A Wardrobe to Last a Lifetime
Independence Day is upon us and we’ve been thinking a lot about how fortunate we are to have a shop that expresses both our devotion to fashion and our pride for our U.S. heritage. At Reveille, we’re surrounded by vintage relics, 48-star American flags, classic Levis, and our ever-symbolic bison head, but at the end of the day, our ultimate goal is to continue to bring our customers a variety of high-quality, domestically made clothing assembled in small factories by U.S workers. We fight the good fight as well as we can despite increasing mass production and the nation-sweeping craze of high-end designers creating inexpensive lines for big businesses like Target and H&M.
Last week, we came across an intriguing article on the Huffington Post that interviews New York-based fashion journalist, Elizabeth Cline. In it she addresses some of the same questions about retail politics that we face on a daily basis. For instance, “What’s the actual harm in buying a $5 top?”
Cline argues that, “what many shoppers consider savvy — buying cheap and buying often — is leading to a collective dissatisfaction with our own wardrobes. Even worse, [Cline] said this incredibly high level of demand is precisely what’s feeding the beast, fueling a seemingly endless cycle of massive consumption, discontent and waste production that’s harming our psyches, the environment and the economy.”
Cline also got us thinking about shoppers and spending trends: “Money is an obvious factor – mass-produced fashion is cheap, something that’s especially alluring during a global recession. But another problem is that the way apparel markets are driven has left us with no choice. Just decades ago, many garments were produced domestically, and women got chic clothes at their local, mid-priced dressmaker or by sewing the garment themselves. People were able to make educated shopping decisions because they knew how to think about clothes. The lost art of sewing is one of the many culprits of our current situation,” she says.
So where does Reveille stand? While our shop was inspired by and practices a shopping/spending philosophy very similar to Cline’s, we also understand that every customer works within a budget when they shop. As consumers, we share this part of the decision-making process; however, we feel the most valuable contribution we can make is to stand for the kind of shopping that results in a better wardrobe, and a better world—one that will last. One that, according to Jarom Newbill will “wear in, not out.”
Happy 4th of July!
To read the full Huffington post article/interview click here.