The Problem of Clothing

 

About every twelve months I update my wardrobe, out of necessity. It’s a rather annoying feature of life that clothing wears out. While people in the “days of yore” made clothing that lasted for years, today’s items seem to not make it past a few years or months, depending on how it’s worn.

As I alluded to in my post about pajamas, I am very hard to suit when it comes to clothing. It has to be comfortable, look decent, and also meet my clothing standards. Some of this is helped along by my ability to make clothing. For many years I sewed most of my clothes. Then, I got tired of making things I didn’t like to wear, and I changed my clothing style. Now, I make my skirts, buy my tops, and save my sewing expertise for my mother and sisters. 

My clothing should be rather easy to find in a thrift store, as I wear t-shirts with a vest, but they can elusive. I don’t feel particularly partial to buying Walmart’s new version, as a used item is often a better brand like Old Navy or even Calvin Kline, which will last longer. But a crew neck t-shirt is hard to find, and a decent button-up blouse is even harder. 

My closet wears out is because I don’t keep it particularly full. When I was first changing my clothing, reasonably, I only had a few options until I found and sewed more. These items wore out quicker, because of the use. A full-enough wardrobe won’t wear down as quickly, because the wearing is spread out among the items more evenly.

It comes back to the problem of wearing out in the first place. I am pretty sure that manufactured goods are only meant to last a certain amount of time. The quality brands like Old Navy are made to last longer, but they come with a higher price tag. Even those, with lots of use, will wear out (like my favorite Apartment 9 t-shirt). The only thing that seems to last nearly forever is polyester and poly/cotton blends. The plastic fabric doesn’t wear out as much as cotton, but the polyester can be less comfortable.  

Of course, this is to be expected, because how would manufacturers make a profit when the clothing lasts forever? They won’t. Even clothing has to have an “expiration date” so that the economy stays running. This process of change and elimination helps me contemplate life, revisiting the time when I first got an item, and pondering the lapse of time in-between. As I work on replacing faded, stained, or worn items, I get a chance observe the passing of time as seen in a simple shirt. The clothing represents more than a bit of cotton, but an epoch in the story of life.