On Sun, Mar 10, 2019, 12:12 AM D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk, <
talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
| From: Don Tai via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
|
| A different view from the fashion industry. Instead of making more throw
| away products, make less but better quality products. It seems very old
| school, and much less wasteful. Not quite the right to repair, but along
| the same philosophical line.
|
| https://www.fastcompany.com/90311509/we-have-to-fix-fashion-if-we-want-to-survive-the-next-century
Interesting. I think that some of this is exagerated but I'm on-side.
Just like electronics got radically cheaper (orders of magnitude) in
my lifetime, the cost of clothing has gotten radically cheaper in the
last three centuries.
I just read:
<https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/MedCloth04chapfourC.pdf>
The cost of a woollen broadcloth (about 27 meters long) in this period
(say 1500) was about the same as a master mason's annual wage.
The processes of building garments was complex and labour-intensive.
There are many steps that most people don't know. Ever heard of
carding? Fulling? Mordants?
Clothes were inherited.
Worn-out linen was prized for making paper. There was an occupation
"rag picker". You can see paintings of rag pickers in the current
exhibition at the AGO "Impressionism in the Age of Industry: Monet,
Pissarro and more".
Up until 2005 or so, until a fire, Toronto had a permanent rag trader on Queen St. near Niagara. He would buy, sort and sell rags. This was a go to location for painters and wood workers where you could get a big bag of lower quality cleaning rags for a couple of dollars. If you were into fancy wood finishes ie. french polishing with linseed oil and turpentine, he would sell you a few linen or cotton rags but he kept the bulk of those for artisan paper makers and he apparently shipped those world wide.