibers that last forever and are even found in animal tissues around the world makes me feel so done with buying any synthetics (except in the rare cases where performance requires such). I can't even bear to buy a 50/50 tee anymore.