Source: Creative Commons image on Flickr by Andy Ihnatko
My brother is getting married in a week. And I thought about buying a new suit or having one made. For My wedding last year I had a suit made and I am very pleased with it. But I have some very nice vintage suits that don't fit me well any more. And they are very much my style too.
So I decided to have one of my favorites altered to fit me better. My boss recommended a tailor's called Luigi's Quality Tailoring. I stopped by last Friday, and they took in the sides, trimmed the shoulders, and removed the cuffs of the slacks by Wednesday. Now I have an excellent suit that I've always loved and fits me better than it ever has for the price of a cheap suit that doesn't really fit.
A coat used to be an heirloom, and it's value endured beyond the fickle sensibilities of fashion. If we want to waste less while ensuring a healthy economy, we need to help skilled laborers such as tailors to preserve our goods rather than disposing of them.
Source: Creative Commons photo by Pavlos Pavlidis on Flickr
In Japan there is a system in place where lost and found items are brought to the police and the owners can pick them up for six months after they are delivered. Thousands of umbrellas are lost every rainstorm, and a few generations ago most of them would have been retrieved by their owners, but now only three out of every thousand are reclaimed. See the article in the New York Times and consider maintaining your possession even when it would be so easy to just replace them with something new.
Totes umbrellas come with a lifetime warranty for replacement or repair, so buy one and you'll never need another one.
2 comments:
I am all for skilled crafts people, as I come from a family of them. I was surprised over Christmas when a dear family friend who is excellent pediatric psychiatrist lamented that she wishes she had skills. It just shows that there are things that we yearn to do as humans that are beyond our brains.
I cannot sew at all, but recently tailored a dress that is too big for me. Although its not perfect, I actually like the dress more because of the personal connection I now have with it. Sometimes objects become closer to you, just by getting involved with them.
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