A combination of the outrageous waste involved and some eye-watering prices prompts our columnist to look a little closer to home for clothes
• I UNWITTINGLY conducted sort of a non-scientific experiment this week that had such conclusive results I had to share. So, after spending many hours online clothes shopping I can confirm, without doubt, that the activity rewires your brain in an altogether unpleasant way, that it makes you feel very moody (also unpleasant), not yourself, lethargic, unfulfilled, unsettled, uneasy, dare I say unhappy? All the bad ‘uns’ anyway.
• It all started when, with Confirmation season upon us and Communions on the way, I realised myself and my smallie legitimately had nothing to wear – what with her growing up, and me mainly growing out. I had no option but to embark on the bewildering experience otherwise known as online shopping. In nothing short of a minor miracle, what I ordered arrived on time, fitted her, and was given the thumbs up.
Praise be.
As for myself? I couldn’t find so much as a pair of socks that I liked, which is just as well because suddenly everything nice seems insanely priced. Without exception every dress or ‘rig out’ I saw that I liked cost in or around €800 and more. Am I worth it, I pondered in my dopamine haze? Absolutely not! And neither would the headache I’d have from all the text messages from my bank letting me know about ‘insufficient funds’ for direct debits if I made such a splurge. So, instead, I shopped my sisters wardrobe, which was a far more calming experience. I even got to enjoy a chat and a cuppa in the process – superb customer service. I’d recommend it.
• For me, the problem with online shopping is the choice – there’s just too much. Who is even buying all the stuff anyway? Perhaps no one – I read a statistic that said an estimated 30% of all clothes made around the world are never sold or worn. That’s mind blowing. So is a Netflix documentary called Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy. It’s out a few months but I’ve only got to it now and without sounding too preachy, I’d recommend that we should all watch it. It’s all about the consequences of consumerism, and how so much ends up in landfill. We know a lot of this of course already, but to see it laid out so graphically is alarming and hopefully will encourage us to shop each other’s wardrobes more – for one thing, the returns process is far easier!
Online shopping causes untold waste – Emma says shopping in someone else's wardrobe is a much better experience. (Photo: Shutterstock)
• Positively, more and more people, well of my age anyway, are realising that it’s smarter to mind what you already have, rather than buying more and more. When it comes to clothes, all that mainly involves is washing some garments less (especially jeans), or at the very least in cold water and letting them air dry (the tumble drier isn’t only the enemy of our energy bills but to our clothes too).
Cork woman Laura de Barra is a genius when it comes to this, and I suggest looking her and her books up for some more advice. I’m also seeing more and more people making an effort to get items repaired – if not by themselves then by others. I’d love to be a bit niftier with a needle and thread but unfortunately I’m still a bit traumatised from the time I tried to make palazzo pants (this was the 90s) in home economics class in secondary school. The silk material I chose was very tricky to work with, so much so that my dedicated teacher had to rescue them from being butchered and finish them for me herself. I’ve never gone near a sewing machine since and start to sweat at the sight of a bobbin. I’ll confess to even being challenged by the simple task of sewing in a button. Not so long ago I presented a shirt to my husband after doing this very job. ‘Ta da’ I said proudly as if I was the Calor Kosangas Housewife of the Year. I might have been in the running except for one small problem: the button was in one spot, and the hole was in another. They did not align. A bit of a hole in none.
• I am generally challenged when it comes to anything vaguely crafty. My current ambition – at the request of my smallie – is to master a French plait, then advance to a Dutch one. I’m watching a lot of YouTube videos to get to grips with it, and apart from the odd few lumps and bumps and the 256 clips needed, I’m getting there. Who knows, there might be a seamstress in me waiting to be unravelled? I won’t invest in a Singer just yet – in fact I won’t even borrow one. Why ruin the fantasy?
• Helping to restore my inner calm after all that online stressiness (and poor Joanna getting voted out of Dancing With the Stars) was a bracing evening walk, made better when I heard that all too familiar ‘hum’ that had been missing for a while – the milking parlour.There’s something strangely reassuring about it, and as an added bonus I spotted some cows in the field, and a few early daffodils.
• While I’m at it, I might as well say it ... yes, yes, there’s a fine old stretch in the evenings. The wheels keep on turning, and that’s the only sort of stuff we need in our lives at the end of the day.
Of course, I still need to find some class of a gúna for myself for a few upcoming occasions so if anyone is better than I at navigating the online abyss, keep an eye out for me. There’ll be a free bunch of daffodils in return!
