NO MORE CHEAP CLOTHES FROM CHINA?

Have you looked through your closet lately? If you take the time to look at the labels, you will see that 90% of recent purchases have a Made In China label. Wow.  Are the Chinese the only ones who know how to sew?  I’m not sure, but I’m thinking these new tariffs may signal the end. No more cheap clothes from China.

When I was a child, “store bought” clothes were for people of means.   Most lower and middle class people made their own clothes.  Now, sewing your own clothes is a choice, not a necessity.

I still made my clothes until I was about 30.   That’s when store clothes got so cheap that it was more actually more expensive to buy the pattern and materials to construct your own garments. A lot of those first cheap clothes came from places like Bangladesh and the Philippines.  But now, almost all imported clothes are from China.

No More Cheap Clothes From China
IF WE CAN’T BUY CHEAP CLOTHES FROM CHINA, MAYBE WE CAN SEW OUR OWN

Sewing was actually fun.  First, you sat down at the pattern table and looked through the books to find exactly the dress or outfit that you wanted.  Once you decided on a pattern, it was sheer pleasure to look through all the fabrics and pick out something that would give you a one -of- a- kind dress.  You never had to worry about running into someone with a dress exactly like yours, and no one had the slightest idea what you paid for it.  We even made pretty dresses out of feed sacks!

Young girls were taught to sew before they were teenagers.  My best friend’s mother worked at Singer Sewing shop—a busy store with many customers who paid the salary of this single Mom supporting three kids.  She loved her work, even gave sewing lessons. My own mom was kind of a slap dash seamstress, but this lady taught me the importance of following patterns exactly—a skill that has helped me follow directions for all kinds of self-assembled products.

Women used to make their own clothes before they were so cheap from China
SEWING YOUR OWN CLOTHES USED TO BE COST EFFECTIVE

Store bought clothing was expensive  in the old days because it was made in America.  Garment workers didn’t make much  but it was a lot more than people in China, where  the average wage per month is $270 in terms of US Dollars. A factory worker in China may work over sixteen hours, sometimes six days a week. The pay for all of this overtime is sometimes as low as 55 cents per hour.

If we can’t get cheap clothes from China because of new tariffs,  will that  be such a bad thing?  Maybe young girls will get off their cell phones and start making their own clothes . Or garment workers in the USA will have more job opportunities.   And we won’t have to feel guilty about that “bargain” coat from China made by women who are forced to work in sweat shops for low wages.