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Discount Shopoholics: America's Addiction To Cheap Clothing

June 22, 2012 @ 4:29 pm

By Rachel Belle

women-shopping

Listen to The Curse of H&M: America's Addiction to Cheap Fashion

Americans love to shop. For some it's a regular hobby, and ever since stores like H&M, Forever 21, Target and TJ Maxx have sprouted up in shopping centers around the country, we validate our many purchases because the clothes are so so affordable. But have you ever counted the clothes in your closet? Elizabeth Cline did and she was shocked to find over 300 pieces of clothing, many that she never wears. She's written a book called Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion about America's addiction to cheap clothing.

"It actually starts out with a story of me going to Kmart and buying seven pairs of identical shoes because they were on sale for $7 a piece."

I think a lot of us have bought something we kind of like, just because it was on sale.

"It turned out that I actually was just the typical American consumer, buying about 68 items of clothing and eight pairs of shoes a year. How did we all collectively get here to where we are treating clothing as a disposable good and shopping all the time and wearing things once and then letting things sit in the back of our closets or throwing them away?"

Cline says it's a waste of money, it's erasing good style in our country and it's bad for the earth.

"The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world. A lot of it has to do with just the sheer scale of the textile industry now. In the 1950's, world fiber consumption was around 10 million tons and now it's skyrocketed to 82 million tons."

Another problem is that a lot of that fabrics sit in landfills, alongside things like disposable diapers.

"That's the thing about synthetics like acrylic, nylon and polyester. They don't biodegrade."

We live in a disposable culture, and in the last couple of decades we have started to treat our clothes as disposable.

"I can just buy this and if a seam busts open, or if a button falls off, I'm not going to put it back on because I paid so little for it and it's gonna be out of style next week anyway. We've gotten to this place now, really in the last decade, we started treating clothing as if it's really disposable."

Another interesting thing, that she talks about in her book, is thrift stores.

"When we drop off our clothes at charities, we imagine there is someone else in our community that needs those clothes and is going to come in and buy them. Actually, we donate so much clothing, and this has been going on for decades now, that most of it isn't resold in thrift stores, it has to be resold overseas in Africa, because we're donating so much of it. I think that it has, in some ways, undermined some African country's abilities to develop garment industries. But I think that the point is that what's happening is we're being distanced from the waste we're creating."

Both recycling and eating local have become pretty common place, but what about buying local, recyclable clothing? Cline says that instead of buying 10, $15 tank tops buy a couple of quality shirts from local, independent designers or from vintage or thrift stores. Most importantly, only buy what you really need.

More Rachel Belle

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Comments (11)


  • Add A Comment

  • otmilkr wrote...
    Cheap stuff made
    June 22, 2012 9:21 pm
    in a scab shop , purchased by a scab , but thankfully transported to a landfill by a Teamster....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • biteme wrote...
    let me fix that for ya
    June 24, 2012 4:18 pm
    Hauled to landfill by over paid whiner
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    bitme
    June 24, 2012 5:15 pm
    At least the money paid to the Teamster gets recycled and strengthen our economy. The wages paid to the foreign continue his cycle of poverty.Under paid workers are a burden to the middle class and weaken our economic system.And by far the longest continuous whine in our country comes from the top 10% income class who's constant whine is "we don't want to pay our fair share"
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • JW1984 wrote...
    "the longest continuous whine in our country comes from the top 10% income class who's constant whine is "we don't want to pay our fair share"
    June 24, 2012 10:39 pm
    What exactly does "your fair share" mean. I would think that a "fair share" would mean the same as everybody else, but you guys seem to think it means "whatever I want you to pay". It is pathetic to hear all the people who pay no taxes whine about those who are paying 30-40% "not paying their fair share".
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  • sportsguru wrote...
    30-40%
    June 25, 2012 5:51 am
    ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,. Now that was funny,lol.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rubegoldberg wrote...
    Used to actually care
    June 24, 2012 6:15 pm
    but not much anymore. People still laugh at Ross Perot - he had big ears but was prophetic . Retards in the USA deserve everything that happens to them down the road. Stupid is as stupid does. The only way to solve the problem is level the playing field (global labor costs). Let me know when that happens.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Troll Hunter wrote...
    Ross Perot a prophet?
    June 24, 2012 8:40 pm
    The guy never wanted t be prez, he just wanted to get NAFTA passed so he could make a fortune on his TI calculators by exploiting the poor in Mexico. Perot was nothing more than another greedy RB who cares only about himself and his money.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ottmilkr wrote...
    Didn't Perot
    June 24, 2012 8:59 pm
    describe something of a " Giant sucking sound " ?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Troll Hunter
    June 25, 2012 9:13 am
    Your 100% WRONG. Perot NEVER wanted NAFTA passed his campaign was based on the loss of jobs NAFTA would cause.The GOP and the Dems SOLD out the American worker.You need only look at the photos of Bush1 and Clinton holding each others hands up proclaiming victory when Clinton signed NAFTA.Do you recall ever seeing a photo of 2 Presidents from different parties in such a pose?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    Correction please
    June 25, 2012 6:47 am
    "Americans love to shop.".....let's be a little more specific.....WOMEN love to shop....they live for the moment, they spend most of their non-working hours shopping, stop placing the blame on all of us for what you women like to do.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    caravanb
    June 25, 2012 7:12 am
    Definetly agree with you.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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