The only way for our clothing to stay still is if it’s sold in the exact same place it's sewn, sewn on the exact same land that the fabric is cut, cut where the fabric is woven, woven where the threads are spun, and spun where raw material grows through the earth. And of course in order to stay entirely, completely still it must biodegrade in that same field of raw material, never worn, never seeing the world.
Clearly it is impossible, impractical, and utterly useless for any of our garments to stay in one place. Clothes are meant to be worn, meant to absorb memories. When a garment takes form on my body, as an actor in my own experiences, I think about the memories woven into the fibers before I ever wear it. The reality of the modern clothing industry mandates travel, in many cases cross-continental travel, and the touch and skill of many (underpaid and overworked) hands before ever reaching a store to be sold in the country I am writing this from (usa). By splintering a garment’s life span on the way to reaching a store, the largest fashion retailers increase the capacity to produce more through specialty factories, in turn optimizing profit over human lives and the health of our world.
Speed is the factor which clothing companies, of any price range, value above all else. In keeping my own dress diary, I hope to hold each fiber of my clothing more deeply, and recognize not only my personal memories woven within each garment, but the work of countless people I will never meet who turned the fiber into yarns, the yarns into fabric, and the fabric into each piece of clothing I cherish.
