Yesterday I went to the biggest shopping mall in the city, to buy a pair of jeans, which I've been postponing for a long time, and not without a reason. My lifestyle change is still ongoing, still have a few kilos to lose and don't want to waste too much money on clothes that are going to be too big (hopefully) in a month or two, but could literally not wear my old jeans anymore.
I'm not a plaza cat, as we call those ladies who are spending their free time (that they have plenty of) in shopping malls, so go shopping when I need something, not when I'm bored. I'm never bored by the way. The reason I chose that shopping mall is because most of the big brands are represented there and having everything in one place saves me from a lot of headache and saves me time as well.
Photo by Alberto Cognetti on Unsplash
This is all nice, but having so many shops and boutiques means you need to visit them all, browse through the merchandise, try on several jeans and the chance to still come home empty handed is there.
I'm not going to lie, I was enthusiastic at the beginning and full of hope, that finally I'm going to have a pair of jeans that fit, but after the 5th, or 6th shop, I started feeling sorry for myself and wondering how those plaza cats can do this several times a week. Not only do this, but enjoy it as well. This remains a mystery for me, but at the end of the day, it's not my life, not my problem.
It was before noon as I wanted to get home for the New York trading session, the mall wasn't packed yet, but there were still several people carrying a few shopping bags full of things.
Browsing through the offer, which ranged from slim jeans, mom jeans, boyfriend, straight jeans, barrel jeans to wide-leg jeans, bootcut, flare jeans and skinny jeans, was thinking how much money teenagers and not only, spend on fashion items each year. I'm a simple person and buy something when I need it, not every season when something new appears, throwing away the old one, so following fashion blindly for me is out of the question, but I'm part of the minority in this regard I think.
Photo by Dark Light2021 on Unsplash
Fast fashion has been dominating our life and while it is good for the industry, it has the opposite effect for the environment and our pocket as well. Second hand market exists, but you can't say it can absorb the offer efficiently, so just a tiny portion of these slightly used clothes are able to find a new owner. The rest? Take a wild guess.
I've seen a documentary about the jeans industry once, saying 150L of water is needed for a square meter of jeans. That means contaminated water that has to be discarded somewhere and while developed countries have strict lows regarding pollution, countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, where most of these fashion items are coming from, are nowhere to be found when it comes to environmental protection. This is one of the reasons why jeans are made in these countries, obviously.
The other reason is cheap labor, along with loose legislation. If you look at the label, you see most of the low and mid-price category items are coming from these countries. The rest that are made in developed countries are for the top few as not many can afford it.
My strategy for years has been to buy quality clothes, even if it's not cheap, but this way you can rest assured that it's going to last more than a season or two and you don't have to go through the torture of going shopping and try on half of the shopping mall, till you find something that fits not only your style but your budget too.
Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash
I can consider myself lucky as was able to find a pair of jeans that I liked, at the 8th boutique I think, so that's not too bad. My plan is to adjust them if I lose more weight and wear them till I reach my goal. Then we'll see.
How about you? Are you a fast fashion lover? How often you buy clothes or shoes?
I only took one photo as a few years ago I got into trouble with security for photographing in this mall, so the rest are borrowed 😬
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