Clothing and provenance

I like Duluth Trading for jeans. Nice stuff.

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I grew up in a family that practiced visible mending, turning collars, and darning socks. Also, I was in a time and place where frayed khakis and OCBDs were commonplace. I have recently discovered that linen, in addition to being more earth friendly than cotton to grow and supremely comfortable, gets softer and softer yet wears much longer than other fabrics. Linen dish towels and dish cloths are nothing short of amazing, although the latter are hard to find. I tracked some down in Lithuania via Etsy. Speaking of Etsy, it has been my favorite ā€œclothing storeā€ for sometime. It was kind of neat to see so many resellers of heritage products being in Kyiv!

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First of all, Iā€™m a little bit of a clothing addict (understatementā€¦). :slight_smile: These days, the majority of items I buy are made in either Europe, Japan or the USA.

But there are variations. It could be that Iā€™ll buy something from an Italian brand, where the item is made in Italy. Eg Finamore shirts. I have a few cotton oxfords by them: I wear and wash them all the time and they just keep on going strong. Put them in the dryer, wash at 50 degrees Celsius, no issues. It just oozes quality. Nice collar roll, great fit. Likewise items: English made poplin shirts and ties by Drakeā€™s, Japanese made in Japan denim. The list goes on - eg Alden Shoes made in the USA.

Sometimes, a brand will source top quality fabrics, but will have them made in a lower cost of labour country. Eg I have a few Drakeā€™s shirts from Italian linen, but some of them are made in Portugal. Mismo bags from Denmark, with Italian fabrics, made in Turkey. The quality is still there. These are small brands and there is lots of control by HQ.

I used to buy made to measure suits by Suit Supply, where they use Italian fabrics, but they will have them made in China or Vietnam. There were just too many quality issues here, eg not following the measurements. Which kind of defeats the purpose of made to measureā€¦ :slight_smile: So, Iā€™ve stopped buying them, and have resorted to buying off-the-rack suits made in Italy, and let them tailor.

My buying behvaiour is not rooted in morals per se - I just want quality items. Eg I do buy some items for home (bed linen, towels, and so on) made in lower income countries, probably including China, for example at Zara Home.

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I, too, have long been very interested in clothing, but household linens are important to me as well. I love Turkish bath towels. For anyone venturing into linen for the first time, try washing once with a quarter cup of vinegar and once with a quarter cup of baking soda. It will really increase softness and absorbency.

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I have an extremely warm, extremely heavy, and extremely expensive parka that was made in Canada. The brand name is ā€œMoose Knucklesā€. I bought it many years ago after I lost a lot of weight through illness, and was always freezing. No problem with that now.

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@Vecchiouomo I missed this thread when you first posted but this topic is near-and-dear to my heart because I know how ecologically unsound the clothing industry is overall.

I buy almost all of my clothing and my 8-year oldā€™s secondhand. I buy maybe 5 new items/year for myself from conscientious companies (one example is Prairie Underground) and local indie shops who stock like-minded companies. Another source is Poshmark, where many items are barely used or new (buyers remorse, I guess).

I do spend a little more when I ā€œsplurgeā€ on a new item, but Iā€™m grateful that this is not a hardship for me. For my kid, Iā€™ve been getting almost all of his clothing/shoes secondhand ever since he was bornā€”he doesnā€™t care about his clothing one bit (at least until he gets older I guess).

We have a lot of great secondhand/vintage/consignment shops in Greater Boston, so itā€™s easy for us.

Avoiding Chinese-made products is hard but we try our best.

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Iā€™ve been buying American, Canadian and European whenever I can. I follow specific designers and shop local if I can. I consign or donate my clothing when it doesnā€™t fit or Iā€™m tired of it.

There are some Canadian menswear designers in Toronto. I know there are some places to buy American-made menswear in NYC and LA, and elsewhere, and online, if you seek them out, but it will take time to do the searching.

Sweaters tend to be made in Asia, but I have been able to find some made in Italy, Eastern Europe and Quebec.

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