Invaluable Necessity Christian Ang | Guest Writer
| Published 12/12/03
Graphic By: Andrew Kinback
Clothes have an impact on who we are, where we
came from and who we hang around. You can tell most about a person from
what he or she wears. The problem with this is many people do not just
buy clothes to cover themselves. They buy clothes for the brand name and
recognition. I am outraged at clothing companies over price their
products and the people who buy into the hype.
Nike that is manufactured in Asia, where labor is nothing more than 10
to 25 cents an hour. They make a pair of shoes for about $1 to $5
dollars. Then it is sold for over $100. If cost to produce the product
is so low, why sell it for so much more?
The reason for every company to do is money. I believe companies like
this do not care about consumer's satisfaction or the slave-laborers.
All they care about is money, and I believe this should stop. However
companies are not going to drastically change, unless it affects them
where it matters most: their profits.
When I visit New York City, I see people shopping on 5th Avenue in
Manhattan. On this small strip, people spend thousands of dollars on an
item that was probably made in an underdevelopment country. As they
pass, I see homeless people asking them for some extra change; some turn
to them and say, "I have not money to give you. Sorry." How can some
lady in a fur coat carrying two bags from Gucci say she has no money?
Clothing allows some people to feel secure about themselves. It gives
them instant status. I have experienced these ridicules and have seen it
happens to others. Fitting in is one of the hurdles of high school, but
my high school did not allow civilian clothing. This brought equality
among everyone else. Alumni point out that this dress code makes
students judge peers not by looks but by character and personality.
If everyone was not to worry about what brand of clothes they wore or
how much it cost, I think it would dissolve a lot of problems. It would
let people see who other people really are instead of judging everyone
from their appearance. There really is no way to change what people
think, but I believe many people have the same feelings as I have. There
are only a small percentage of people who can afford very expensive
clothes, which means most people might feel that clothing is
over-priced.
One way to help is to stop buying over-priced, popular brands. Support
your local goodwill or YMCA clothing drives. Clothes are being made by
the millions every year, but where does the olds ones go? Support your
local Goodwill or YMCA clothing drives.
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Christian Ang is a new writer for Whim. We hope he writes more quality articles for us!
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Name: Dylan Lloyd Comments:
Welcome to capitalism, Christian; self-fulfilling gains are not a symptom of greed, yet more so an aspect of the nature of the beast. If you are not a freshman, forgive my ignorance; but as you progess into your junior and senior years you will realize that a select few begin to develope perception beyond that of what garments people wear or what frat you're in, and formulate impressions based moreso on what comes out of your mouth! I hate to imply the term "liberal" or "communist", but many folks that share you similar perspective are excentuating the negative aspects of capitalism while downplaying the rather not so apparent redeaming qualities. When I buy 150 dollar shoes, the money isn't going to waste - think of it as being "recycled" back into the grand scheme of things.
Comments:
Good message I guess, but I think you're misdirected on the concept of the monetary value of an item. Regardless of how much something costs to make, it's worth what people are willing to pay for it. There doesn't have to be a correlation between the two. Every company sells everything in this country for as much as they possibly can in an effort to maximize their profits. Profits increase to a point as price rises, then begin to drop off as fewer and fewer people are willing to buy an item at the inflated price. This point where profits are maximized is the price of the item...it's a basic principle of economics, and it's how capitalism works. And all U.S. businesses do it this way from 5th Ave. stores to the Family Dollar. Things are sold for what they're worth (literally) in socialist countries...and we've seen how prosperous that economic strategy is for the everyday citizen. It sounds harsh, but instead of trying to make things "fair," just be glad that you're in a country that exploits instead of one that is exploited...it's why you have everything that you do, can go to college and philosophize on economic issues, and don't have to work in a sweatshop in China for Kathy Lee Gifford.
