The Most Disappointing Give

Stan Cox has a lot to say about holiday shopping, the state of the economy, and clothes in particular.

polls show that clothing, the most popular present among givers, is also ranked as the “most disappointing gift” by those on the receiving end.

His advice

Resolve not to buy any new clothes — not even a tight new belt! — for anyone for a whole year, starting now.

Harsh as that may seem, last year (2007) the average American household spent $1760 for clothes and accessories. With the lower price of imports in recent years those dollars stretch to provide 18% more in quantity than in 2002.

Not all the news is good when we consider the clothing displaced to make room for the new items.

...with a constant need to free up closet space for new purchases, the average American discards 68 pounds of clothing and other textiles each year, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

And with the demise of much of American clothing manufacture imports are running at an all time high.

The United States brings in more clothes than the next highest nine importers combined.

Not buying more this year will be one more blow to the already faltering economy, but the benefits to the environment and to the long term of the world may outweigh the damage.

The pollution problem alone looms large.

Dye effluents often carry toxic metals, among them copper, cobalt, chromium, nickel, zinc, lead, antimony, silver, cadmium and mercury. Bleaching the cloth for a single shirt generates as much as 15 gallons of chlorine-polluted wastewater.

Chemicals used in the industry, including anti-wrinkle compounds, can be carcinogenic. In 2002, Italian and American researchers found that risks of nasal, bladder and gastrointestinal cancers among spinners, weavers and dyers were elevated 28 to 126 percent.

In the end the choice is always ours to make. Buy more or less? Or do we stay steady?

Peace.