Tailoring vs mass products
Valuing quality over novelties
Tailoring has nothing to do with mass products. Indeed, they are two worlds apart. Why make this point clear? Because what and how we buy, links to the change we want to make. In fact, it’s about promoting a cultural shift far from the novelty-obsessed fashion industry. To this end, changing the perspective of what we consider new is crucial.
Mass products: ready to wear and trendy items
With the term mass products, we identify the “production of large quantities of a standardised article by an automated mechanical process.” Specifically, in the fashion industry, we call it pret a porter or ready to wear. In other words, mass-produced clothing with an average price range. Both top brands and the “average market” garments are mass-produced.
You can call these garments new because they come from a new collection, a current season, or a new delivery. But that doesn’t imply specific quality standards. Nor anything significant in the context of climate change.
Ready to wear is trendy based, cheaper to manufacture and convenient for the consumer. But this business model has reached a tipping point. In fact, the impact it has on the planet is devastating and undeniable. Mass-produced clothing is the result of capitalism, an economic system based on the exploitation of people and the planet’s resources. Since this system believes in endless growth, it fosters overconsumption in the shape of trendy items pushing people towards novelty obsession.
Tailoring: quality over quantity
On another level, we find tailoring. Which means pieces manufactured by artisans, made by skilled hands. Therefore, clothing from ateliers or small realities. They would provide good quality in limited quantities reducing fashion waste.
While mass products change continuously, offering new items that last a breath of wind, tailored garments focus on quality and artisanal workings. In fact, their designs don’t change that much over time. You don’t buy them because they’re trendy, but because you’ll wear them for a lifetime.
Most importantly, tailoring brings an added value, mass products, instead, represent the perpetration of a destructive system.
What if what we consider new is wrong?
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