A Tale of Two Sweaters

This is the trailer for the HBO Documentary Film Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags.

Shmata is the Yiddish word for rag, but it is more commonly used for a piece of clothing.....I'm going to throw on a shmata to walk the dog.

I happened upon this documentary a few months ago and my view of clothing and fashion has forever changed. In the documentary they explained how 95% of ALL American clothing is manufactured in foreign countries. ALL brands are outsourced and created in the same factories side by side. What does that mean to you? Well it means that Ralph Lauren and Walmart jeans are made side by side with different labels sewn in. Once you stop shopping retail and start thrifting this becomes truly evident.




I purchased the same sweater in two different colors one with a JCrew tag sewn in and the SAME sweater with an Old Navy tag. One retailed for $80.00 and the other for $20.00 most likely. What does that say about quality? It is allll the same......Here is the thing, I picked them BOTH up for $3.99 each at my local Goodwill. My $8.00 goes back into the American economy, more specifically into my local area, and spending money in Goodwill puts my money into job training for struggling teens and adults in my city. Win, win. If you think about it...thoughtful consumerism is very fashionable. No one knows what brand of sweater I'm wearing in the first place. No one has ever asked me where I purchased my sweater since Jr. High..... As long as you like it, that's all that matters. Go thrifting!

You can watch clips here:
http://www.ovguide.com/movies_tvschmatta_rags_to_riches_to_rags.htm