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How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

anuschkarees.com

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Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#41

Post by dredmorbius »

artsyca wrote: post #23

How refreshing to see something like this on HN; I want to iterate that there is an inextricable link between textiles and computer technology going back to the invention of the loom

Textiles were among the very earliest technologies, were hugely significant to ancient cultures (there are numerous Greek mythological entities associated with weaving, sewing, thread, cloth, etc.), some innovations were remarkably late (knitting, about 800 CE), and of course, textiles drove the early Industrial Revolution: Kay's Flying Shuttle (1733), James Hargreaves' spinning jenny (1764), Richard Arkwright's water frame (1769), and Joseph Marie Jacquard's punched-card loom (1804).

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#42

Post by readhn »

notfashion wrote: post #37
readhn wrote: post #29

What a bunch of BS. The author is ignoring elephant in the room - cost of honestly paid labor and cost of good quality materials. You cant make quality things using "slave" labor (made in "3rd world countries" for a few cents/buck an hour). Good stuff is a product of love. There is no love in made in china goods. The bottom line with clothing these days is that most of it is made using "slave" underpaid labor and mor…

Even very expensive designer clothing may still be made in exploitative conditions. See https://qz.com/1397139/italian-workers-are-earning-near-swea...

as i said "and no, if something is super expensive it does not mean its high quality!"

you have to know who you are buying from. yes, majority of big labels these days use cheap outsourced labor.

Italy - is importing cheap asian workers, so yes you have to watch out. Basically know who you are buying from. There are plenty of businesses who still value their workers and their products.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#43

Post by tonyarkles »

nimbius wrote: post #39

Disclosure: I'm coming from a blue collar background as a master diesel mechanic Quality is build + aesthetic for me. Some brands i wear include Texas jeans, Chippewa boots, and all american clothing company. The quality from domestic apparel is in my experience massively superior to foreign brands. Carhartt jackets for winter are incredibly warm and gave great value, but their aesthetic isn't always popular. They la…

Another Carhartt fan! I’ve got a Carhartt bunnyhug that I wear all year round. They somehow made it warm enough to be a great add-on under a lighter winter coat, and cool enough to be ok up to about +15C. It’s black and the dye faded quickly, but it has otherwise held up way better than any bunnyhug I’ve ever owned.

Plus the small bit of cognitive dissonance when people see the the sweater and then realize I’m working on some pretty technically intense projects is fun to watch.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#44

Post by notfashion »

readhn wrote: post #42
notfashion wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even very expensive designer clothing may still be made in exploitative conditions. See https://qz.com/1397139/italian-workers-are-earning-near-swea...

as i said "and no, if something is super expensive it does not mean its high quality!" you have to know who you are buying from. yes, majority of big labels these days use cheap outsourced labor. Italy - is importing cheap asian workers, so yes you have to watch out. Basically know who you are buying from. There are plenty of businesses who still value their workers and their products.

Valuing workers is separate from valuing quality. I don't think the article I linked to implies in any way that the exploited workers are doing inferior work.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#45

Post by Fricken »

killjoywashere wrote: post #13
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YKK doesn't mean quite as it did. More an indicator of probably adequate than quality these days.

YKK signals from the designer to everyone who sees the garment: "I can't afford for this garment to fail because of the zipper". That is, they are selling into a crowd that attends to reputation signals. That is, in and of itself, a good signal. Take it as one of many. Submariney sort of story, but still useful: https://slate.com/business/2012/04/ykk-zippers-why-so-many-d...

I've got 2 jackets right now with broken zippers. I just checked, they're both YKK zippers, and one of those failing zippers is the replacement zipper for a previous YKK zipper that failed. All 3 are different types of YKK brand zipper.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#46

Post by benrbray »

IgorPartola wrote: post #40

I mostly dress pretty casually: jeans and a T shirt is pretty typical. My shirts “fail” not because of stitching or things like that. Most of the time they get armpit stains from deodorant after probably 20 time I wear them or so. At that point I toss them. I don’t see how higher laity fabric would result in anything different, so I stick to cheaper basic shirts for everyday wear. I like clothes, but I like variety.…

If deodorant stains are the sole reason for discarding clothing, have you tried looking for deodorant that doesn't stain? Switching brands might help.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#48

Post by scarejunba »

IgorPartola wrote: post #40

I mostly dress pretty casually: jeans and a T shirt is pretty typical. My shirts “fail” not because of stitching or things like that. Most of the time they get armpit stains from deodorant after probably 20 time I wear them or so. At that point I toss them. I don’t see how higher laity fabric would result in anything different, so I stick to cheaper basic shirts for everyday wear. I like clothes, but I like variety.…

In cooler weather you can wear a modal undershirt underneath and it'll protect your main shirt. Kinda comfy too.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#49

Post by killjoywashere »

Fricken wrote: post #45
killjoywashere wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YKK signals from the designer to everyone who sees the garment: "I can't afford for this garment to fail because of the zipper". That is, they are selling into a crowd that attends to reputation signals. That is, in and of itself, a good signal. Take it as one of many. Submariney sort of story, but still useful: https://slate.com/business/2012/04/ykk-zippers-why-so-many-d...

I've got 2 jackets right now with broken zippers. I just checked, they're both YKK zippers, and one of those failing zippers is the replacement zipper for a previous YKK zipper that failed. All 3 are different types of YKK brand zipper.

It is almost inevitable that the largest manufacturer has the largest number of failures. But your anecdote gives me no sense of their failure rate, and certainly tells me nothing about their failure rate in the context of other manufacturer failure rates.

Re: How to assess the quality of garments (2014)

#50

Post by kingludite »

I get what the article is getting at, its lovely for what it is trying to do.

my take: Cloths are what people you meet look at. They create a mood in the spectator and leave an impression of who you are. First you have to figure out who you are, who you use to be and who you want to become. Who are the people you meet? they use to be what? who do you want them to be? After doing that you pick cloths that compliment the becoming part without flying to far from who you/they are.

Try wearing a kilt or a lederhose and watch the world around you change.

If you look at today's fashion its like everyone is heading to a funeral. Like they got tired of carrying their soul around then forget where they left it.

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