Weekend Edition #15

A tale of two sweatshirts

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Dear reader,

I guess we’re partying like it’s 1859 this summer. The famous opening paragraph from Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities positions the era of the French Revolution against a 19th-century existence. Over 150 years later, not much has changed. The world is made up of dichotomies, which seem to be getting sharper. Hot and cold temperatures. A two-party political system. The haves and have-nots.

Fast fashion and…everything else.

I learned this week from fashion journalist Amy Odell’s newsletter that Amazon announced (in a closed-door meeting in China) that they would “allow the same suppliers who make goods for ultra fast-fashion giants, Shein and Temu, to sell on Amazon.” Shein has quickly become one of the largest fashion companies in the world, currently selling $30 billion worth of merchandise, with a $60 billion sales target in 2025. They can design and make styles in as little as ten days (compared to the six-month lead time for traditional clothing companies), which they achieve by using factories where people work up to 18-hour days, for as little as four cents per garment, have a few days off per month, and are fined up to two-thirds of their daily pay if they make a mistake.¹ This is not unique to Shein. Forced labor is such a pervasive problem in parts of China that in 2021, Congress passed a law banning the importation of any cotton clothing made in the Xinjiang province.² However, it is very hard to trace cotton in China, and in May, a new study showed almost 20% of goods in the U.S. still use cotton from Xinjiang.³ Luckily for Shein (insert sarcasm), two-thirds of their goods are made from micro-plastic shedding polyester, a petrochemical. This is who Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, is trying to emulate.

Buyer beware.

This brings me to our first sweatshirt: the SHEIN EZwear Women's Solid Color Round Neck Drop Shoulder Casual Sweatshirt.

It is 100% polyester and can be yours for $8.39.

Obviously NOT me. Notice the thin neck which will likely pull and twist, the loose hem and cuffs (which look like self-fabric and not rib, meaning they have no recovery), and the flimsy fabric. I expect this to be stretched out and shapeless in just a few wears.

For our second sweatshirt, I present to you the Camber Grey Crewneck Sweatshirt. Camber is an apparel manufacturer outside of Philadelphia that, unlike the goal of almost every other retailer, does not sell direct-to-consumer. But does, according to many, make the World’s Greatest Sweatshirt.⁴ Camber was founded by Barry Schwartz, who still runs the company and handles everything from sourcing to shipping to customer service. Actually, scratch that. Camber is such a small, efficient company that they don’t bother with customer service. You get what you get, and you don’t get upset. (Not that anyone usually has any reason to.) His employees have been with him for years. There is one shift, and no night crew. The thick, soft fabric, made from 90% cotton and just 10% polyester, is milled down the river from American-grown Cotton.

It can take months to fill an order, and it doesn’t matter whether you are a high-end fashion boutique in Japan, a large brand, or an outdoor fencing company from California who uses the sweatshirts as their workwear uniform. If you want to buy your own Camber sweatshirt, you can check All Seasons Work Uniforms or www.allusaclothing.com. But this is the message you will get when you go to purchase:

Camber is a small USA made operation out of Norristown, PA. They have recently experienced a large increase in demand for product, both domestic and overseas. As a result, he is behind in both shipping and production. Unfortunately, we are unable to check stock with Camber directly. They are a small company and they do not have a customer service team to field those questions. It is best to order and get your foot in the door! Thank you for being patient and for buying American!

Or you can do what I did, and search the secondhand sites. I found my Camber on Grailed. You can also try Goodwill and other local vintage shops or thrift stores.

This is slow fashion. This is sustainable fashion.

My new (old) Camber. I love the high neckline and the tight rib at the cuffs, hem and side panels, which provide structure to the shape. The fabric is soft on the inside and dry on the outside. Double-stitched seams secure the raw edges in place. This will earn its stripes in my closet over the next few years (and decades), becoming perfectly worn-in, well-loved, and maybe even fought over by my boys ;)

If you’re still reading, you might be wondering why I even need a new sweatshirt in the summer. Well, I need it for the relentless air conditioning, which we need because of the unrelenting heat in the city. Which we have, in some part, due to the climate impact of the 21st-century fast fashion industry.

A tale of two sweatshirts. A tale of two futures.

Thank you for reading!

x Lindsay

1. Ultra-fast Fashion Rot Spreads to Amazon

2. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-is-ready-implement-ban-xinjiang-goods-june-21-2022-06-01/

3. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/banned-chinese-cotton-found-19-us-retailers-merchandise-study-shows-2024-05-07/#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20enacted%20a%20law,committing%20genocide%20against%20Uyghur%20Muslims.

4. https://www.gq.com/story/camber-the-worlds-best-hoodie