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Articles like this underscore how much more efficient we've become, both in average earning potential and what it costs to produce something. Is it a $80 Men's

Articles like this underscore how much more efficient we've become, both in average earning potential and what it costs to produce something. Is it a $80 Men's Warehouse jacket? No. Would an $80 Men's Warehouse jacket fit as well? Also No. Would a similar Jacket cost a week's wages today? Maaaaybe. I'm sure you could find someone to sell you a jacket for that much money. Could you have a Jacket tailored for $200 that looked fabulous? Yes. But then you wouldn't wear it as much as this jacket, probably, but you have a CLOSET full of casual, formal, maybe business formal, maybe you just have a suit you wear for the occasional funeral. That suit didn't come close in price to what, possibly more than one, person spent on this jacket. There was an article/research program on what a person's earning potential was, and used 'an evening's oil for light and heat'. I can't seem to put my hands on it now, but it's similarly amazing that, historically, a day's labor for light is now earned in the first 5 minutes of my workday.

noneeeed 4y ago
You are probably thinking of the work of Bill Norhaus. NPR have covered this https://www.npr.org/2014/05/02/309040279/in-4-000-years-one-thing-hasnt-changed-it-takes-time-to-buy-light?t=1658494560737 https://www.npr.org/2014/05/02/309040279/in-4-000-years-one-... The cost of light now is vastly cheaper than your estimate. When he did the research in the 1990s you could buy a days light with less than a minute of work. With modern LED lighting it is probably seconds.
derbOac 4y ago
I guess I had a different reaction, which is interesting to me in itself. The closeups of the fabric look like the coat would still be expensive today. Clothing is efficiently produced, but much of it is modest quality, and produced from commodity fibers like cotton or polyester. If you want something that's a more exotic weave, made from a different fiber (say, a silk-wool blend) it's a different story. The impression I got from this was of more craftsmanship in the fabric production, but also more reuse of that fabric. There's something to be said for factory-efficient bulk clothing production, but I've come to appreciate the other philosophy as well. Many of my secondhand clothes have lasted much longer than firsthand purchases, at the same price, because the initially expensive garment was better made with more durable fabric. I can actually think of a t-shirt I recently purchased that's a bit like the coat in the article, in that it's made from an unusual fabric that I had tailored because I didn't like the hem style. Of course, there's probably some survivorship bias involved too: my guess is the cheaper bulk clothing from the era of that coat is all gone, disposed of just like we might a cheap cotton t shirt today.
- Damogran6 4y ago
  You're not wrong. In fact, having a Coat like this made would probably be rather expensive, if you could get it. But then there's also the Cosplay side of this. A person, if so motivated, could make one themselves...as a hobby. (I know a couple of people that do this, and the quality is astounding.)

noneeeed 4y ago

You are probably thinking of the work of Bill Norhaus. NPR have covered this https://www.npr.org/2014/05/02/309040279/in-4-000-years-one-thing-hasnt-changed-it-takes-time-to-buy-light?t=1658494560737 https://www.npr.org/2014/05/02/309040279/in-4-000-years-one-... The cost of light now is vastly cheaper than your estimate. When he did the research in the 1990s you could buy a days light with less than a minute of work. With modern LED lighting it is probably seconds.

derbOac 4y ago

I guess I had a different reaction, which is interesting to me in itself. The closeups of the fabric look like the coat would still be expensive today. Clothing is efficiently produced, but much of it is modest quality, and produced from commodity fibers like cotton or polyester. If you want something that's a more exotic weave, made from a different fiber (say, a silk-wool blend) it's a different story. The impression I got from this was of more craftsmanship in the fabric production, but also more reuse of that fabric. There's something to be said for factory-efficient bulk clothing production, but I've come to appreciate the other philosophy as well. Many of my secondhand clothes have lasted much longer than firsthand purchases, at the same price, because the initially expensive garment was better made with more durable fabric. I can actually think of a t-shirt I recently purchased that's a bit like the coat in the article, in that it's made from an unusual fabric that I had tailored because I didn't like the hem style. Of course, there's probably some survivorship bias involved too: my guess is the cheaper bulk clothing from the era of that coat is all gone, disposed of just like we might a cheap cotton t shirt today.

Damogran6 4y ago
You're not wrong. In fact, having a Coat like this made would probably be rather expensive, if you could get it. But then there's also the Cosplay side of this. A person, if so motivated, could make one themselves...as a hobby. (I know a couple of people that do this, and the quality is astounding.)