It’s a lot more than socks. Went looking for a duffel coat once for work and checked both isles in stores. Mens coat - nice woven and well fulled 100 percent wool, thick quality stuff, Women’s isle, cheaper felted wool half the thickness… Same price, same basic style, same store.
Ever since whenever I go looking for stuff I check both isles. Higher quality fabrics are generally reserved for men’s items though women’s stuff is priced the same. You’d never know the difference if you only shopped one gendered option.
I appreciate the misuse of isle instead of aisle. The mental imagery of navigating around stores compromised of isles makes me want to go shopping so I can go on an island hopping adventure looking for booty to haul back to my kingdom.
Apart from fashionistas, “standard” men’s style is far more static. Cuts, materials, colors, and patterns don’t deviate far from the baseline from year to year, so garments tend to be a bit sturdier and longer lasting.
As an example, picture a guy in a Henley, cargo shorts, and work boots. What decade is he from? Okay, now put him in straight leg jeans and a flannel shirt. Was this picture taken yesterday? In the 90s? 2005? Who knows, guys have been wearing that for ages, and will be for ages to come.
However, pre-pandemic I think high-waist flares were one of the main jeans trends for women. Five years later, it’s low-waist straight-leg, right? Or have they shifted back to skinny jeans? I think early-2010s was the last time capris were the statement look, but hell, I truly don’t know. The point is, women’s styles seem to change not only year-to-year but season-to-season. Today’s trend is tomorrow’s faux pas is next week’s retro is next month’s vintage… sure, I’m exaggerating, but women’s fashion does lend itself more to sweeping change.
The criminal part is that woman-specific options are underconstructed and overpriced compared to men’s clothing. That, and the lack of pockets. Seriously, my heart goes out to anyone who wears clothing targeted to women. I’d be fucking lost without pockets.
The criminal part is that woman-specific options are underconstructed and overpriced compared to men’s clothing. That, and the lack of pockets. Seriously, my heart goes out to anyone who wears clothing targeted to women. I’d be fucking lost without pockets.
Trans girl who sews her own clothing here: I’ve honestly stopped bothering to add pockets to my clothes, because my handbag has REALLY grown on me and takes care of most of the need. Seeing all the guys doing pocket-checks, when I just grep my handbag and have everything in it is almost getting funny at this point. 😊
That said: Fuck the fashion industry, for so many reasons, including for what they did to fashion! Like: Even if we ignored all the human-rights abuses, the trash quality that they produce, the needlessly bad impact on the environment and all of these things, and we really shouldn’t(!!), I just assume most people here have already heard about those, that industry still has no fucking idea of what personal style is and how to support it. It’s a bunch of business-assholes that decide that some thing X is “in” and then you get only that, with the difference between X and the previous X being minute details in the cut, but it still remains the same concept of short, narrow skirt for example.
You are looking for a ankle-length circle-skirt (=flat lying skirt, very wide)? Tough luck, sew it yourself, nobody offers that! You want a long dress with long sleeves? Yeah, that doesn’t exist! (Unless you sew it yourself, like I have, which gave me the most comfortable piece of nightwear I’ve ever owned that I’m even somewhat comfortable to wear in public if I add a visual seperation with some form of belt.) I could go on…
In short: The fashion industry has sold people on the insane idea that jeans with a slightly different cut are a different clothing-style. They are not!
I suppose that assumes a woman cares about fashion and that fast fashion is something every woman wants to buy into. A lot of women I know shop vintage because they want items they can wear reliably for years and modern items do not offer that level of quality. If you want to buy out of the fast fashion assumption of “need” it seems like you have to literally go back in time because if you buy fast fashion it is literally trash in a year. Nobody will thrift it worn because it will be worn out. It doesn’t seem like brands have options for women that lie outside of this system in addition to those junky options or offer those junk items at a lower cost. If all you can buy new is junk then stepping outside of the system requires you to avoid the ease of simply buying new off the rack. It requires work and luck. If you grew up inside that system that’s your established normal.
We can say that mens fashion is static… But why can’t both gendered fashion silos have more static options or at least price fast fashion at a different price point to reflect those cheaper materials? It seems like saying one sex has inherent requirements for fubgibillity which seems honestly kinda sexist. There’s a lot of men who want more interesting fad like stuff and women who want staples that will last a decade.
Oh, I full-on agree, hence that final paragraph. I’m one of those idgaf-about-fads types, but I know plenty of folks who do care and who get hosed by the system as it currently exists. Fashion as a whole is pretty much a racket as far as I’m concerned. But what isn’t these days?
The reason they won’t price fast fashion bs lower is because they don’t have to. Trendy things sell at inherently predatory price points, then they declare a new “what’s hot” before the sales drop off. Capitalism is a mfer, and folks are exploited at every rung of the fashion ladder.
I guess that would change if enough people stopped buying in, but do either of us see that happening any time soon? I don’t, and as frustrating as it is, I think you don’t, either. So garments marketed primarily to women remain pocketless and flimsy, and those marketed primarily to my-tastes-don’t-change men continue to trend towards work-wearish looks that are at least marginally sturdier at roughly equivalent cost.
Except for those goddamn fishing shirts. Who decided that was a thing? They’re terrible.
It’s a lot more than socks. Went looking for a duffel coat once for work and checked both isles in stores. Mens coat - nice woven and well fulled 100 percent wool, thick quality stuff, Women’s isle, cheaper felted wool half the thickness… Same price, same basic style, same store.
Ever since whenever I go looking for stuff I check both isles. Higher quality fabrics are generally reserved for men’s items though women’s stuff is priced the same. You’d never know the difference if you only shopped one gendered option.
Off-topic comment.
I appreciate the misuse of isle instead of aisle. The mental imagery of navigating around stores compromised of isles makes me want to go shopping so I can go on an island hopping adventure looking for booty to haul back to my kingdom.
It could be highly inconvenient, since the Isle of Mann and Isla Mujeres are so far apart.
Apart from fashionistas, “standard” men’s style is far more static. Cuts, materials, colors, and patterns don’t deviate far from the baseline from year to year, so garments tend to be a bit sturdier and longer lasting.
As an example, picture a guy in a Henley, cargo shorts, and work boots. What decade is he from? Okay, now put him in straight leg jeans and a flannel shirt. Was this picture taken yesterday? In the 90s? 2005? Who knows, guys have been wearing that for ages, and will be for ages to come.
However, pre-pandemic I think high-waist flares were one of the main jeans trends for women. Five years later, it’s low-waist straight-leg, right? Or have they shifted back to skinny jeans? I think early-2010s was the last time capris were the statement look, but hell, I truly don’t know. The point is, women’s styles seem to change not only year-to-year but season-to-season. Today’s trend is tomorrow’s faux pas is next week’s retro is next month’s vintage… sure, I’m exaggerating, but women’s fashion does lend itself more to sweeping change.
The criminal part is that woman-specific options are underconstructed and overpriced compared to men’s clothing. That, and the lack of pockets. Seriously, my heart goes out to anyone who wears clothing targeted to women. I’d be fucking lost without pockets.
Trans girl who sews her own clothing here: I’ve honestly stopped bothering to add pockets to my clothes, because my handbag has REALLY grown on me and takes care of most of the need. Seeing all the guys doing pocket-checks, when I just grep my handbag and have everything in it is almost getting funny at this point. 😊
That said: Fuck the fashion industry, for so many reasons, including for what they did to fashion! Like: Even if we ignored all the human-rights abuses, the trash quality that they produce, the needlessly bad impact on the environment and all of these things, and we really shouldn’t(!!), I just assume most people here have already heard about those, that industry still has no fucking idea of what personal style is and how to support it. It’s a bunch of business-assholes that decide that some thing X is “in” and then you get only that, with the difference between X and the previous X being minute details in the cut, but it still remains the same concept of short, narrow skirt for example.
You are looking for a ankle-length circle-skirt (=flat lying skirt, very wide)? Tough luck, sew it yourself, nobody offers that! You want a long dress with long sleeves? Yeah, that doesn’t exist! (Unless you sew it yourself, like I have, which gave me the most comfortable piece of nightwear I’ve ever owned that I’m even somewhat comfortable to wear in public if I add a visual seperation with some form of belt.) I could go on…
In short: The fashion industry has sold people on the insane idea that jeans with a slightly different cut are a different clothing-style. They are not!
I suppose that assumes a woman cares about fashion and that fast fashion is something every woman wants to buy into. A lot of women I know shop vintage because they want items they can wear reliably for years and modern items do not offer that level of quality. If you want to buy out of the fast fashion assumption of “need” it seems like you have to literally go back in time because if you buy fast fashion it is literally trash in a year. Nobody will thrift it worn because it will be worn out. It doesn’t seem like brands have options for women that lie outside of this system in addition to those junky options or offer those junk items at a lower cost. If all you can buy new is junk then stepping outside of the system requires you to avoid the ease of simply buying new off the rack. It requires work and luck. If you grew up inside that system that’s your established normal.
We can say that mens fashion is static… But why can’t both gendered fashion silos have more static options or at least price fast fashion at a different price point to reflect those cheaper materials? It seems like saying one sex has inherent requirements for fubgibillity which seems honestly kinda sexist. There’s a lot of men who want more interesting fad like stuff and women who want staples that will last a decade.
Oh, I full-on agree, hence that final paragraph. I’m one of those idgaf-about-fads types, but I know plenty of folks who do care and who get hosed by the system as it currently exists. Fashion as a whole is pretty much a racket as far as I’m concerned. But what isn’t these days?
The reason they won’t price fast fashion bs lower is because they don’t have to. Trendy things sell at inherently predatory price points, then they declare a new “what’s hot” before the sales drop off. Capitalism is a mfer, and folks are exploited at every rung of the fashion ladder.
I guess that would change if enough people stopped buying in, but do either of us see that happening any time soon? I don’t, and as frustrating as it is, I think you don’t, either. So garments marketed primarily to women remain pocketless and flimsy, and those marketed primarily to my-tastes-don’t-change men continue to trend towards work-wearish looks that are at least marginally sturdier at roughly equivalent cost.
Except for those goddamn fishing shirts. Who decided that was a thing? They’re terrible.