Obsessed with Overdressed

OK it’s now official! I am at this moment completely obsessed with my new book called “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion”, by Elizabeth Cline. This is the book I mentioned earlier that I had gotten from the library. Well, by the time I had read the first chapter I was so frustrated that I couldn’t underline in it (they frown upon that apparently), that I just HAD to go to the store and get my own. I couldn’t even wait and order it online for cheaper (not much). I had to have it now! And no, I don’t usually have a problem with instant gratification, I can hold out for something if I really want it. But this was different.

I’m halfway through so far, but up to this point I feel like my head is going to snap off my neck because I keep nodding so much as I read! This woman is confirming everything I have felt to be true about this industry. It’s almost as if she was my inside voice and it is now on paper and backed up with a whole bunch of proof and research. Thank you Ms. Cline for doing so much of the work for many of us! She is currently up there on my list of top favourite people.

In her book, Cline describes many of the factors that have impacted the Garment Industry over the past 50 years culminating in the rise of what she calls Cheap Fashion aka Fast Fashion. This is a trend that has overtaken the entire fashion industry and changed it from the bottom up. Massive companies such as Forever 21, H&M, Target or in our case JOE Fresh (Canadian) have the ability to produce items sometimes with a turn-around of 2 weeks, which means that new garments are continually introduced in their stores, luring consumers to buy more often. These items are not necessarily well made by any means, and their measure of quality is, as she puts it, “relative”.  Cline says, “When buying trendy, cheap fashion, quality has a relative meaning. It is best measured in washes. As in, how many times can you wash it before the fabric pills or stains, the garment looses its shape, a button falls off or a seam busts open”. IN WASHES! How many times have you heard that! That is so true of this generation of disposable consumers. Never in a million years would you have heard that from your mother or grandmother. We’ve grown accustomed to throwing things that no longer serve our purposes, we are the disposable generation.

The thing about cheap fashion is that it not only impacts those who buy it, but the whole chain of consumers, as better made design houses were forced to lower their standards in order to compete with these new brands. The whole thing is a huge vicious circle that can only be stopped by becoming educated consumers.

In the next few posts I will try to unravel the massiveness of this sustainability concept. And we’ll attack it in bite size pieces. We will explore the economic, environmental and ethical ramifications of not being sustainable and its current effects. But at the same time we’ll research ways to change that bit by bit by finding attainable alternatives and options to slowly change the status quo. This is the goal. Onwards.

I suppose in the meantime I should also finish reading the book…

For now, check out this article by Julian Sancton from Bloomberg Businessweek Lifestyle, reviewing “Overdressed”: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-21/book-review-overdressed-by-elizabeth-l-dot-cline

Whatever you do…DON’T PANIC

This is what I keep telling myself in order to not get totally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information I’ve found since I started looking into this. It is also what I fear I might do –panic-, when I find myself in a bind and not know how to respond to my dilemma in a way that represents my new and fantastic vision!

This is not the first time I’ve gone all gun-ho over something that is not the norm. I was on the organic bandwagon way back when. After my son was born (12 years ago) I went gaga over all things organic, no sugar substitutes or artificial colours, free-range everything, and the like –He had no sugar (that I knew of) until after his first birthday. And for his second birthday I made a banana whole wheat cake and gave away banana muffins in the goodie-bags.  I had to be brought back into the reality train when I realized that buying organic was really expensive and that free range beef was double what my budget allowed. However, I have learned to find a happy medium that I am pretty comfortable with and which I always try to improve.

I practically live by the works of "Clean Eating" by Tosca Reno and "The Maker’s Diet" from Jordan S. Rubin. I try to adhere to the concept of ‘whole foods’ as much as possible and buy mostly foods that have ingredients I can pronounce and canned foods that include no more ingredients than what they are. On that note too, I try to support local produce as much as I can and have walked out of a store without apples because they were not local! I live in BC people, we GROW apples! My kids constantly complain about the food I serve however I have no plans of buying white bread or sugary cereals. Sometimes, though, I do cave in and I have to admit to buying less than desirable lunch items for their school grub (I have not succumbed to Dunkaroos or fruit rollups yet, but close).

So, I worry about the validity of what I’m trying to do here and how to remain true to this cause without feeling and appearing like a hypocrite. It’s taken a while to arrive at this point of conviction and so I figure it will take a while to come up with a plan that works for the lifestyle I have right now. I also hope that by starting with baby steps it will eventually get easier and before long the whole thing will seem like second nature.

I’ve talked to many friends about this, and during one of this conversations, one of my friends said to me, “Well, if you’re going to be serious about this cause, you can no longer shop at JOE” and I said “I KNOW!” But I loved JOE. Yet, I’ve always known about JOE, he’s the same as GEORGE, they have the same quality and same prices. And having worked in the industry I know HOW they get those prices (don’t worry I’m sure I’ll have a rant post about this in the future). So as much as I liked the ‘design’ of JOE, deep down I’ve always felt guilty buying there. Now I can’t, in good conscience, shop there and still have this mission. So I’m at a loss, I need new t-shirts and I don’t know where to buy them… I have a few options which include making them myself, or making do until I find some acceptable pieces. But I need some new t-shirts yesterday!

I have a book that I just found at the library that I think is going to really help me in this journey. I just read the introduction, but so far it is exactly what I’ve been feeling for the past few years in regards to the fashion industry. I won’t tell you what it is until I get more into it and decide if it will help or not…

I know I am not be able right now to buy all things organic or environmentally friendly, or all things made in Canada, but I would like to, some day. And so, I start with small steps towards that goal.

First step: read the book

Second step: get some t-shirts

Will keep you posted…

In the beginning...

Hello…is this thing on? I am seriously unskilled when it comes to this stuff, so it should be interesting to see how this blog unfolds.

I am a 40-something (we shall try and not talk about age) wife, mother of 3 –slash- fashion designer. I really think I would have gotten ‘there’ sooner if I hadn’t stopped to indulge motherhood, however there are some things that cannot wait and could never be replaced. I love my children (and like them most of the time) so I  was happy to make that ‘pit stop’.

It has taken me almost 20 years to be able to call myself a fashion designer. But that’s the truth, I do design fashion. I am obviously not a ‘famous fashion designer’, but in my career I have worked for different companies and individual clients, doing just that: designing. And so finally I can say it (mostly in writing, it still takes some effort to utter the actual words). I don’t know why it is so hard to say it, I guess I’ve never felt ‘worthy’ of the title. But recently it dawned on me that if you can take it from concept to product, then you’ve designed! And so I have.

How did I get involved in this you ask? Oh, why would you ask?! I will give you the same spiel that everyone in this industry seems to have; somehow we all have a version of this: “I’ve always loved fashion…I started drawing when I was 6 and it just grew from there…” The truth is, I wanted to travel when I was little, and I also loved drawing, so when a relative told me that a career in international affairs was not well suited for a girl (yes, that’s a different blog), she suggested why not fashion design? And I thought, why not?  So I started drawing superhero outfits and mermaids with different tails. Then in high school I took the technical option of Industrial Manufacturing and I was hooked. Once I learned to sew on an industrial Juki, there was  no looking back. I love the challenge of making something 2-dimensional into 3D. It is like sculpting. So naturally before going to Fashion School I took Fine Arts and became a true art student –without the grunge, it was never me.

I have since worked as a freelance pattern drafter, designer and product developer for small scale manufacturers. I have done custom work for bridal and special occasions, worked for a bridal manufacturer, done merchandising for a blouse manufacturer and designed a line of vintage inspired aprons that would make any grandma proud. I also now teach as a contract instructor in a Fashion program.

I have always wanted to ‘do my own thing’. And although I’ve started, several times it’s gotten interrupted by one life-thing or another. However I think the real problem was that I didn’t actually know what ‘my’ thing was. But I think I’ve found it.

Ever since I started out in this industry, something didn’t sit well with me. I entered the workforce right around the time when the Free Trade agreement was approved, and manufacturing was changing. Suddenly more and more items were being sent for production overseas.  The Fashion industry that we were taught was disappearing and there were not many jobs for what we trained.

I had a problem: I loved pretty clothes and how to make them, but I didn’t love the process required now to produce them. I could not possibly compete with big box companies to provide costumers with an identical item. So what was a young aspiring designer to do? Well, in my case: sulk. And just complain that this was the new status quo.

But now, I think there’s a different way. I’ve come across a new movement which I’ll call Sustainable Fashion. And it involves all aspects of being socially, ethically and environmentally responsible while not compromising style. It strives to uphold the values of quality and craftsmanship, skills that are on the brink of being lost. It strives to give every person involved in the process of production a rightful place and respect. It strives to be responsible towards our environment, by not being wasteful, using and re-using elements that are not harmful. It strives to give everyone their fair share of the profit.

And so this blog will be my exploration of that. It will be my search into this new way of thinking and a new way of doing things, differently from what I’m conditioned to do.

You’ll have to excuse the rudimentary nature of the blog, because it will evolve as I do. I will be learning how to make it ‘prettier’ at the same time as I learn how to convert myself from a mass-producer/consumer into a ‘lover of things beautiful and unique- one piece at a time’.