This is a painfully bad situation. And what's worse is that we shouldn't even call it "fast fashion", it's really: "Shitty clothing that most people are stuck with because that's all they can afford."

Fast fashion makes it sound like bougie niche brands that 20 somethings put themselves into debt over to keep up with trends. But it's also everyday people brands sold at Kohl's, Walmart, Target, etc. I get the analogy intent (fast food, fast fashion) but it's backfired in that everyone assumes the problem is uncontrolled selfish vapid people. The problem is all of us because we're trapped without options.

(Bit of a terminology quibble)

The quality of the already shitty clothing is even worse now. Ex: a shirt I bought at Kohl's in February had several small holes by the end of March - the dye hadn't even started to fade yet. Same brand, same cut and style of shirt I'd purchased a year before (the bar was already low on quality), the likes of which I'd been purchasing year over year as replacements.

I have to shuffle my budget to find the money to buy higher quality -- most people can't.

I have to find a new retailer/brand with the style, material, and size options -- online is fine for some things but most people aren't like me, buying the same shirt on repeat, and frankly, I don't enjoy buying clothing online as a non-man because no one uses a standardized measurement system for women's clothing.

"Higher end" clothing is often garbage quality with a name that inflates the price -- most people don't want, nor should be expected, to become fabric and tailoring experts just to pick out their wardrobe pieces.

Don't get me started on kids clothes.

Anyway, we can vow to shop used/secondhand all we want but this is a massive system problem that needs heavy regulation enacted quickly to force substantive change.

Paragraph #4: Too long with a lot of flip-flop between the author's stance on digital format and the need for physical. Be confident here and focus on the important part by eliminating the caveats and the "need to cover all the bases". Once that's done, this will be a powerful, concise message.

I like where you're going with this and heartily agree!

Someone needs a decaf.

This. This. This.

We have a reliable means that doesn't require producing large animals that will, at scale, put more needless pressure on our collapsing ecosystems. Get insulin out of corporate pharmaceuticals and into a basic right to cost-free access model where we, society, fund the production.

+1

I was just fine today until I read this. THANKS INTERNET PERSON

Rest easy, Dave. And thank you. 💛

Same! I believe that others struggle with it but I can't wrap my head around why their experience is so different from my own.

Need? No. But sometimes when I'm standing in a pool of people and despair and I can't picture things getting better, I kind of just want a BFF little buddy like WALL-E or BD-1 who just gets me without judgement, and doesn't require me to be its caregiver.

🤖

Damn this is scary. How are we so dependent on the distribution (control) of software, especially healthcare related, through two corporations: Alphabet and Apple. I am not so naive as to believe the open internet or freeware is free of nefarious actors, but the testing and checks and balances would play out far safer than this for-profit stranglehold.

I have no idea how people who aren't tech-interested, but dependent on these systems, stay sane. What a miserable way to live life.

wander around living seaweed, while being bright yellow.

I could get behind this little critter.