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Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

nytimes.com

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Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#81

Post by mthoms »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #62
okamiueru wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, and you even bringing it up, apple products is to some degree the fashion equivalent in tech. I recently had to buy a MacOs compatible hardware for the first time in years, and I had really no idea how large the difference has become. Apple products truly are "way of life", more than anything tangible. And when choosing to upgrade components, I really couldn't believe it. It was more than twice the compar…

> In what other industry are people willing to pay at least more than twice, for the same hardware? The whole premise is incorrect, so the conclusions are incorrect. The hardware is not the same, and even if it was, clearly the software makes a difference to the user. The whole Apple fashion status trope is tired and has never been true. The amortized cost of an Apple device in my 15 year + experience with them has a…

>The whole Apple fashion status trope is tired and has never been true.

I love (and almost exclusively use) Apple products for many of the reasons you listed. But I think it's disingenuous to deny that there is an element of Apple's branding and design that is based on fashion.

Exhibit A: Laptops and phones getting thinner and thinner at the expense of battery life and other features (headphone jack).

Exhibit B: “A computer absolutely can be sexy… yeah, it can” – The glorious ways Jony Ive has described Apple products

https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/sophisticated-intuitive-...

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#82

Post by kurthr »

kazen44 wrote: post #5

The collapse of the fashion industry does not mean the clothing industry will collapse. People still need clothing obviously (cheap and of good quality preferably). Also, what do we consider the fashion industry exactly? Most long term clothing trends seem to be dictated by a couple of factors. Consisting of: - practicality. Jeans are good example of this. It's cheap and practical clothing that lasts a long time. - c…

Yes, but Jeans are part of the collapse now and considered formal for creatives with Levi's down 62% and doing layoffs. I thought "formality" was bizarre as well, but apparently their target demo don't consider the older skinny-jeans, and the new high-waisted mom-jeans to be as comfortable as Lulus... who'd have thunk it?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/28/jeans-sal...

I suspect that it's a long term trend to reduce cost and quality/durability to maintain sales volumes. Fast fashion was a part of this, but now that people aren't going out to be seen, it doesn't matter what you're wearing (if it looks good on zoom). I suspect this will trend back once we're going out more, but with LA/NY/SF/MIA mostly shut down it won't be this year. What is happening for the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, but home video?

Maybe leisure suits will come back?

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#83

Post by dominotw »

the8472 wrote: post #38
chrisseaton wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you believe that Taiwan somehow knew ahead of time that there was going to be a pandemic this year? How do you believe they knew that?

They knew that there was a continuous risk of a pandemic and prepared for one happening eventually . Just like we know there's a low risk of an entire server room going up in flames/water damage/lightning/getting hit by a truck driving into a building and that's why we have offsite backups even though we won't know when something is going to happen.

> They knew that there was a continuous risk of a pandemic and prepared for one happening eventually.

What else did they prepare for. Is this public knowledge?

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#84

Post by mytailorisrich »

mthoms wrote: post #8

I'm saddened by the job losses, but the fashion industry (esp. the high end) seems nothing but a toxic drain on society and the environment. New "trends" dictated by celebrities and designers every year do nothing but sow personal insecurities and environmental destruction. Good riddance.

This is human nature and behaviour. It has always existed.

When people can freely go out and socialize again sales of fashion items will roar back.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#85

Post by dominotw »

mthoms wrote: post #8

I'm saddened by the job losses, but the fashion industry (esp. the high end) seems nothing but a toxic drain on society and the environment. New "trends" dictated by celebrities and designers every year do nothing but sow personal insecurities and environmental destruction. Good riddance.

> Good riddance.

Its just a manifestation of human need to be in a hierachy. Makes no sense to me to attack a particular symptom.

I can think of a lots examples more destructive than fashion

expensive cars

single family homes with 5 bedrooms and 4 toilets

yatches

driving/flying vacations

suburbs/ need for "space"

overeating meat

I think its a common kneejerk reaction against fashion in nerd circles because we never found it useful and something that played to our negatives. A complait that has very little to do with the environment, really.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#86

Post by rainonmoon »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #67

Fashion is simply marketing gone wild. It's preying on the idea that the best way to be a better you is to wear ____. That you can cure your inferiority complex by consuming X, Y or Z. Which in turn belittles those around you, and so on. TL;TD - An expensive ____ (e.g., watch) doesn't make you a better person. And you know this. So you get a nice car. Doesn't help. So you get new shoes. And so on. Fashion is a cure f…

It's a little strange to me how often the ills of consumerism are conflated with fashion alone. This comment (although not only this comment) drastically undersells that fashion is an art form as much as painting, writing or cinema: a means of personal expression and cultural communication which exists in conversation with its own history and traditions. Beyond that, the staving off of existential dread you mention is just as present in the amount of networking gear I've been obsessively adding to my homelab during iso -- where is the contempt for that?

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#87

Post by Nursie »

spaetzleesser wrote: post #34

I am getting pretty tired of sweatpants but regular pants feel uncomfortable while working from home. Does anybody know some pants that are reasonably comfortable but still a little stylish?

>I am getting pretty tired of sweatpants but regular pants feel uncomfortable while working from home.

No pants? You're working from home after all...

Only half kidding, my morning work uniform now is my cotton dressing gown ('bath robe' in US English?)

I tend to get dressed around lunchtime.

Vive la difference :)

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#89

Post by pwinnski »

I read the article, then was surprised to see that the comments here are focused to much on the clothing part of the story, rather than the investment and financing parts of the story.

They way VC is described in the story seems familiar to me from time spent working for Bay-area startups, and I think the critiques in the story apply in tech as well.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#90

Post by wirthjason »

Larrikin wrote: post #71
taurath wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(All comments on culture US centric) - This thinking is why the men’s section is 1/4 as large as the women’s in most stores. Culturally for men clothing is supposed to be above all practical. There are 5 genres of men’s clothes - business (pressed shirts, suits), casual, workout, skater, and comfort (hoodie). Contrast this with the women’s section. Women have an expectation to express themselves and their personality…

This kind of thinking is why I tend to buy as close to a full years worth of clothing whenever I make a trip out to Tokyo. Even in Chicago relatively fashionable men's clothing shops are few and far between

What do you find so interesting and where do you shop? I like Uniqlo and Muji but now that Uniqlo is available (in-store) in Chicago theres no need to buy it in Japan. I’m not particularly into fashion but I like mainstream but trendy clothes.

I think Japanese fashion is less about the clothes themselves than the acceptance to let people wear what they want and and not judging. I think it’s more acceptable to match different colors and styles.

One strap shoulder Man-bags are all the rage. They are pretty practical, especially when you can’t fit your checkbook-sized wallet in tiny pockets. But in the US it looks like you’re wearing a fanny pack.

If you saw someone wearing an all yellow track suit it would look OK, partly because someone wearing an all green version is 20 feet away.

Or business slacks tapered and cropped above the ankle — in the US they’d ask, “is there a flood?”

While the clothes themselves don’t seem much different, I prefer slimmer cuts. The US is too baggy and loose.

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