Flash sales. Online coupon codes. Outlet malls stuffed with discounted merchandise. These are the hallmarks of the 21st-century American fashion landscape--and, as Elizabeth Cline found, falling for them can fill consumers' closets to bursting with cheap, ill-fitting, foreign-made clothing.
Dissatisfied with her own overstuffed closet of shoddy, generically trendy pieces, Cline wondered: Is there a more stylish, thoughtful and socially responsible way to dress? Why has the U.S. garment industry all but disappeared? And what is the cost--not only monetary but human and environmental--of our voracious appetite for "fast fashion?"
In Overdressed, Cline researches the history of fashion (both couture and mass-market) and traces the decline of department stores and home sewing skills. She visits factories in China, the Dominican Republic and New York's Garment District, learning about the industry's often deplorable working conditions and the difficulty of staying current and maintaining quality without sacrificing the bottom line.
Cline interviews workers, designers, industry executives and the heads of charities and textile recyclers (who, like the rest of us, have more clothing than they know what to do with). Educated consumers may find her naïve at first, but readers will appreciate her thorough approach. Cline urges shoppers to stop slavishly following the latest trends and instead look at clothing with a critical eye, learning to buy sustainably made, high-quality pieces and maintain them with care. This approach, while not a cure-all, proves more satisfying and ultimately less expensive--and may even create space in those crammed closets. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams