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The collapse of the fashion industry does not mean the clothing industry will collapse. People still need clothing obviously (cheap and of good quality prefera

The collapse of the fashion industry does not mean the clothing industry will collapse. People still need clothing obviously (cheap and of good quality preferably). Also, what do we consider the fashion industry exactly? Most long term clothing trends seem to be dictated by a couple of factors. Consisting of: - practicality. Jeans are good example of this. It's cheap and practical clothing that lasts a long time. - cultural "requirement": clothing that is required to fit into social circles. The shirt would be a good example of this, aswell as the tie. - Enviromental requirements: This one should be obvious ofcourse, No one wears a wool jacket in abu dabi. Fast fashion and the fashion industry as a whole seems incredibly wasteful to me. Buying new clothing because of yearly trends is way to damaging to the enviroment for what it's worth.

ghaff 6y ago
That's true. But, even allowing for specialty clothing that they don't wear all that much and clothing that doesn't fit quite right, etc. but they haven't gotten rid of, most people have way more clothing than they really need. Even for generous values of need.
MagnumPIG 6y ago
> cultural "requirement": clothing that is required to fit into social circles. The shirt would be a good example of this, aswell as the tie. So... fashion?
- kazen44 6y ago
  yes, it is fashion. But it has a far slower pace of change then the fashion industry. Formal attire for males got out of style a couple of decades ago, but besides the suit (and tie) mostly dying, most people still wear shirts to work.
taurath 6y ago
(All comments on culture US centric) - This thinking is why the men’s section is 1/4 as large as the women’s in most stores. Culturally for men clothing is supposed to be above all practical. There are 5 genres of men’s clothes - business (pressed shirts, suits), casual, workout, skater, and comfort (hoodie). Contrast this with the women’s section. Women have an expectation to express themselves and their personality. There are all sorts of “impractical” cuts, flairs, colors, layers to choose from. There’s a shoe for every occasion. You can get dramatically different fabrics, feels, and touches. Not even going into accessories. There is certainly a sea change happening in fashion retail, but it’s more that like everything else it’s accelerating things that are already going on. People were trending less formal almost everywhere in the workplace, except NYC, SF and LA (or in high touch industries like real estate or law). Your H&Ms are best positioned to survive, where everyone already knows that Macy’s is on its last legs.
- Ancapistani 6y ago
  > There are 5 genres of men’s clothes - business (pressed shirts, suits), casual, workout, skater, and comfort (hoodie). There’s quite a bit of variation within those. Where I live, “casual” these days is usually something like Columbia PFG - the epitome of “dad clothes”, as my wife tells me. I tend to wear that pretty much exclusively. I substitute jeans for the shorts in winter and buy a new leather jacket about every 3-5 years. I pass my old one on to someone else. Your point stands, though. As a man, my clothes are 100% based on practicality, and I often only discard them when they’re too worn to be presentable.
  - IgorPartola 6y ago
    Here are some examples of women’s clothing where I cannot think of the equivalent thing in a men’s clothing department: https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1AawYy29TBuNjy0Fcq6zeiFXaW/Off-shoulder-sexy-blouse-shirt-ruffle-long-sleeve-crop-top-women-blouses-2018-Summer-solid-color.jpg https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1AawYy29TBuNjy0Fcq6zeiFXaW/Off... https://patternshub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Tube-top-Dress-4.jpg https://patternshub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Tube-top-... http://images.asos-media.com/products/asos-cut-out-sleeve-one-shoulder-asymmetric-top/1144364-1-black?$XXL$&wid=513&fit=constrain http://images.asos-media.com/products/asos-cut-out-sleeve-on... https://cdn.tobi.com/product_images/lg/1/teal-kayla-ombre-maxi-romper.jpg https://cdn.tobi.com/product_images/lg/1/teal-kayla-ombre-ma... (That last one is a bit of a cheat because manufacturers are starting to produce rompers for men).
    - jdhawk 6y ago
      sure you can. its never that hard. https://a.suitsupplycdn.com/image/upload/b_rgb:efefef,bo_100px_solid_rgb:efefef,w_1530,h_2750,c_pad,f_auto,q_auto,dpr_1,fl_progressive/products/Suits/default/P5654_1.jpg https://a.suitsupplycdn.com/image/upload/b_rgb:efefef,bo_100...
    - Aerroon 6y ago
      To me all of these are the same: clothing to show off. I think the make equivalent would be a suit. Or alternatively, an incredibly toned body, but I don't think they sell that.
johnchristopher 6y ago
> - practicality. Jeans are good example of this. It's cheap and practical clothing that lasts a long time. Yeah but that skinny/tight jeans trend really did made some jeans less practical.
chrisseaton 6y ago
> Jeans are good example of this. It's cheap and practical clothing that lasts a long time. Mainstream jeans brands seem astronomically expensive to me.
- spaetzleesser 6y ago
  Yeah, You can get some OK ones between 30-50 but the more stylish ones are easily >100 or way more.
- alchemism 6y ago
  I worked a good number of years doing tech in fashion. Figure that there is a 100-1000% markup for a garment at retail. The jeans that cost $3 to make versus the ones that cost $13 will sometimes be durable, but you are basically buying the quality of the seamstress beyond materials at the higher price point.
- manigandham 6y ago
  The prices rise to fit the market. People will pay for the "fashion" and brand name so the retailers sell them. You also have layers of outlets, overstock, discount retailers, thrift stores and more that take up the overflow. a
- xeromal 6y ago
  I guess it depends. I buy levis which are the some of the cheapest decently quality jeans you can find. I'm not big on raw or selvedge denim so I mean decently trendy and ready to wear jeans. I can find a pair for around 100 or less depending on sales and those pairs can last me about 3-5 years. I think 100$ is a fair price for something that will last me that long. I have squatter's legs so the inner thigh grinds to a pulp on most brands but levi's lasts the longest.
  - doix 6y ago
    > I have squatter's legs so the inner thigh grinds to a pulp on most brands but levi's lasts the longest. My quads aren't even that big and yet I seem to have this problem. It only started after lifting for a few years and it drives me crazy. I seem to go through jeans every 3 years whereas before it felt like they would last a life time.
seltzered_ 6y ago
I would add environmental friendliness - more creativity in supply chains so more local materials used. Fashion will always exist and by itself shouldnt be considered wasteful - think deeply about other cultures relationship to it. Google around for Adam Minters book secondhand on how the rag industry is one of the largest.
- Nasrudith 6y ago
  I see an obsession with local but would they actually be more environmentally friendly? Specialized higher yield locales are more efficenct for land usage. Efficencies of scale and more optimal environments and container ships of scale as well. Aside from that more stringent local environmental regulations are the only advantage I can see mattering.
  - wolco 6y ago
    Transportation costs.
    - seveneightn9ne 6y ago
      I assume local food is more well-studied than local fashion, and may have similar environmental cost profiles. This study: http://www.iufn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Making-local-food-work-2010-Local-food-and-climate-change.pdf http://www.iufn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Making-local-... found that transportation is actually less important than other factors. On the other hand, local food has other important advantages: resiliency (perhaps less important for clothing), and supporting the local economy.
kurthr 6y ago
Yes, but Jeans are part of the collapse now and considered formal for creatives with Levi's down 62% and doing layoffs. I thought "formality" was bizarre as well, but apparently their target demo don't consider the older skinny-jeans, and the new high-waisted mom-jeans to be as comfortable as Lulus... who'd have thunk it? https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/28/jeans-sales-leggings-pandemic/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/28/jeans-sal... I suspect that it's a long term trend to reduce cost and quality/durability to maintain sales volumes. Fast fashion was a part of this, but now that people aren't going out to be seen, it doesn't matter what you're wearing (if it looks good on zoom). I suspect this will trend back once we're going out more, but with LA/NY/SF/MIA mostly shut down it won't be this year. What is happening for the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, but home video? Maybe leisure suits will come back?
- stevenicr 6y ago
  After buying mostly levi's jeans for 30 years I started noticing huge differences in quality / durability.. upon inspecting the waist seams I noticed the 'made in pakistan / mexico' and other labels of origin. The same style/numbers from different years had different fabric thicknesses and were made in various places, and they did not last as long. So I started to question this "American brand". Then they started going all anti-gun / SJW / spending money to reduce gun rights. I have not bought a pair in a long time, won't buy any of that brand for anyone else, and anytime someone I know is shopping for or discussing jeans I mention my distaste for the brand and those who would support them. Seeing them go down sparks joy. I'd rather wear a leisure suit made by snuggies than hand them cash. Seems I'm not the only one. *edit to manual correct seems to seams
  - VectorLock 6y ago
    I had a very similar experience with Adidas shoes. For a long time (~15 years maybe) I was pretty much exclusively buying Adidas shell-toes for my daily footwear. They were the most comfortable well fitting shoes and fit my wide feet well. It was nice not having to spend much time looking or trying on shoes - every 2 or even 3 years when they wore out I'd buy a new pair and they fit just like the last one. The last pair I bought fell apart in 3 months, the ball of my foot eating through the interior material in that short span. I kept wondering "what changed" and then I looked at the label in the tongue. Different country of manufacture than the last 2 pairs I bought (I'd usually keep my old pair as a backup since they typically still had some life left in them, despite the sole wearing down)
craigsmansion 6y ago
> Buying new clothing because of yearly trends is way to damaging to the environment for what it's worth. I read this as I rock along on my Thinkpad x200 and read it on a forum where people regularly defend the use of electron apps and gush over the latest sumptuous macbooks with gobs of memory. "But, but, I need those for my work" And so might these people who buy clothes because of yearly trends. "But that's different!" No, it's not. It's not up to me to say anyone shouldn't enjoy your latest laptop, but I think it's good to realise that the large majority of people who work in software are in a precarious position to be handing out edicts about what should and shouldn't be considered "incredibly wasteful" and what is "damaging the environment".
- dan-robertson 6y ago
  Maybe there are lots of different people on the site who have different opinions and what you’re seeing is not a majority agreeing on an inconsistent opinion but rather many people with different internally consistent (or even internally inconsistent) ideas.
causality0 6y ago
Well said. Aside from formalwear and tattered outdoor work outfits my clothing may as well all be identical. Every morning I reach into my closet and grab a shirt and pair of jeans without looking.
paulcole 6y ago
> Buying new clothing because of yearly trends is way to damaging to the enviroment for what it's worth. You can say this about virtually any hobby/interest that you don’t personally find enjoyable. Buying any new stuff yearly isn’t great for the environment — with exceedingly rare exceptions. But in the grand scheme of things: owning/driving a car, living in too big a home, eating meat, and having kids are so so so much more destructive that buying a few new shirts and pants every year becomes a rounding error.
dbsmith83 6y ago
> Fast fashion and the fashion industry as a whole seems incredibly wasteful to me. Buying new clothing because of yearly trends is way to damaging to the enviroment for what it's worth. I don't disagree per se, but I think you could say this about just about any hobby/habit/interest. Is it really necessary? Probably not, but it makes some people happy for whatever reason. How do you draw the line? Some people complain that travel is too hard on the environment..but I love travel and will continue to do so (post-covid)
- adrianN 6y ago
  Does it make people inherently happy, or does it simply satisfy needs that first had to be awoken by a constant onslaught of ads?
- morsch 6y ago
  > How do you draw the line? By representing the environmental externalities of fashion, travel, etc through CO2 taxation.
prostoalex 6y ago
From the practicality standpoint it seems that we should all be wearing togas (or robes, at most). They're basically unisex (with opportunities for expression for those who value it), flexible on size (or at least very forgiving if your exact size is unavailable), and can be made pretty cheap (assuming mass production). Everything more complicated than that is fashion.
- yomly 6y ago
  not convinced togas are that great for sports...?
  - oftenwrong 6y ago
    It has been long known that robes are not suitable for exercise and sport. That's why we work out at the "gymnasium". gymnos = naked
- Broken_Hippo 6y ago
  Except they are basically a primitive dress. And I don't find such things comfortable at all. Please just give me basic pants and find a way to adjust the size slightly so they fit well. Pants are warmer and I don't have to worry about how I sit (am female, and do not enjoy this bit about dresses). Biking is not an issue, nor is extra fabric going to get stuck in a conveyor belt. I'm also pretty sure the togas would require a decent learning curve if you are wanting sleeves. I certainly want sleeves and a shirt that isn't in the way: Things like ponchos aren't good to cook in - they get in the food. Togas would be outright dangerous when swimming and I can't imagine them being great for working on a car. They might be slightly cooler in the summer if you aren't using too much fabric. And I'd argue that no matter what, you still have fashion. You'll see it in the way folks drape the toga fabric and their use of belts and things to hold it together. You'll see fashion in the color and/or print of fabric and whether or not you can keep a white one clean. Like with uniforms, you'll find more emphasis on body shape, hair, and other such things. But I suppose we could all just let our hair grow out: women and men both should just stop shaving as well. It is, after all, fashion. And not do phsyical fitness more than what is required to be healthy and do your job - excess muscles are fashion, after all.
golergka 6y ago
That's very dismissive of the art and self-expression that goes into this. It's a strange, but pervasive human behavior, to make things not only practical, but beautiful. To put in different ideas into easthetics of things, to express yourself through them. Of course, may be most shoppers simply go after current trends, but that's just true for any art form, from music to movies to books; almost all of these things are just as impractical. Investing your resources into something just because it looks nice is a very human thing to do.

ghaff 6y ago

That's true. But, even allowing for specialty clothing that they don't wear all that much and clothing that doesn't fit quite right, etc. but they haven't gotten rid of, most people have way more clothing than they really need. Even for generous values of need.

MagnumPIG 6y ago

> cultural "requirement": clothing that is required to fit into social circles. The shirt would be a good example of this, aswell as the tie. So... fashion?

kazen44 6y ago
yes, it is fashion. But it has a far slower pace of change then the fashion industry. Formal attire for males got out of style a couple of decades ago, but besides the suit (and tie) mostly dying, most people still wear shirts to work.

taurath 6y ago

(All comments on culture US centric) - This thinking is why the men’s section is 1/4 as large as the women’s in most stores. Culturally for men clothing is supposed to be above all practical. There are 5 genres of men’s clothes - business (pressed shirts, suits), casual, workout, skater, and comfort (hoodie). Contrast this with the women’s section. Women have an expectation to express themselves and their personality. There are all sorts of “impractical” cuts, flairs, colors, layers to choose from. There’s a shoe for every occasion. You can get dramatically different fabrics, feels, and touches. Not even going into accessories. There is certainly a sea change happening in fashion retail, but it’s more that like everything else it’s accelerating things that are already going on. People were trending less formal almost everywhere in the workplace, except NYC, SF and LA (or in high touch industries like real estate or law). Your H&Ms are best positioned to survive, where everyone already knows that Macy’s is on its last legs.

Ancapistani 6y ago
> There are 5 genres of men’s clothes - business (pressed shirts, suits), casual, workout, skater, and comfort (hoodie). There’s quite a bit of variation within those. Where I live, “casual” these days is usually something like Columbia PFG - the epitome of “dad clothes”, as my wife tells me. I tend to wear that pretty much exclusively. I substitute jeans for the shorts in winter and buy a new leather jacket about every 3-5 years. I pass my old one on to someone else. Your point stands, though. As a man, my clothes are 100% based on practicality, and I often only discard them when they’re too worn to be presentable.
- IgorPartola 6y ago
  Here are some examples of women’s clothing where I cannot think of the equivalent thing in a men’s clothing department: https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1AawYy29TBuNjy0Fcq6zeiFXaW/Off-shoulder-sexy-blouse-shirt-ruffle-long-sleeve-crop-top-women-blouses-2018-Summer-solid-color.jpg https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1AawYy29TBuNjy0Fcq6zeiFXaW/Off... https://patternshub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Tube-top-Dress-4.jpg https://patternshub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Tube-top-... http://images.asos-media.com/products/asos-cut-out-sleeve-one-shoulder-asymmetric-top/1144364-1-black?$XXL$&wid=513&fit=constrain http://images.asos-media.com/products/asos-cut-out-sleeve-on... https://cdn.tobi.com/product_images/lg/1/teal-kayla-ombre-maxi-romper.jpg https://cdn.tobi.com/product_images/lg/1/teal-kayla-ombre-ma... (That last one is a bit of a cheat because manufacturers are starting to produce rompers for men).
  - jdhawk 6y ago
    sure you can. its never that hard. https://a.suitsupplycdn.com/image/upload/b_rgb:efefef,bo_100px_solid_rgb:efefef,w_1530,h_2750,c_pad,f_auto,q_auto,dpr_1,fl_progressive/products/Suits/default/P5654_1.jpg https://a.suitsupplycdn.com/image/upload/b_rgb:efefef,bo_100...
  - Aerroon 6y ago
    To me all of these are the same: clothing to show off. I think the make equivalent would be a suit. Or alternatively, an incredibly toned body, but I don't think they sell that.

johnchristopher 6y ago

> - practicality. Jeans are good example of this. It's cheap and practical clothing that lasts a long time. Yeah but that skinny/tight jeans trend really did made some jeans less practical.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> Jeans are good example of this. It's cheap and practical clothing that lasts a long time. Mainstream jeans brands seem astronomically expensive to me.

spaetzleesser 6y ago
Yeah, You can get some OK ones between 30-50 but the more stylish ones are easily >100 or way more.
alchemism 6y ago
I worked a good number of years doing tech in fashion. Figure that there is a 100-1000% markup for a garment at retail. The jeans that cost $3 to make versus the ones that cost $13 will sometimes be durable, but you are basically buying the quality of the seamstress beyond materials at the higher price point.
manigandham 6y ago
The prices rise to fit the market. People will pay for the "fashion" and brand name so the retailers sell them. You also have layers of outlets, overstock, discount retailers, thrift stores and more that take up the overflow. a
xeromal 6y ago
I guess it depends. I buy levis which are the some of the cheapest decently quality jeans you can find. I'm not big on raw or selvedge denim so I mean decently trendy and ready to wear jeans. I can find a pair for around 100 or less depending on sales and those pairs can last me about 3-5 years. I think 100$ is a fair price for something that will last me that long. I have squatter's legs so the inner thigh grinds to a pulp on most brands but levi's lasts the longest.
- doix 6y ago
  > I have squatter's legs so the inner thigh grinds to a pulp on most brands but levi's lasts the longest. My quads aren't even that big and yet I seem to have this problem. It only started after lifting for a few years and it drives me crazy. I seem to go through jeans every 3 years whereas before it felt like they would last a life time.

seltzered_ 6y ago

I would add environmental friendliness - more creativity in supply chains so more local materials used. Fashion will always exist and by itself shouldnt be considered wasteful - think deeply about other cultures relationship to it. Google around for Adam Minters book secondhand on how the rag industry is one of the largest.

Nasrudith 6y ago
I see an obsession with local but would they actually be more environmentally friendly? Specialized higher yield locales are more efficenct for land usage. Efficencies of scale and more optimal environments and container ships of scale as well. Aside from that more stringent local environmental regulations are the only advantage I can see mattering.
- wolco 6y ago
  Transportation costs.
  - seveneightn9ne 6y ago
    I assume local food is more well-studied than local fashion, and may have similar environmental cost profiles. This study: http://www.iufn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Making-local-food-work-2010-Local-food-and-climate-change.pdf http://www.iufn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Making-local-... found that transportation is actually less important than other factors. On the other hand, local food has other important advantages: resiliency (perhaps less important for clothing), and supporting the local economy.

kurthr 6y ago

Yes, but Jeans are part of the collapse now and considered formal for creatives with Levi's down 62% and doing layoffs. I thought "formality" was bizarre as well, but apparently their target demo don't consider the older skinny-jeans, and the new high-waisted mom-jeans to be as comfortable as Lulus... who'd have thunk it? https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/28/jeans-sales-leggings-pandemic/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/28/jeans-sal... I suspect that it's a long term trend to reduce cost and quality/durability to maintain sales volumes. Fast fashion was a part of this, but now that people aren't going out to be seen, it doesn't matter what you're wearing (if it looks good on zoom). I suspect this will trend back once we're going out more, but with LA/NY/SF/MIA mostly shut down it won't be this year. What is happening for the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, but home video? Maybe leisure suits will come back?

stevenicr 6y ago
After buying mostly levi's jeans for 30 years I started noticing huge differences in quality / durability.. upon inspecting the waist seams I noticed the 'made in pakistan / mexico' and other labels of origin. The same style/numbers from different years had different fabric thicknesses and were made in various places, and they did not last as long. So I started to question this "American brand". Then they started going all anti-gun / SJW / spending money to reduce gun rights. I have not bought a pair in a long time, won't buy any of that brand for anyone else, and anytime someone I know is shopping for or discussing jeans I mention my distaste for the brand and those who would support them. Seeing them go down sparks joy. I'd rather wear a leisure suit made by snuggies than hand them cash. Seems I'm not the only one. *edit to manual correct seems to seams
- VectorLock 6y ago
  I had a very similar experience with Adidas shoes. For a long time (~15 years maybe) I was pretty much exclusively buying Adidas shell-toes for my daily footwear. They were the most comfortable well fitting shoes and fit my wide feet well. It was nice not having to spend much time looking or trying on shoes - every 2 or even 3 years when they wore out I'd buy a new pair and they fit just like the last one. The last pair I bought fell apart in 3 months, the ball of my foot eating through the interior material in that short span. I kept wondering "what changed" and then I looked at the label in the tongue. Different country of manufacture than the last 2 pairs I bought (I'd usually keep my old pair as a backup since they typically still had some life left in them, despite the sole wearing down)

craigsmansion 6y ago

> Buying new clothing because of yearly trends is way to damaging to the environment for what it's worth. I read this as I rock along on my Thinkpad x200 and read it on a forum where people regularly defend the use of electron apps and gush over the latest sumptuous macbooks with gobs of memory. "But, but, I need those for my work" And so might these people who buy clothes because of yearly trends. "But that's different!" No, it's not. It's not up to me to say anyone shouldn't enjoy your latest laptop, but I think it's good to realise that the large majority of people who work in software are in a precarious position to be handing out edicts about what should and shouldn't be considered "incredibly wasteful" and what is "damaging the environment".

dan-robertson 6y ago
Maybe there are lots of different people on the site who have different opinions and what you’re seeing is not a majority agreeing on an inconsistent opinion but rather many people with different internally consistent (or even internally inconsistent) ideas.

causality0 6y ago

Well said. Aside from formalwear and tattered outdoor work outfits my clothing may as well all be identical. Every morning I reach into my closet and grab a shirt and pair of jeans without looking.

paulcole 6y ago

> Buying new clothing because of yearly trends is way to damaging to the enviroment for what it's worth. You can say this about virtually any hobby/interest that you don’t personally find enjoyable. Buying any new stuff yearly isn’t great for the environment — with exceedingly rare exceptions. But in the grand scheme of things: owning/driving a car, living in too big a home, eating meat, and having kids are so so so much more destructive that buying a few new shirts and pants every year becomes a rounding error.

dbsmith83 6y ago

> Fast fashion and the fashion industry as a whole seems incredibly wasteful to me. Buying new clothing because of yearly trends is way to damaging to the enviroment for what it's worth. I don't disagree per se, but I think you could say this about just about any hobby/habit/interest. Is it really necessary? Probably not, but it makes some people happy for whatever reason. How do you draw the line? Some people complain that travel is too hard on the environment..but I love travel and will continue to do so (post-covid)

adrianN 6y ago
Does it make people inherently happy, or does it simply satisfy needs that first had to be awoken by a constant onslaught of ads?
morsch 6y ago
> How do you draw the line? By representing the environmental externalities of fashion, travel, etc through CO2 taxation.

prostoalex 6y ago

From the practicality standpoint it seems that we should all be wearing togas (or robes, at most). They're basically unisex (with opportunities for expression for those who value it), flexible on size (or at least very forgiving if your exact size is unavailable), and can be made pretty cheap (assuming mass production). Everything more complicated than that is fashion.

yomly 6y ago
not convinced togas are that great for sports...?
- oftenwrong 6y ago
  It has been long known that robes are not suitable for exercise and sport. That's why we work out at the "gymnasium". gymnos = naked
Broken_Hippo 6y ago
Except they are basically a primitive dress. And I don't find such things comfortable at all. Please just give me basic pants and find a way to adjust the size slightly so they fit well. Pants are warmer and I don't have to worry about how I sit (am female, and do not enjoy this bit about dresses). Biking is not an issue, nor is extra fabric going to get stuck in a conveyor belt. I'm also pretty sure the togas would require a decent learning curve if you are wanting sleeves. I certainly want sleeves and a shirt that isn't in the way: Things like ponchos aren't good to cook in - they get in the food. Togas would be outright dangerous when swimming and I can't imagine them being great for working on a car. They might be slightly cooler in the summer if you aren't using too much fabric. And I'd argue that no matter what, you still have fashion. You'll see it in the way folks drape the toga fabric and their use of belts and things to hold it together. You'll see fashion in the color and/or print of fabric and whether or not you can keep a white one clean. Like with uniforms, you'll find more emphasis on body shape, hair, and other such things. But I suppose we could all just let our hair grow out: women and men both should just stop shaving as well. It is, after all, fashion. And not do phsyical fitness more than what is required to be healthy and do your job - excess muscles are fashion, after all.

golergka 6y ago

That's very dismissive of the art and self-expression that goes into this. It's a strange, but pervasive human behavior, to make things not only practical, but beautiful. To put in different ideas into easthetics of things, to express yourself through them. Of course, may be most shoppers simply go after current trends, but that's just true for any art form, from music to movies to books; almost all of these things are just as impractical. Investing your resources into something just because it looks nice is a very human thing to do.