Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined • Hacker News Board

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#211

Post by nitrogen » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 3:52 AM UTC

Causalityl wrote: post #204

squeaky-clean wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also very random whether you'll find what you're looking for. You're just not going to find a $300 retail pair of jeans in a thrift store on your first outing. And even when you do, odds are they won't be in your size. I live in Brooklyn and go thrifting a lot, mostly because it's a fun activity and because you find things you wouldn't normally think to look for. But 9/10 times I'm leaving with nothing. And for…

I don't understand how you'd even go about making a $300 pair of jeans. Are they a special material that's impervious to rain but breathes like cotton? Are they extra tough so you'll never wear holes in them? Some kind of fancy dye that never fades in the wash? Are you buying clothes from Sharper Image?

You make a $100 pair of jeans, but with a new stitching pattern, new colors, or different material properties, and cash in on the novelty

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#212

Post by kortilla » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 3:52 AM UTC

esotericn wrote: post #69

throwaway66920 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, for one, that would vastly reduce economic growth. But aside from that, there’s not many things that fit X in the scheme of things you purchase frequently. Packaging / containers of consumed items is a big one. Fashion might be but probably not. The example I hear a lot for some reason is power tools. Yeah it would be great to share power tools because you only need them once or twice... but you only buy them o…

I think that treating fast fashion as a driver of economic growth is an example of the broken window fallacy. That is to say that I don't actually think it drives economic growth overall. It may do within a specific sector at the expense of others.

The broken window fallacy requires forcefully destroying someone’s property to get them to replace it with the same thing. This doesn’t fit that model at all.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#213

Post by big_chungus » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 4:09 AM UTC

Causalityl wrote: post #204

squeaky-clean wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also very random whether you'll find what you're looking for. You're just not going to find a $300 retail pair of jeans in a thrift store on your first outing. And even when you do, odds are they won't be in your size. I live in Brooklyn and go thrifting a lot, mostly because it's a fun activity and because you find things you wouldn't normally think to look for. But 9/10 times I'm leaving with nothing. And for…

I don't understand how you'd even go about making a $300 pair of jeans. Are they a special material that's impervious to rain but breathes like cotton? Are they extra tough so you'll never wear holes in them? Some kind of fancy dye that never fades in the wash? Are you buying clothes from Sharper Image?

No, people rip them, wash them in acid, and generally do everything possible to make them look like they came from a hobo, then stitch cute hearts on the sear so rich kids can look like they're "from the streets." I don't understand it, but this happens in cycles. E.g. tanning used to be bad because it indicated working outdoors, but then it flipped.

Personally, I'll stick to my durable denim that I can keep for three years or more.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#214

Post by gherkinnn » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 4:13 AM UTC

gherkinnn wrote: post #58

groby_b wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no :) "On-demand" clothing manufacturing is practiced today, in that fashions change rapidly, and in response, retailers produce what can only be described as "shitty quality, fast". (Exacerbated by Chinese clothing manufacturers + social media - they're extremely effective at churning out extremely glossy pictures for what's about the lowest possible bar of quality) That - "fast fashion" - is what gets disca…

Now, if only bespoke shorts and tshirts became a thing. I’d happily pay a decent sum for a set of charcoal tshirts that fit me perfectly and last for a few years of daily use. Bonus points of I get to choose a fabric other than pure cotton.

Good idea, actually. I’ll try a local taylor.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#215

Post by serpix » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 4:15 AM UTC

greggman2 wrote: post #184

pgt wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would happily wear a wool suit every day! I have two pairs of Falke hiking socks that are made from double-layered silver-infused wool. They don't smell even after multiple days of wear and the two layers slide over each another to prevent friction so you don't get blisters. They were pricey at the time, but now I wish I could replace my entire closet with silver-infused wool shirts, trousers, socks and underwear.

You must live somewhere where there isn't really a hot and humid season.

100% merino wool hiking/running socks are perfect for hot and humid. I've ran +20 hour ultramarathons in hot conditions with them. They are much better than cotton. Plastic socks are good for 1 hour gym sessions.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#216

Post by jdblair » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 4:32 AM UTC

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #112

I can't wait for the day when I can walk to my local dump and move into a mcmansion somebody threw out because the paint was the wrong color... And I am only half joking. Go into your local thrift store and try not to gasp as you walk past $300 pair of designer jeans after $400 dress, some of them still with tags on them as they've never been worn, and most all of them in seemingly brand-new condition. It's a consume…

If something is in a thrift store with tags, it's because someone shoplifted it and then sold it.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#217

Post by TheRealPomax » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 4:37 AM UTC

DesiLurker wrote: post #167

this is the reason we need carbon & pollution tax! this is like whack-a-mole, way too many industries lurking under the radar & polluting our common resources for private profit. unless we put a price to it they will not factor in the cost to the rest of us.

How does that stop people from still buying the now corrected-for-those-taxes garments? All you've done is added a revenue stream in the middle, and now there's even less incentive for regulators to do anything about the _actual_ problem, because now they're making (more) money off of the problem, and solving the underlying problem would damage those revenue streams.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#218

Post by mathgladiator » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 4:41 AM UTC

ip26 wrote: post #180

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #112

I can't wait for the day when I can walk to my local dump and move into a mcmansion somebody threw out because the paint was the wrong color... And I am only half joking. Go into your local thrift store and try not to gasp as you walk past $300 pair of designer jeans after $400 dress, some of them still with tags on them as they've never been worn, and most all of them in seemingly brand-new condition. It's a consume…

FWIW I've heard storage units are not necessarily a super profitable business, instead they are a low overhead operation to cover the property tax on land in the outskirts that you're sitting on waiting for appreciation as the city grows. So they only have make up the cost of the cinderblocks to be worthwhile.

I helped cofound a marketing vertical in this space, and they are extremely profitable if managed and marketed well.

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#219

Post by homero » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 4:54 AM UTC

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #112

I can't wait for the day when I can walk to my local dump and move into a mcmansion somebody threw out because the paint was the wrong color... And I am only half joking. Go into your local thrift store and try not to gasp as you walk past $300 pair of designer jeans after $400 dress, some of them still with tags on them as they've never been worn, and most all of them in seemingly brand-new condition. It's a consume…

I wish somehow thrift stores were online

Re: Fashion industry emits more carbon than flights and maritime shipping combined

#220

Post by tempsy » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 4:55 AM UTC

I'm surprised there's no viable business model in just renting clothes at this point. I know there's "Rent the Runway" for women, though unsure if their customers are renting the majority of their clothes or just using them to rent one off pieces for special events.