I've had a "buy local and in person" attitude for years. It's more difficult than ever to start or keep a shop and I want to support local and privately owned business. I head for the coffee house, restaurant, or boutique owned by an individual or a couple locals over a chain store or corporation.
I got my Economic Stimulus money and decided I'd spend a small part of it on clothes.
I'd avoided going anywhere unnecessary to the point of near insanity (Ok, I'm exaggerating but it felt that way at times) due to the plague and had put a year's wear on all my clothes. And yes, despite daily walks, trying lots of new recipes had created a little difficulty in zipping up.
I ventured out to buy underwear and cotton tops and a pair of pants.
The boutique I first thought of had gone out of business. Other stores closed, no signs of life.
I went into Ross Dress For Less and it looked bare. They also had a Security staff, wearing signage that said Security, all over the store. Has the store been badly thieved?
One of them, a young woman, was watching me so intently and obviously, if I'd been there to shoplift, I'd been nervous. "It looks wiped out," I said to her.
"We're in the process of restocking," she said.
I looked in a mirror and could see me. I looked rumpled and uncoordinated. I hadn't bothered to dress fashionably to shop for clothes.
She called me mam. "Come back on Friday, when we get a shipment, mam."
Had I degraded?
I'd cut my own hair after being quoted $25 for a one inch trim. I'd stopped wearing any cosmetics, not even tinted sun screen. I had no jewelry on, nothing to suggest status. I use a backpack, more of a schoolgirl backpack than a wilderness kit.
I took to using a backpack a few years ago. I suppose that's suspicious.
I found that a backpack kept weight even and I no longer had to keep switching a big satchel from one shoulder to the other, that using one left my hands free to hold onto my dog's leash and walk her with ease. My backpack was especially good for packing groceries without having to buy a bag.***
There was absolutely nothing at Ross that appealed to me. I noticed the tops I saw were made in China. That was repeated absolutely everywhere I went. Not good.
"Oh, yea, there are cargo ships waiting to come in, backed up all the way down the coast from San Diego to the Port of Los Angeles," a friend said. "Incoming from China."
"So much for American jobs," I said.
After several trips out I bought a pack of underwear. An "American" brand, Made in China. And a couple of tops, because they fit and the color was right, from Big Five, also Made in China.
Pants?
Whatever happened to pants? Everywhere I went there were only two types, skinny leggin-like jeans with ugly, improbable rips, a trend that has gone on far too long because it only looked good on a few men who earned their rips, not via hammer, and they were muscled men, that trend is at best a teenage girl look.
Or I could try overly fat "mom" jeans. I guess when a person becomes a mom they earned the right to be more modest and comfortable.
I went home and got on line. I didn't want leggings, skinny, denim, stretch denim, dropped waist (fat belly exposing), fat legs, or beachy cropped, pants. I know the fashion industry changes pants enough each year that the savvy can look at my pants and call out the year they were made. I wanted black, straight legs, made of cotton mostly, something that can substitute for dressy or business in a pinch, not athletic wear, not tight in the rear.
I surveyed my closet, unable to determine just how long I'd had things in it. I'm not much of a thrift store shopper because you normally can't try anything on. Now none of the stores were allowing try ons. Not being able to try on clothes is to me one of the negatives of online ordering.
"You risk things not looking at all like the pictures," my friend warned.
So I thought, maybe I'm so far out of it that I'll never get back in. I hadn't been in a library in a year - all closed - to even page through a Vogue. I know that fashion in Vogue trickles into stores like Target or Walmart in some way. Usually in color trends.
I failed at buying local or American.
The trend to destroy American jobs began before the pandemic. It's all tied into the notion of "jobs Americans won't do." You will find that notion is used as a way of union busting or preventing unions from forming, exporting jobs and manufacturing, and for illegal immigration to being tolerated. (I know this opinion takes into account both Republican and Democratic notions.)
So, I made myself promise me that for every new item I purchased, I would throw out or donate one item.
What will our economy look like and when?
C 2021
*** In order to, supposedly, prevent plastic bags from polluting, we now have to BUY paper bags at stores, it buy heavier "reusable" plastic or bring our own. It's bullshit. Cashiers are no longer tasked with having to produce a store bag and fill it. Stores are not giving you a bag for your purchase for free.
