Fashion is a word that was used in the industrial revolution by businesspeople as the idea of encouraging people to buy new stuff before their perfectly good old stuff wore out. Before the industrial revolution the concept of fashion in business didn't really exist because people demanded function first. There was no place for frills or frivolity.
The business community wanted to change that.
In his book, Giles explains that the industrial revolution created an overall product surplus -- lots of products, not enough purchasers. Ford's Model T became arguably the first victim of fashion. Why? In a nutshell, Ford's competitors realized that if they could come up with a product that looked more "fashion-forward," they could market to consumers looking for an alternative to the cookie-cutter Ford product. It's not because their Model T cars weren't functioning -- on the contrary, the Model T was very well-made -- but poor Tin Lizzie was ugly. New, prettier cars created by GM made the Model T unfashionable, and soon after that, obsolete.
Why should we care? Because, if we fast-forward to today, big businesses are using the same manipulative concepts on us. If a company makes products that become obsolete before they break, they will gain a constant flow of repeat consumers. (The challenge for these businesses is to retain consumers through marketing and brand loyalty. But that's another post.) Or, if a business creates a product designed to physically break, this is considered even better. Take light bulbs for example:
IT'S TRUE -- Did you know there is a light bulb in the US that has been burning for more than 100 years? You probably didn't, and that's just the way big industry likes it. The light bulbs you and I buy in Zellers are made to break. If our bulbs took over a century to burn out, we wouldn't need a constant stream of new bulbs. If we didn't need a constant stream of new bulbs, big business wouldn't get our money. The actual business term for this concept is "planned obsolescence."
To see the Livermore Centennial Light for yourself goto the "bulbcam" at http://www.centennialbulb.org/
Planned obsolescence creates an ideal society for big business; a society where people continuously buy, buy, buy. When businesses create products that aren't meant to last, this ensures the consumer (you and me) will be buying the same product from them again soon. And when planned obsolescence fails (meaning the product is well-built and outlives it's targeted date of self-destruction,) fashion will kick in to make the product outdated and undesirable.
A fashion concept is required to create a wasteful, throwaway society. The concepts of fashion and planned obsolescence walk hand-in-hand down the same garbage-strewn path.
What I learned: I like the idea of personal style and expression. What I don't like is the idea of fashion greedily engineered by big business. Maybe we can all try to make informed product purchases and try not to fall prey to engineered fashion. I wonder: is it possible to make this concept of enginered fashion unfashionable?
4 comments:
It's gratifying to find someone who is responding so well to my book. It took me four years to write and I was worried no one would get it. Really, I was just trying to show how we'd been conditioned over the past century to accept greater and greater levels of garbage and to spend more and more of our money on stuff that we need to replace faster and faster. I find that people in their 20s and 50s are listening to this. I think this split audience has much to do with who is inheriting the world and who is preparing a new generation to inherit the world. In other words, the people who are going to have to clean up the mess are most interested in what my book has to say. Thank you. Giles Slade
Hi Mr. Slade. Thanks for both writing your book and responding to my post. (As you know I confirmed this "anonymous" post was you by finding your email and asking you!)
As for who's listening to your book, I fall smack in the middle of your age range. Even though I was a teenager in the all-about-me 80's, I care a lot about where our collective social values are going. Maybe it's because I'm a mother now, or maybe it's because I'm smarter now. I guess this proves there's still hope for us all! Thanks again. From Christine
I am really enjoying your posts - and good for you for having the author to respond to your last one.
It is an interesting concept this obselesence. As a mother it drives me crazy that my kids are always asking me to replace their things with a "better" version even though what they have is perfectly fine. The flip side of the coin though is that big business employs an awful lot of people and keeps our economy humming. How do we have a robust econonmy and healthy environment without milking the consumer in the process?? Maybe our kids will figure it out...
Hey w. warrior. Like you say, maybe our kids will solve this problem. Is it possible that our kids won't define themselves in terms of things? As for me, I can't walk through a mall without being tempted by stuff and greed. All I see are pretty boots, cute cel phone covers, and must-have pashmina scarves.
My name is Christine. I'm a recovering consumer and shopaholic.
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