Not So Fast

How many clothes do you really need? Image by Midjourney.

On another chilly minus-umpteen centigrade February morning I donned a thin, red fleece that is one of my most worn and cherished items of clothing. It cost $19 USD. That was 25 years ago. That means it has cost me about 76¢ per year or put another way, about less than a fifth of a penny per day. It is from "fast fashion empire" H&M. I bought it in New York City before the brand had any presence in Canada.

This isn't the only item I have from retailers like Uniqlo, Old Navy etc. Many of them over a decade old. Mind you, I have on a occasion purchased some items from shops that are either long gone, or should be. A summery short-sleeved cotton shirt from "Jean Machine" comes to mind. As I recall, it was dirt cheap, I wore it about a half dozen times and on one sunny day, the back of the shirt went from dark gray to a bleached out pale colour. Additionally, the fabric had become closer to dust than fibre. The cloth was even too weak to be used as a rag. It had to be tossed. I have never been back to a Jean Machine location, and am now even wondering if such a place actually existed. Is it a machine that made jeans or one made from denim? So yes, I have bought super cheap clothing that couldn't withstand a single washing, but most items I have purchased, outlasted my interest rather than their usefulness.

In the last year or so, most of my clothes have been purchased through an app where people sell second-hand clothes they have no use for. Mostly I've bought coats, jackets or sweaters. I have a few items I plan to list there too. I also have some stuff I'll just give away. Really, there are so many intractable and complex problems in the world, why would this one, with such a simple solution, bother anyone? If you don't like retailers that sell crap, then don't buy their crap. I think maybe more people follow this advice than Forever 21 realized (another "fast fashion" purveyor) as it is a lot closer to being renamed, Never 21 after its second bankruptcy.

Last autumn, after the leaves had fallen and that cold air starting creeping down our necks and into our hands, I found a pair of gloves once thought lost. They are really the right combination of warmth, lightness and toughness that you'd look for in a winter glove. It occurred to me that I've definitely owned them when I lived in Ottawa over 25 years ago. I thought I may have even had them at university but that seems a stretch. Still, 25 years for a pair of gloves I've worn while shovelling, skating, biking or simply being, is pretty good. Maybe too good. It would be difficult for a business to stay afloat if you only went in four times a century to buy something. It's fair to criticize a company if they didn't provide the quality you paid for, but it's also fair to say, you can often tell if something is worth it or not. It's up to you to decide and do something about that. Why not patch those jeans, mend that shirt or replace the battery in that phone before heaving it out? You'll find your fast fashion lasts a lot longer than it was intended to and you might finally find a good use for that Participaction badge you got as a kid.