4 ms·

Did shopping become fun because fast-fashion clothes were cheap, or did clothes become cheap because shopping is fun? I'm also e-commerce-adjacent, but I belie

Did shopping become fun because fast-fashion clothes were cheap, or did clothes become cheap because shopping is fun? I'm also e-commerce-adjacent, but I believe fast-fashion (especially synthetics) is bad for humanity. Sure, people are making loads of money[1], but it's an ecological disaster in the making. 1. Me included, but only getting a little. Shein is getting ALL the money.

vasco 5y ago
Fast fashion only opens the door for "fun" to be had be normal people. Rich people going on a buying spree has generally always been a thing.
- McMiniBurger 5y ago
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    >Maybe major brands should research & launch clothes with "eco-friendly cloth-fiber" that disintegrates / can be recycled / etc? Such as cotton?
    - rightbyte 5y ago
      Or wool. Maybe plastics should just be banned for any cloths but like shoes, jackets and cover pants. That would solve much of the long term waste problem.
      - sokoloff 5y ago
        Plastic buttons are pretty damn useful.
        rightbyte 5y ago
        Buttons can be made in metal (for snapping) or wood (for "sloting"). Zippers can be made in metal (as good and expensive ones are). Like elastic cloths of any kind are where a plastics ban would hurt. Velcro ... For most normal cloths I believe there would be no problems.
        jsymolon 5y ago
        Might even include zippers into that also. Basically: reduce reuse recycle The point being materials science gave us a lot of materials that are better performing for a lot of use cases. Consider the amount of single use plastic in the medical field.
        micromacrofoot 5y ago
        if there’s anywhere that single use plastic makes sense it’s the medical field… everywhere else? not so much
        geoduck14 5y ago
        >Plastic buttons are pretty damn useful You are right, but I HATE buttons. I. HATE. Them. If there is one invention that need to be "disripted" it is the button. It is slow to button or unbutton something. If I'm tires and my fingers are wobbly, it suks. I can't button things in the dark. They break. Uuufff My hatred for buttons came about when I had my first borne daughter. There are a lot of infant clothes with buttons. The lights are dim. The baby is wiggly. I'm exhausted. And these >< buttons won't close! Velcro is better. Zippers aren't too bad. Magnets are fancy. I bet if we put our heads together, we could do better than the button Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk
        micromacrofoot 5y ago
        velcro is so obnoxious though and magnets can be dangerous (if we’re still talking about children clothes)
  - vasco 5y ago
    I didn't make it about anything. The only thing fast fashion opens in the way we see it nowadays is for shopping sprees at reduced prices. The direct implication is that it opens up this activity for people with lower purchasing power. This is not some statement about haves and have nots, but I think ignoring this fact is a bit weird. If you make something cheaper, more people are going to do that thing.
    - darkerside 5y ago
      It's always funny when someone brings their own biases and accuses you of doing so for stating fairly objective facts
bujak300 5y ago
In fact the processing of "natural" fibers is much more harmful to the environment then synthetics.
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  Whether it's harmful or not depends on the lifespan of the garment and whether or not that "natural" garment replaces enough throw-away garments to make it worthwhile. Sure, it's totally possible for a well-made synthetic garment to last as long or longer than a natural one (many of our dead uncle's double knit polyester slacks are still kicking-it in a thrift store somewhere). But we're talking here about "fast fashion", which is entirely cheaply made garments that, by definition, have a short lifespan. These are typically synthetic fabrics or cotton/polyester blends.
rootsudo 5y ago
You're confusing this just with "fast fashion clothes." Shopping can be anything. Also in e-comm, but have good prices, social media approval and you can sell anything for a cause, because it's popular or such.
secondaryacct 5y ago
It s always been a bit fun, I think people at the market 400 years ago liked the bartering and choosing and spending as much the chicken they ended up with. There's nothing wrong with mercantile pleasure per se. It's probably an incentive/reward mechanism in the brain to encourage comfort.

vasco 5y ago

Fast fashion only opens the door for "fun" to be had be normal people. Rich people going on a buying spree has generally always been a thing.

McMiniBurger 5y ago
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  >Maybe major brands should research & launch clothes with "eco-friendly cloth-fiber" that disintegrates / can be recycled / etc? Such as cotton?
  - rightbyte 5y ago
    Or wool. Maybe plastics should just be banned for any cloths but like shoes, jackets and cover pants. That would solve much of the long term waste problem.
    - sokoloff 5y ago
      Plastic buttons are pretty damn useful.
      - rightbyte 5y ago
        Buttons can be made in metal (for snapping) or wood (for "sloting"). Zippers can be made in metal (as good and expensive ones are). Like elastic cloths of any kind are where a plastics ban would hurt. Velcro ... For most normal cloths I believe there would be no problems.
      - jsymolon 5y ago
        Might even include zippers into that also. Basically: reduce reuse recycle The point being materials science gave us a lot of materials that are better performing for a lot of use cases. Consider the amount of single use plastic in the medical field.
        micromacrofoot 5y ago
        if there’s anywhere that single use plastic makes sense it’s the medical field… everywhere else? not so much
      - geoduck14 5y ago
        >Plastic buttons are pretty damn useful You are right, but I HATE buttons. I. HATE. Them. If there is one invention that need to be "disripted" it is the button. It is slow to button or unbutton something. If I'm tires and my fingers are wobbly, it suks. I can't button things in the dark. They break. Uuufff My hatred for buttons came about when I had my first borne daughter. There are a lot of infant clothes with buttons. The lights are dim. The baby is wiggly. I'm exhausted. And these >< buttons won't close! Velcro is better. Zippers aren't too bad. Magnets are fancy. I bet if we put our heads together, we could do better than the button Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk
        micromacrofoot 5y ago
        velcro is so obnoxious though and magnets can be dangerous (if we’re still talking about children clothes)
- vasco 5y ago
  I didn't make it about anything. The only thing fast fashion opens in the way we see it nowadays is for shopping sprees at reduced prices. The direct implication is that it opens up this activity for people with lower purchasing power. This is not some statement about haves and have nots, but I think ignoring this fact is a bit weird. If you make something cheaper, more people are going to do that thing.
  - darkerside 5y ago
    It's always funny when someone brings their own biases and accuses you of doing so for stating fairly objective facts

bujak300 5y ago

In fact the processing of "natural" fibers is much more harmful to the environment then synthetics.

crispyambulance 5y ago
Whether it's harmful or not depends on the lifespan of the garment and whether or not that "natural" garment replaces enough throw-away garments to make it worthwhile. Sure, it's totally possible for a well-made synthetic garment to last as long or longer than a natural one (many of our dead uncle's double knit polyester slacks are still kicking-it in a thrift store somewhere). But we're talking here about "fast fashion", which is entirely cheaply made garments that, by definition, have a short lifespan. These are typically synthetic fabrics or cotton/polyester blends.

rootsudo 5y ago

You're confusing this just with "fast fashion clothes." Shopping can be anything. Also in e-comm, but have good prices, social media approval and you can sell anything for a cause, because it's popular or such.

secondaryacct 5y ago

It s always been a bit fun, I think people at the market 400 years ago liked the bartering and choosing and spending as much the chicken they ended up with. There's nothing wrong with mercantile pleasure per se. It's probably an incentive/reward mechanism in the brain to encourage comfort.