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Anyone can make the choice to spend a similarly large amount of their income on clothing the way people did 200 years ago. In fact, it will be even higher qual

Anyone can make the choice to spend a similarly large amount of their income on clothing the way people did 200 years ago. In fact, it will be even higher quality than people had access to since we have much more advanced materials and techniques than existed back then. But, almost no one does that. Maybe you consider it brainwashing, but I consider it people just making a rational economic choice. And yes, I can see a world where, if tasteless nutrient slurry was essentially free and perfect nutrition for the body, then people would gladly consume that for most meals, and maybe splurge every now and then on an "old school" meal. I don't really see a problem with that.

bluefirebrand 6mo ago
> Anyone can make the choice to spend a similarly large amount of their income on clothing the way people did 200 years ago You really can't. That price/quality point basically does not exist anymore What's worse is that we have "designer brands" that charge the higher price point but are the exact same low quality as the lower price point stuff. Actual midrange quality just plain does not exist
- simianwords 6mo ago
  The simple reason is that there isn't a market for it. If there were, we would see it.
- IncreasePosts 6mo ago
  Sure it does, you just need to get something custom/bespoke/made to measure. Take your yearly clothing expenditure and multiply it by 10. And then, just like people 200 years ago, be content with 2 to 4 compete outfits. And then stop buying clothes yearly and go more on 10+ year cycle, where you use your funds to mend clothes instead of replacing them. Even if you only spend $300 on clothes per year, doing it the old school way means you can spend about $15,000 on 2-4 outfits and save the other $15,000 for mending and cleaning over the next 10 years. I guarantee you you can find a high quality custom outfit for $5000.
  - filleduchaos 6mo ago
    It is precisely because I both make and buy custom apparel that I will always push back on people proudly announcing that the Luddites were wrong because they can buy clothes that are worse than rags for a few dollars today. I have actually felt and worked with quality textiles which is why it's crystal clear to me that the slop the modern garment industry produces (and I mean that very literally, a lot of these clothes straight-up lose their structural integrity after a few routine laundry cycles) is not "efficiency". The fact that I live in a region that becomes the ultimate landfill for all of this slop when westerners discard it, doesn't help either.
    - IncreasePosts 6mo ago
      The luddites were wrong. They lived in a world where people needed to spend a large amount of their income on clothing. They had no cheap alternative - that's the thing they were fighting against. We live in a world where we can have cheap or expensive clothes. Having an option is better than not having an option at all.
  - bluefirebrand 6mo ago
    > Sure it does, you just need to get something custom/bespoke/made to measure As soon as you are talking about custom work you are absolutely not talking about mid-range anymore

bluefirebrand 6mo ago

> Anyone can make the choice to spend a similarly large amount of their income on clothing the way people did 200 years ago You really can't. That price/quality point basically does not exist anymore What's worse is that we have "designer brands" that charge the higher price point but are the exact same low quality as the lower price point stuff. Actual midrange quality just plain does not exist

simianwords 6mo ago
The simple reason is that there isn't a market for it. If there were, we would see it.
IncreasePosts 6mo ago
Sure it does, you just need to get something custom/bespoke/made to measure. Take your yearly clothing expenditure and multiply it by 10. And then, just like people 200 years ago, be content with 2 to 4 compete outfits. And then stop buying clothes yearly and go more on 10+ year cycle, where you use your funds to mend clothes instead of replacing them. Even if you only spend $300 on clothes per year, doing it the old school way means you can spend about $15,000 on 2-4 outfits and save the other $15,000 for mending and cleaning over the next 10 years. I guarantee you you can find a high quality custom outfit for $5000.
- filleduchaos 6mo ago
  It is precisely because I both make and buy custom apparel that I will always push back on people proudly announcing that the Luddites were wrong because they can buy clothes that are worse than rags for a few dollars today. I have actually felt and worked with quality textiles which is why it's crystal clear to me that the slop the modern garment industry produces (and I mean that very literally, a lot of these clothes straight-up lose their structural integrity after a few routine laundry cycles) is not "efficiency". The fact that I live in a region that becomes the ultimate landfill for all of this slop when westerners discard it, doesn't help either.
  - IncreasePosts 6mo ago
    The luddites were wrong. They lived in a world where people needed to spend a large amount of their income on clothing. They had no cheap alternative - that's the thing they were fighting against. We live in a world where we can have cheap or expensive clothes. Having an option is better than not having an option at all.
- bluefirebrand 6mo ago
  > Sure it does, you just need to get something custom/bespoke/made to measure As soon as you are talking about custom work you are absolutely not talking about mid-range anymore