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I don’t dislike fashion because I’m a humble bragging genius. I dislike it because I think it’s bad for the world. It preys on and fuels women’s insecurities to
by spoonjim 5y ago
I don’t dislike fashion because I’m a humble bragging genius. I dislike it because I think it’s bad for the world. It preys on and fuels women’s insecurities to sell them throwaway products made by borderline-enslaved Cambodians. A guy making $1.63 billion doesn’t change that — the mentality that “it makes money so it’s good” is precisely the sick mentality behind this whole blight upon the world. I know you are right that there is more growth in this industry, but that growth is going to make the world a worse place.
- tmhrtly 5y agoI know it's not exactly the be-all-end-all solution to the problem, but it does feel like good quality used marketplaces for fashion (like Depop) could help to counter that flow of 'throwaway products'. In addition, in the long run having a more liquid market for potential resale might encourage people to buy better, longer lasting clothes at the offset (but that might be a pipe dream on my part).
- flatline 5y agoThat's a pretty cynical take. Much the same could be said of any industry that relies on manufacturing and marketing. I think there's value in society at large - we are social creatures and relating to each other, mimicking each other, and other forms of communication are deeply tied to how we get along as human beings. I'm not saying fashion is itself necessarily useful at large, and it certainly has the issues you described, but it's at least a byproduct of other things that are highly useful.
- germinalphrase 5y agoPerhaps much of the same should be said of other industries.
- akarma 5y ago> It preys on and fuels women’s insecurities to sell them throwaway products made by borderline-enslaved Cambodians. It sounds like you've never used Depop or learned about it before writing this comment. Depop is the exact opposite. It's a solution to what you're framing as a problem. Depop is a way to recycle clothing rather than throwing it out and buying more - it is actually a reaction to the exact fast fashion you're complaining about.
- samhh 5y agoThe first R is reduce. The second is reuse. Our cultural obsession with fashion completely bypasses each of these.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y agoOh, but those R’s are hard and not fun. What’s really fun is throwing all anything plastic including wrappers, #5, #7, any metal, any paper basically anything but food into the blue recycling tub that someone comes to pick up and then I can smuggly look down on people that “don’t even care about the planet”, I’m doing my part by blankly assuming all my “recycling” isn’t going into a landfill! ... I wish I would still count the number of people that think that, but it’s too many. I try to “not buy shit”, and Im pretty sure it’s a lot harder than wishcycling.
- Quinner 5y agoDepop is reuse. Progress is made on the margins. Absolutist judgement of something a lot of people like does nothing to help.
- rland 5y agoI think depot would count as reuse, right?. Honestly, I'm stoked whenever we manage to make it past "recycle." I'd be happier if they announced that recycling was fake and everything you throw in the blue bin is trash.
- samhh 5y agoPerhaps, but I think it can be argued that it encourages more consumerism. The market for second-hand selling may encourage those sellers to buy more new. Fundamentally the idea of an everchanging fashion is problematic, not just environmentally but also otherwise.
- spoonjim 5y agoI’m not talking about Depop, I’m talking about why I hold the fashion industry in low regard.
- hellomyguys 5y ago>throwaway products made by borderline-enslaved Cambodians Well good thing Depop helps consumers avoid buying brand new clothing items and encourages giving life to old clothes. >I don’t dislike fashion because I’m a humble bragging genius. I dislike it because I think it’s bad for the world. All of fashion is bad for the world? Is that really your take?
- sovnade 5y agoI guess at a high level, nearly everything humanity does is bad for the world. If that's your starting point then it makes sense?
- spoonjim 5y agoYes, that is really my take.
- reaperducer 5y agoSo, nudity is the answers. Also ban tattoos and hair styles while you're at it. And all self-expression, since that's also subject to the whims of fashion. Thank you for enlightening us, Mr. Mao.
- goldenchrome 5y agoFashion is self-expression and your own personal connection to culture. I don’t think nerds on HN generally grok those concepts but many other people in the world do. It’s very important to lots of people and it’s a lot of fun once you know what you’re doing. The fashion world has abundant problems but it’s still an important industry. Preying on insecurities and using cheap labor is sort of a way of looking at all consumerism though.
- biztos 5y ago> it’s a lot of fun once you know what you’re doing It's also pretty useful if you have an open mind and no idea what you're doing. I don't really "do" fashion but I'm grateful for my cerulean sweater! https://youtu.be/vL-KQij0I8I https://youtu.be/vL-KQij0I8I
- ceilingcorner 5y agoFine with me. If a bunch of smart people are going to lock themselves out of a multi-billion industry because they are too “enlightened” to bother, awesome. Less competition.
- spoonjim 5y agoDon’t assume that because I don’t like it, I don’t understand it. I do understand the venal emotions of mankind. That doesn’t mean I respect the people who stoke and exploit those emotions for profit. A lot of consumerism is ecologically destructive but only a small amount of it depends on actively harming your customer’s mental well-being. Fashion, Facebook, sensationalist media, etc. are all industries that depend on making people feel worse.
- CharlesW 5y ago> I do understand the venal emotions of mankind. Thank you, this is now my new catchphrase!
- goldenchrome 5y agoFrankly, you don't understand fashion. Fashion is not a new industry, nor is it parasitic. It's one of the oldest forms of self-expression and it makes lots of people feel better, not worse. Fitting in is always going to be stressful, but it's stressful because it's so important for social creatures like us. Fashion is simply a tool that helps people fit in. If you figured out a way to fit in that doesn't involve fashion, then power to you, but that doesn't invalidate thousands of years of people enjoying clothes.
- majormajor 5y ago> I don’t dislike fashion because I’m a humble bragging genius. I dislike it because I think it’s bad for the world. We could play that game for days, about most industries that feature prominently on HN. This looks like just the sort of narrow focus the original poster was talking about. Why are fashion products worse than new smartphones coming out every year? Because we personally like gadgets more? And if we were talking about a used tech toy marketplace, comments about how new manufacturing was bad would be similarly out of left field, since here's an example of reuse.
- hobs 5y agoThis article was about fashion, so it seems relevant. Other discussions about companies harmful practices often do sound off in the threads about those companies or fields. I dont think anyone said one was worse than the other until you did - we can actually be against more than one thing at a time and maintain various levels of concerns across more than one thing at a time without constantly bringing up a list of all the bad things in the universe.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago> We could play that game for days, about most industries that feature prominently on HN. Do you have a moment to discuss my new crypto coin? It is specifically good at taking dinosaurs and making them money launder for drug dealers, murderers, and slavers.
- tomp 5y agoAccording to my reading, HN is full of complaints about new phones (and everything else, e.g. washing machines) being built with “planned obsolescence” as a goal, and praise for Apple for being by far the best in supporting old devices (but of course they could still improve!)
- twoknee 5y agoFWIW the iPhone 5s from Fall 2013 is still receiving regular security updates. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212341 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212341
- aiisahik 5y agooh ... wait till you hear about the car industry.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- vmception 5y agoI like fashion because of the creativity I also like that I know where to find people that have the bodies that less attractive women say are not real Just don't say anything at the tech company, or nod and agree so that your coding academy graduates or state mandated board member doesnt axe your entire division, and then go get greeted by your bubbly atmosphere models after work
- delaynomore 5y agoCome on now, mens fashion is also a multi-billion industry
- ty___ler 5y agoI think you have bigger fish to fry than a niche reseller app. www.walmart.com
- akomtu 5y agoI like to compare greed with steam and capitalism with a steam engine. It's noisy and inefficient, but that's the only tech we have right now.