Like many of you, I've been buying clothes for a long time. Like many of you, I've found my way onto a number of mailing lists from brands, boutiques, and other niche news sources. If we're any alike at all, we are constantly being bombarded at all hours of the day with news of another clothing drop. Another collaboration to feed the streets. Another collection of colorful watches that follow in the steps of Rolex's 2020 Oyster Perpetual releases. Guys, we've reached mass consumption.
High fashion used to be on an "as needed" basis - meaning that there was no ready-to-wear. Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Cristobal Balenciaga, and other famous couturiers used to create beautiful garments from scratch for the world's most elite customer base. You couldn't walk into a Gucci boutique and purchase a hoodie or t-shirt back then. Sure, ready-to-wear was already a thing from a more mainstream consumer perspective. Dewachter Brothers opened their department store in 1868, offering a variety of men's garments in all sizes so that theoretically anyone could come in and buy clothing that would fit them.
Once ready-to-wear became more of the norm within the fashion industry in the 1960s, brands like Chanel, Saint Laurent, and Burberry were creating collections twice a year, once in Spring/Summer, and another in Fall/Winter. The collections would have a number of items that you could mix and match and create cohesive outfits solely out of clothes from said collection. Brands would make enough units to satisfy demand, and that was that.
Where did we go so wrong? The answer may be a shock to everyone: it's business. It's all big business. We went from two collections a year to two big collections a year with several smaller collections and a number of collaborations along the way. In Dana Thomas's Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, she documents how the sharp increase in production drove Alexander McQueen and John Galliano to collapse. Lee Alexander McQueen was one of fashion's biggest stars in the 1990s, groundbreaking for work on his own label as well as his work as the creative director for Givenchy. John Galliano was at the helm of Givenchy prior to McQueen. He then took the reigns at Dior where he held the creative director spot until 2011. He currently works as the creative director at Margiela, where he has been in control since 2014. Thomas's brilliant work of non-fiction chronicles the increased demand for more clothing collections - orders given to the two creative directors from their bosses at conglomerates like LVMH and Kering. Where brands were doing SS & AW, they were also now tasked with collections such as "pre-fall", "pre-spring," "cruise," "resort," and many more. The two men struggled to keep up with the increased workload. The workload led them to drink heavily, and in tandem with their personal demons, broke them. McQueen took his own life in 2010 at the age of 40. Galliano was filmed making shocking anti-semitic comments outside of a Parisian cafe in 2011 and was subsequently let go from Dior. He had to undergo treatment for alcohol and mental health disorders before the fashion industry was willing to let him back in. Having more collections year in and year out is only helping the CEO’s bottom line. It’s harmful to the workers, the environment, and for the concept of fashion as a creative art form.
These days, high fashion still has all of these collections, with no end in sight. In a capitalistic society, the tops-down ask from big businesses is to always be growing. This idea of infinite growth is a pipe dream. No company can grow forever. The resources will eventually run out. I worked for a big fashion retailer. Our ask every year was to bring in higher revenues than the year before, regardless of what the macro climate looked like. Every year, we missed plans, leading to consequences like headcount reductions. In 2020, businesses saw record profits, partly thanks to so many workers being laid off or furloughed. Prices go up, more content/clothing/product is created, and wages stay the same, allowing for the c-suite to grow their individual wealth.
In what world does it make sense for Supreme, a brand I love, to release 20-40 products per week up to 40 weeks per year? Why does Aimé Leon Dore need to make marginal upgrades from their prior season's collection just to tell this season's items at a premium? Don't even get me started on the collaborations. Many of which are shameless cash grabs. Gucci and Balenciaga did NOT need to collaborate last year, but they understood that the magnitude of their logos being side by side on the same garment would attract a certain type of customer." There are good collaborations out there. Just look at the latest J. Crew x Union collaboration that dropped a couple of weeks back. But most collaborations are shameless. Kith will collaborate with anyone. I'm not a Kith hater like many other menswear people. I think that their clothes are high quality. A bit over expensive, but still high quality. I respect that Ronnie has been able to build such a massive brand, but I'm just not buying a collaboration where the t-shirt just says Kith and Honey Nut Cheerios next to each other.
The law of diminishing returns states that "profits or benefits gained from something will represent a proportionally smaller gain as more money or energy is invested in it." There's no secret why literally everything feels watered down. Every product we consume these days feels cookie-cutter as if fresh from a conveyor belt. Brands don't care about craft anymore. They don't care as much about quality as they used to. The only thing that matters is getting more product in stores or on the website, and making sure it sells. Capitalism stole the love for the game. Adidas could have kept Yeezy's sacred if they hadn't rereleased the Zebra's a million times. Same with Nike and Dunks. They didn't care that they had the coolest item in the shoe game at the time. The bottom line was more important than the line of teenagers outside of the stores. Once there was too much inventory, the hype died and they were no longer cool.
Aside from fashion, there’s just too much output everywhere you look. Musicians are releasing multiple albums per year. DJs have a new mix out every week. I understand that people want to hustle and make money, and there's no knocking that, but the product isn’t as good as it used to be. The more a rapper releases, the sloppier the beats will sound, and the more juvenile the bars. Aubrey "Drake" Graham is the most overrated artist on the face of the earth and perhaps the most overrated artist in musical history. Over the weekend he released his 8th studio (not counting Mixtapes and collaborative albums) album "For All The Dogs." The 37-year-old rapped badly over clunky production about how much he hates women, how much money he has, and how much he'd love to get back at people who beat him in rap beef half a decade ago. He's been coming out with an album every year for the past few years and they're getting worse and worse. Look at Netflix. What the hell are all of these shows? Literally, EVERYTHING is oversaturated.
Capitalism has ruined anything artistic. Sure there are diamonds in the rough. Uniqlo U is still making great, accessible, high-quality clothes. Past Lives was a tremendous film. The Bear is hitting the spot. These are more exceptions to the rule than the norm. These days, everything feels more like a product from a corporation than a work of craft. I don't see how we'll reverse this, but in this strange state of late-stage capitalism, we must consume wisely, because most things just aren't worth it anymore.
I'm glad I stumbled upon your substack today, because I like nodding and saying, "Yeah! That's right!" Good stuff.