so much to talk about, so little time. my apologies.
-there's a new book out by a guy named kelsey timmerman (see his blog here) called where am i wearing?, in which the author "picked [his] favorite items out of [his] wardrobe and traced them back to where they were assembled." he traveled to bangladesh, honduras, cambodia, and china, and along the way, he met the garment workers who make said clothes, and saw the conditions in which they work.
in a recent post on the mental floss blog, he divulges some of the info he gleaned about the global garment industry, and it's workers, some of which are startling (to me, anyway): 97% of our clothing is made overseas, over half of the world's shoes are made in china, and...that "one-third of american consumers are willing to pay more for clothes produced under good working conditions".
but...i wonder if this is really true...would the average consumer REALLY pay more for their clothing if they knew it was produced in an ethical manner? what about in these leaner times? if money is tight, does quantity supersede quality for average folks? or is the converse more likely to be true?
what about you?
do you HONESTLY care where your clothing and other accoutrements come from? would you like to know? if you knew that something was produced in an ethical manner, would you be more likely to buy it? would you be likely to NOT buy something if you knew where it came from, and who made it?
be honest: if you have less cash, are you more compelled to buy more for your money, or fewer items, that are of higher quality? i know the hip thing, the ethical (at the moment) is to say "less is more," but is that REALLY what you, and others want to do?
the quick and dirty linkage:
-whip up is always, always amazing. love this round-up of the best free knitting patterns on the web....i want to make like, all of them. starting with these jaywalker socks, from grumperina!
-some mighty interesting street fashion in tokyo, may be found on this site, drop. (via sea of shoes)
-burdastyle knows our wallets are being hit hard by the (increasingly) crappy economy, so they offer up a few tips on how to save money sewing AKA how to be frugal during hard times. also on burdastyle: this terrificly cool bow tie pattern (for the boys, the girls, or whomever!). very classic, yet very now.
-galadarling hits one out of the park with her dead-on, perfect post: how to cultivate your personal style. biggest point, that resonates with me and my own ethos (and the things i say here!)? that personal style is about so much more than the clothes you wear....it is also about how you live your life.
-i adore this little knitted waistcoat pattern from drops. i spotted it on mettetations.
-i usually don't post this sort of thing, but i'm making an exception, on the off chance that some lucky new york cit-iers will be able to take advantage of low prices on high quality clothing:
my favorite NYC boutique, i heart is having a MAJOR BLOWOUT SALE. according to their latest newsletter:
"Items will be marked down from past seasons up to 85%!!!! There will be a $30 rack! It's the best time to come and get some good deals before the holidays. Plus this season is marked up to 50% off!! It's going to be nuts in here!!!
3 DAYS ONLY!!!!! FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY DEC 12-14TH"