I’ve been watching a TV show called What Not To Wear. On
Friday nights, I curl up on the couch and watch the two hosts push and pull a
variety of different people into becoming a more presentable version of
themselves. Always the people are
delighted with who they become. I
have been wishing for months now that I would get tapped by Stacy and Clinton and have my present wardrobe exposed and deposed so that I can accept the $5,000
credit card. Since, however, that
has not happened, I have slowly begun to change on my own …. Recently, while in Chicago with my
daughters, Anne and Jess, I bought a winter coat from North Face for $378 plus a pair of pants, a shirt and two sweaters.
Just last weekend, Anne, Jess and I stood in a boutique in
the Short North, a local shopping area.
I picked up a large brown satchel purse and tried it on. I wanted
it. For the past ten years, I have
been carrying a Gore-Tex black wallet.
My time had come. The
leather was creamy and soft. The
top folded over. There was lots of
room. I didn’t buy that purse,
mainly because it was the first purse I tried, and because it was so big that
when I held it in my hand it dragged on the ground. I did go home, search the net and, finding a smaller purse at
Nordstrom’s, I bought that.
While waiting for my purse to arrive in the mail, I made a trip to Nordstrom’s and there was the purse I had
ordered. The bag was so big that I felt like a gorilla
lady holding it. I felt like one of those
grandmas who can fit lunches and clothes changes in my purse. Consequently:
I
have returned the first purse
Bought
a second purse and returned that
Bought
a third and expensive purse…a Coach purse and kept it.
When I dug out the paper and opened the new and final purse,
I read the large sewn in leather label that said, “This Coach bag was handcrafted in
China from full grain raw hide leather.”
Usually the little tag telling where the purse is made is
impossible to find. On the first
purse I had, I looked for 15 minutes before Nelson, my husband, found it. That one was made in Sri Lanka. Seeing credit given to China so overtly
was unsettling. Two million
workers in the U.S. have lost their jobs.
Why couldn’t Coach employ some of them? I know I sound naïve, but it has been many many years since
I have entered the fashion market, so who better than me to notice?
Trying to find a handbag made and put
together by some employed craftsperson closer to home, I called Fashion Conscious People. The lady there
explained to me that she had the same problem. “People here in Columbus,” she said, “ don’t want to pay a
lot for handbags. Making them
abroad is the only way to keep prices down.”
I e-mailed five leather artists. I found their names as having booths in
the Columbus Arts Festival. One guy didn't have an e-mail, so I called him. He said he’d call
back if he could match up what I wanted with something he had, but so far he hasn’t
called. I tried the Columbus
Leather Company about thirty minutes ago, but they are out of business. It’s not that I don’t like my fancy new Coach purse. I like it. I may keep it. I’m even glad that the big leather tag is
sewn in there giving China and its workers credit. At least Coach isn’t trying to hide what they are doing with
a little card hidden somewhere.
It feels like there’s an elephant in the room. What would happen if Stacy and Clinton
from What Not To Wear said let’s put some of those out-of-work 2 million
workers back to work. Your new
wardrobe has to be made by some of them.
The show would go under. All that new stuff I have acquired to become a more presentable version of myself, the coat, the two sweaters, the shirt, is made in China. The only thing I can find that I own made by U.S. workers is my new pair of jeans. The tag sewn inside is small and white. It says Citizens of Humanity.
