The Official Dieworkwear Appreciation Thread

[LA Guy]

lol ok . i get it already . you think projections are facts .

OMG, The graph shows historical data up to the line that says "current", and there is a projection from there. Projections are based on historical trends, but of course are not predictive in a crystal ball way.-

 

[St1X]

Well, this article is an American perspective that lacks a bit of context. Among other outliers, America is a Darwinian society where everybody (whether businesses or individuals) scrambles to find their own solution to healthcare, which is for-profit and without meaningful price controls. Unless you’ve lived in Europe or other places with free universal healthcare, it’s hard to imagine the difference that makes in your monthly budget.

That in itself makes comparisons night and day, but there’s more. The cost of living in Naples is rock bottom by Western standards, in part because businesses, unburdened by the cost of healthcare, need less revenue and can charge less. So a Naples tailor apprentice might pay:

Healthcare cost annually: zero

Best pizza in the world: €6, tax included, no tip necessary.

Apartment with nice balcony: €500 a month.

Mobile phone service: 10-20€ a month.

Glass of fresh local wine at aperitivi hour: 5€ (includes snacks)

Espresso at the bar: one euro, add 50 cents for a shot of grappa in it.

You can live comfortably, if not lavishly, in Naples on not a lot of dough. And with unemployment there currently at 26 percent (post-Covid), the bespoke tailor apprentice shortage seems resolvable with the right strategies.

When I go into my tailor in Rome, I see the sheiks and the African Big Men buying ten suits at once. And I see how busy he is, having just opened a new laboratorio. But I can’t picture bespoke as a growth industry if it’s just serving oligarchs.

For growth and relevance, you’d need to get men who live further down on the corporate food chain dressing like Don Draper. But the Mad Men days are over, and today’s business leaders seem happy in sneakers and technical vests, if not cargo shorts and Crocs. Except when they appear in court.

🤣 free Healthcare exists only for lazy and stupid people. I live in Sweden, a country with "free" health care. My tax rate on my pay is 60+% and then there is VAT of 25% on almost everything.
Healthcare is funded from tax money, so it's free only for those who sit on welfare

 

[letsgofire]

Well, this article is an American perspective that lacks a bit of context. Among other outliers, America is a Darwinian society where everybody (whether businesses or individuals) scrambles to find their own solution to healthcare, which is for-profit and without meaningful price controls. Unless you’ve lived in Europe or other places with free universal healthcare, it’s hard to imagine the difference that makes in your monthly budget.

That in itself makes comparisons night and day, but there’s more. The cost of living in Naples is rock bottom by Western standards, in part because businesses, unburdened by the cost of healthcare, need less revenue and can charge less. So a Naples tailor apprentice might pay:

Healthcare cost annually: zero

Best pizza in the world: €6, tax included, no tip necessary.

Apartment with nice balcony: €500 a month.

Mobile phone service: 10-20€ a month.

Glass of fresh local wine at aperitivi hour: 5€ (includes snacks)

Espresso at the bar: one euro, add 50 cents for a shot of grappa in it.

You can live comfortably, if not lavishly, in Naples on not a lot of dough. And with unemployment there currently at 26 percent (post-Covid), the bespoke tailor apprentice shortage seems resolvable with the right strategies.

When I go into my tailor in Rome, I see the sheiks and the African Big Men buying ten suits at once. And I see how busy he is, having just opened a new laboratorio. But I can’t picture bespoke as a growth industry if it’s just serving oligarchs.

For growth and relevance, you’d need to get men who live further down on the corporate food chain dressing like Don Draper. But the Mad Men days are over, and today’s business leaders seem happy in sneakers and technical vests, if not cargo shorts and Crocs. Except when they appear in court.

Free healthcare? No no no. It’s part of your taxes. Free at the point of consumption? Yes.

 

[maxalex]

🤣 free Healthcare exists only for lazy and stupid people. I live in Sweden, a country with "free" health care. My tax rate on my pay is 60+% and then there is VAT of 25% on almost everything.
Healthcare is funded from tax money, so it's free only for those who sit on welfare

By definition public healthcare is funded through taxes. I think most people would understand “free” in this context as meaning free at service point.

I am in Italy’s highest tax bracket, and we also have wealth tax. Average Italians pay much less than I do, and certainly less than the benefits they receive from the system. I’m guessing it would be similar in Sweden.

America also has socialized medicine in that insanely expensive insurance premiums (to cover insanely expensive for-profit healthcare) are tax deductible. It’s just stupid, inefficient socialism.

 

[LA Guy]

By definition public healthcare is funded through taxes. I think most people would understand “free” in this context as meaning free at service point.

I am in Italy’s highest tax bracket, and we also have wealth tax. Average Italians pay much less than I do, and certainly less than the benefits they receive from the system. I’m guessing it would be similar in Sweden.

America also has socialized medicine in that insanely expensive insurance premiums (to cover insanely expensive for-profit healthcare) are tax deductible. It’s just stupid, inefficient socialism.

The US healthcare system is unfortunately very brittle and not particularly resilient in an emergency because so much of it relies on profit from elective procedures. I re-entered academia on a volunteer basis during the acute phases of the pandemic, and was astounded by hospital bankruptcies during the time they were most needed.

I'm more privileged than most, and certainly pay more taxes because of that, though far from the highest tax bracket, but would much rather that go to a a single payer system. I would also be happy with a regulated two tier system, in which elective procedures are a supplementary source of revenue for hospitals, but are not the bulk of their funding.

In any case, this has gone far afield. If you guys wish to continue, I am happy to take the healthcare posts to a thread in current events. Please let me know. Otherwise, let's keep current events and politics out of the main forum please.

Cheers,

Fok.

 

[gnatty8]

Well, this article is an American perspective that lacks a bit of context. Among other outliers, America is a Darwinian society where everybody (whether businesses or individuals) scrambles to find their own solution to healthcare, which is for-profit and without meaningful price controls. Unless you’ve lived in Europe or other places with free universal healthcare, it’s hard to imagine the difference that makes in your monthly budget.

That in itself makes comparisons night and day, but there’s more. The cost of living in Naples is rock bottom by Western standards, in part because businesses, unburdened by the cost of healthcare, need less revenue and can charge less. So a Naples tailor apprentice might pay:

Healthcare cost annually: zero

Best pizza in the world: €6, tax included, no tip necessary.

Apartment with nice balcony: €500 a month.

Mobile phone service: 10-20€ a month.

Glass of fresh local wine at aperitivi hour: 5€ (includes snacks)

Espresso at the bar: one euro, add 50 cents for a shot of grappa in it.

You can live comfortably, if not lavishly, in Naples on not a lot of dough. And with unemployment there currently at 26 percent (post-Covid), the bespoke tailor apprentice shortage seems resolvable with the right strategies.

When I go into my tailor in Rome, I see the sheiks and the African Big Men buying ten suits at once. And I see how busy he is, having just opened a new laboratorio. But I can’t picture bespoke as a growth industry if it’s just serving oligarchs.

For growth and relevance, you’d need to get men who live further down on the corporate food chain dressing like Don Draper. But the Mad Men days are over, and today’s business leaders seem happy in sneakers and technical vests, if not cargo shorts and Crocs. Except when they appear in court.

Making me consider career change to tailor's apprentice with this post..

 

[DorianGreen]

Making me consider career change to tailor's apprentice with this post..

A pity that fewer and fewer young people would ever consider to embrace such a great, creative as demanding job. And, similarly, other ones in the craftsmanship, as shoemaking, watchmaking, weaving, knitting.

 

[DorianGreen]

 

[LeonVince]

View attachment 2066341

🙄🤣

 

[gimpwiz]

A pity that fewer and fewer young people would ever consider to embrace such a great, creative as demanding job. And, similarly, other ones in the craftsmanship, as shoemaking, watchmaking, weaving, knitting.

The work is hard, the hours are long, the customers are demanding and proper service requires an owner to eat losses now and then, and the pay isn't awesome unless you're in the seriously rarified price levels _and_ actually see the results of that in your pocket. Especially for those who haven't been in the industry for a decade-plus. If you work for someone you see a modest fraction of the cost of the garment; if you work for yourself you need to run a business, pay rent, find employees if relevant, advertise and promote, photograph, and write down some of the work due to remakes/refunds.

Between the presence of factory production massively cutting the bar for entry level price points and higher costs of living brought about at least partially due to ever higher rents, it's hard to get into that sort of creative/artisan industry and still be able to afford to have a family.

 

[VedicResearcher]

this is going to be a short lived thread, but thank you.

the irony of this thread still being relatively active 5 years later, is great

 

[FlyingHorker]

I do miss my ritual of reading new articles, I wonder if Derek is just busy writing a novel + twittering.

He also has nuked a bunch of past articles again.

Re: Wearing coats open

I used to be hardcore against wearing coats open, but now I do it too with El Nino. I don't remember a december being this hot in my lifetime for the prairies. 15F in the morning, 45F by evening.

 

[smittycl]

I do miss my ritual of reading new articles, I wonder if Derek is just busy writing a novel + twittering.

He also has nuked a bunch of past articles again.

Re: Wearing coats open

I used to be hardcore against wearing coats open, but now I do it too with El Nino. I don't remember a december being this hot in my lifetime for the prairies. 15F in the morning, 45F by evening.

Nothing wrong with wearing a coat open when it warms up. Button it up when cold of windy.

 

[ericgereghty]

Seems as weird a thread as any, so perfect to ask here lol.

Has anybody come across silk/linen blend dress socks out there (OTC) by chance?

 

[smittycl]

Seems as weird a thread as any, so perfect to ask here lol.

Has anybody come across silk/linen blend dress socks out there (OTC) by chance?

Not silk/linen but the Armoury carries some great 100% linen OTC summer dress socks. Very breathable and durable. Bresciani I think.