QUALITY OF CRAFTSMANSHIP

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Over the past 300 years, the fashion industry has undergone a metamorphosis and it is continuing to evolve rapidly. Fuelled by technological advancements, changes in the way clothing is manufactured and consumed have likewise transformed our perceptions of how contemporary fashion should be valued. Today we live in a world where people can afford and also choose to shop in low-price ‘disposable-fashion’ high-street stores, reacting to the latest trends. In the past however, quality was preferred over quantity, consumers ensured they would have minimal but good quality, made-to-last garments.

Today, fast fashion is often blamed for the profusion of poor quality fabric and disposable garments, but in fact, faster and less expensive production of textiles and clothing was a vital part of the industrial revolution in the 19^th century, which was in fact, evolved from the increasing demand of textile during that time. Despite the ready-to-wear fashion being created in the mid-19^th-century, the garments produced of that time were a significantly higher standard compared to the ready-to-wear garments of today. Historically, people owned far less clothing than we do today due to its expensiveness. The high cost caused people to take a lot more care when looking after these garments, ensuring they would not get damaged during use or cleaning. Because of this there was a lot more sentiment in ownership of clothing, something what is almost completely lost today due to the accessibility and cheapness of garments what are now so readily available.

The 18^th Century

Three centuries seems like a long time and advancements in fashion production is only natural, but when we consider how textiles and clothing were produced prior to mechanization however, it is apparent that drastic changes within the fashion industry have only actually occurred quite rapidly over the recent years.

Prior to the 19^th century all processes of fabric making had to be done by hand and often took a number of specialized workers to produce the finished product. This lengthy process was the reason for the expense of the fabric and often would cost more than the amount to produce a garment. Garments were frequently re-made or re-purposed simply because their wearers could not afford new cloth. “Even the wealthy saved fabrics, remodeled clothes and sold unwanted items in the secondhand market,” observed fashion scholar Linda Welters. “Sustainability was a way of life.” (J.F. Gordon, 2015, p. 33) Granting change is natural to fashion, the remodeling of existing garments, rather than buying new was a well-known practice.

As early as the 18^th century records have shown that in England, fabrics became lighter and less durable over the course of the century, requiring them to be replaced more often (Thompson, 1906, pp. 273, 159). At any quality level or price point however, the manufacture of textiles remained a manual process. Draw looms (weaving mechanism) had reached their technical capacity by the late 18^th century, and the sheer difficulty of producing fabric impeded the growth of the textile industry.