2 I assume this isn't only my problem. I've heard many stories about people not being able to buy the same shoes, T-shirt, perfume, or jacket again.
3 I understand why manufacturers do this. I have no questions for them. What matters more to me here is us — customers, or simply people. And I started wondering: what could be done to support a customer's choice for years?
4 This is where I want to bring concepts from software and hardware engineering into the clothing industry — LTS and APIs. What if we freeze the standard and support it? We already have things like SATA or CPU sockets. Why not build a similar concept for clothing? Then the API at the point of contact with the customer is divided into a physically immutable part (color, material, design) and a flexible part (logistics, ingredients). Let's start with the simplest base — a T-shirt. Why not give it LTS support? The idea is that the exact same T-shirt could be sold for 1, 5, or 20 years.
5 Where does my logic break down? What am I overlooking? Are there any similar projects? And would you become a customer of such a company?
Thanks.
It doesn't explain why every couple of years I have another four or six pairs of yet another set of socks, from the same company, but with enough variation that now I have multiple different generations of CK socks that aren't pairable.
Most sock brands don't actually produce socks, they license the brand name out to third-party textile manufacturers to make the product.
They'll often switch partnerships to new manufacturers which has a drastic impact on the produced product in terms of materials, feel, overall quality, etc.
In many cases they even license the brand out to multiple manufacturers simultaneously, using different manufacturers for higher end stores than cheaper department stores, so even in the same time period you could get very different socks of the same style from the same brand depending upon where you buy them.
Same core problem as typical cost-cutting enshittification -- everything is hyper-optimized to extract the maximum amount of value at the expense of every other consideration.
However, I do find promise in one aspect of your idea: an infinite archival catalogue of items-that-once-were. Then, you can link to things like, as others have mentioned, eBay listings where you can still find the "originals.'
like the tribal type of people who live close or off the land.
it won’t be cheap but you also won’t be paying 60% of the price for the brand name alone.
that kinda stuff is so high quality and lasts forever. plus it looks dope af compared to whatever you can buy from a retail store made by a mix of man and machine.
I've been very happy with www.madetoorderjeans.com (there are others) : get your measurements as they explain, pick the fabric you want (normal, stretch/fit, elastic; light and thin, thick, ...), make your stile, wait 2-3 weeks - for the price a brand jeans (so overall reasonable). Jeans last 3x times longer (wear patterns) and they fit me perfectly, instead of needing to have them adjusted after (expensive) purchase.
You're in a room of software developers who keep breaking and changing everyone's "favorite everyday" workflows, every time a piece of software is changed.
Even something as dumb as changing a design language is the same thing as a brand discontinuing your favorite every day item. Why did my UX have to get ugly for no reason? Why can't I go back? people cry out.
What do we do to support peoples' choice of software over the longterm when they can't choose to 'roll back'?
Your favorite T-shirt is still available for sale. It's just got a giant black box strapped to the back of it called AI. The t-shirt companies said that's good for you so you have to wear it now.
(1) Clothing manufacturing is a lot more complicated than sockets
(2) Generally products aren't discontinued because they're popular. So what you're describing is a lot of cost, for products that a lot of people don't care about.
(3) Even if someone did write up a spec for a t-shirt—what would you do with it?
(4) The need for standards is a lot more important for things like sockets which have multiple ends, and need to ensure that both sides work consistently, than for things like a piece of clothing where there's a single wearer at a time.
One bizarre one, i find when i find some foodstuff i like, the shop will eventually discontinue it, it seems almost personal…
Sizing chaos (pudding.cool)
827 points by zdw 5 months ago | 435 comments
It's not about discontinuing items but about the industry incentives that seemingly go against logic making it impossible for most women to find fitting clothes.
Quotes:
"While there are no universal sizing standards, an organization called ASTM International regularly releases informal guidelines." "There are no regulations or universal sizing standards. Instead each brand is incentivized to make up its own. When size guides change — and they’re always changing — brands are not obligated to disclose updates."
I guess they do it to appeal to their biggest customers - people who can't resist buying way more shoes than they need. But it does seem weird for some brands that aren't exactly fashion houses, e.g. Ecco, to do it.
It must cost them a fair bit of money too. I wonder how much cheaper you could make shoes if you only designed one set and then fired all of your designers...
My solution is to just buy a few pairs when I find shoes I really like. Reduces the problem at least.
Also I've started buying Levi's jeans - really expensive but at least they have some styles that don't change.
But, I swear the different factories will often produce slightly different cuts. I used to buy 517's all the same size, and depending on which country of origin they'd all just fit a bit differently. A little tighter here, a little looser here, but all for what are supposedly the same measurements. Some enough out of whack I refuse to wear them. I don't bother trying to get the exact same anymore.
But I do have to say they have definitely come closest to actually keeping things pretty much the same across time. I can't really say that for any other mass market clothing brands which don't include custom tailoring.
Converse shoes also have styles that haven’t changed in decades, while convenient, they’ll usually only last me a year.
Alden has been making the same models of shoes for decades but they aren’t cheap. Assembly labor and materials make up most of the cost for producing shoes, and Alden are made in the US.
I believe the engineers and artisians who make the clothes you wear are also pushing the boundaries of fabric, patterns and cuts to feed an ever-famished audience looking for the 'next thing'.
Besides, they read the room - you no longer fit in those same sizes anymore!