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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

#281

Post by Broken_Hippo »

coldtea wrote: post #178
magic_beans wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't be dense. Whether you admit it or not, most people judge others based on appearance.

Don't be denser, judging others by their appereance is shallow. The fact that people still do it doesn't mean that when you change your clothes that's any kind of expression proper. It's just a cheap way to signal something that you might or might not be, and only superficially at that.

Yes, don't treat people badly (mostly) because of the way they look.

But be realistic. Someone that wears all black has made a choice just like the person that is always fashionable with lots of clothing. Some beard and hairstyles take more work than others. These are lifestyle choices people make. Someone knowing how to do 20 hairstyles to get their hair off of their neck decided to learn that instead of something else. A man with a complicated beard style probably spends some time daily on it to keep it up. A person with nails half the length of the fingers they are attached to probably eshews some practical things simply because the nails are in the way. A person that wears traditional clothing due to religion probably isn't a good candidate to date me.

I understand that being poor might make it so you don't have a lot of choices in these things. I've been there: My look was basically whatever I was forced to wear to work and whatever I could find at thrift stores. At the end of the day, though, I still had choice -and to discount what these choices tell others about you is, in itself, dense - as is discounting that humanity often makes snap judgements based entirely on how things look.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#282

Post by Broken_Hippo »

watwut wrote: post #228
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…

Then again, what woman section misses is the comfortable practical stuff.

You are mostly correct.

I'm female, and want to wear simple clothing. Black pants, black shirt. Short sleeve in summer, long sleeve in winter plus or minus a basic sweater or two. Sometimes, these aren't available or aren't available in black, so I often wind up wearing simply jeans and a t-shirt.

I'd rather not have frills, though I can occasionally tolerate zippers.

I'd really like pockets that have space for things: I used to wear men's pants when I was younger and I gotta say, I've considered switching back. I wish they fit better because the pockets are glorious. (Men's shirts don't fit well at all since they aren't made for breasts).

I can usually find non-athletic shoes in black, but it gets much more difficult to find black or mostly black athletic-style shoes.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#283

Post by oftenwrong »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #179
sukilot wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Women have an expectation to express themselves and their personality This is not where I expected to see the "personality" euphemism today.

Now I’m feeling stupid. What is personality a euphemism for?

The implication is that women are expressing their looks as much as their personality.

However, the two are connected; how one's personality is perceived is dependent on one's looks. If you want people to value your personality, best to exercise regularly, dress well, and keep up with proper grooming.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#284

Post by Broken_Hippo »

prostoalex wrote: post #220
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…

From the practicality standpoint it seems that we should all be wearing togas (or robes, at most). They're basically unisex (with opportunities for expression for those who value it), flexible on size (or at least very forgiving if your exact size is unavailable), and can be made pretty cheap (assuming mass production). Everything more complicated than that is fashion.

Except they are basically a primitive dress. And I don't find such things comfortable at all. Please just give me basic pants and find a way to adjust the size slightly so they fit well.

Pants are warmer and I don't have to worry about how I sit (am female, and do not enjoy this bit about dresses). Biking is not an issue, nor is extra fabric going to get stuck in a conveyor belt.

I'm also pretty sure the togas would require a decent learning curve if you are wanting sleeves. I certainly want sleeves and a shirt that isn't in the way: Things like ponchos aren't good to cook in - they get in the food.

Togas would be outright dangerous when swimming and I can't imagine them being great for working on a car. They might be slightly cooler in the summer if you aren't using too much fabric.

And I'd argue that no matter what, you still have fashion. You'll see it in the way folks drape the toga fabric and their use of belts and things to hold it together. You'll see fashion in the color and/or print of fabric and whether or not you can keep a white one clean. Like with uniforms, you'll find more emphasis on body shape, hair, and other such things.

But I suppose we could all just let our hair grow out: women and men both should just stop shaving as well. It is, after all, fashion. And not do phsyical fitness more than what is required to be healthy and do your job - excess muscles are fashion, after all.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#285

Post by ric2b »

tristor wrote: post #210
matchbok wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sad to see that the nuts think requiring background checks is now "reducing gun rights". Reasonable limits on rights has always been constitutional. Perhaps you should give that document a read. I guess fox news is winning that battle.

> Reasonable limits on rights has always been constitutional. Citation needed. I don't know how more unambiguous the framers could get than "shall not be infringed". Setting aside my personal feelings on the matter, this just seems to be a bad argument which is not in evidence. I've read the Constitution thoroughly on more than one occasion, I don't see anything within that makes it seems as if the framers thought ig…

It always strikes me as odd that so many Americans look at the constitution as if it was a holy text from the founding fathers that must be followed and left unchanged, even though they are usually discussing amendments...

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#286

Post by ddalex »

paule89 wrote: post #269
virtualritz wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You get custom made clothing cheaper than store clothing? If you get it made in India or Asia this is the norm. Long sleeved shirts from a good tailor in Saigon or Bangkok are 15-25 EUR p.P. for the tailoring. Then add 3-20 EUR for fabric – depending on what material you choose. Once the tailor has your measurements on file you can either send your fabric of choice there and have the shirts be in your mail three we…

Where can i find such a good tailor? PM please, both the indian and the berlin one if possible.

If you get the PM please share

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#287

Post by paganel »

wirthjason wrote: post #90
Larrikin wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 d…

> One strap shoulder Man-bags are all the rage.

Tote-bags also work, I've started using one for the last two summers.

In Romania we used to call them "sacoșă" back in communist times, and almost everyone used to have one in hand while going around town, you never knew what store could you stumble upon which might have brought in fresh supplies, in which case of course that you needed a "sacoșă" to carry back home the stuff that you purchased from there. I think that was a common sight in other communist countries too, that's why the Tiananmen guy actually had not one but two "sacoșe" in his hands while confronting those tanks (I'm curious what the term for "sacoșă" is in Chinese).

Unfortunately the late 1990s-early-2000s saw that phenomenon disappear, as the new middle classes used their newly purchased cars to bring stuff home from the super-market while "sacoșe" were "relegated" to old pensioners, but fortunately they made a comeback re-baptised as hipsterish and trendy tote-bags.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#288

Post by goto11 »

prostoalex wrote: post #220
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…

From the practicality standpoint it seems that we should all be wearing togas (or robes, at most). They're basically unisex (with opportunities for expression for those who value it), flexible on size (or at least very forgiving if your exact size is unavailable), and can be made pretty cheap (assuming mass production). Everything more complicated than that is fashion.

Togas are very complex and impractical.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#289

Post by readarticle »

ric2b wrote: post #285
tristor wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reasonable limits on rights has always been constitutional. Citation needed. I don't know how more unambiguous the framers could get than "shall not be infringed". Setting aside my personal feelings on the matter, this just seems to be a bad argument which is not in evidence. I've read the Constitution thoroughly on more than one occasion, I don't see anything within that makes it seems as if the framers thought ig…

It always strikes me as odd that so many Americans look at the constitution as if it was a holy text from the founding fathers that must be followed and left unchanged, even though they are usually discussing amendments...

Nobody’s discussing an amendment here, at no point did they suggest it should remain unchanged, and concerns over interpretation apply to any future amendments anyways.

Picking up a gun you’ve found from the larger cultural war and shooting random commenters with it is fun, but quite inappropriate for HN from what I’ve seen of it.

Re: Sweatpants Forever: How the Fashion Industry Collapsed

#290

Post by raxxorrax »

taurath wrote: post #18
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…

(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…

I think there will always be a discrepancy. Same with the beauty industry that failed to attract men proportionally. It grows for men, but not to a degree some articles would suggest year after year. Doesn't work anyway, look at people above 60 and the men don't look worse than women.

Nobody wants to look bad, but there are different degrees of effort people put into it.

That aside, I think retail will still suffer greatly compared to online sales since most have a service to send back clothing for free.

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