Culture Study Presents: Why Do Clothes Suck Now?

Dec 6, 2023

Guest: Amanda Mull, staff writer at The Atlantic. They discuss the decline in clothing quality, reasons behind it, tips for buying quality sweaters, the decline of ironing and domestic care tasks, the evolution of flattering clothing, and upcoming changes to the podcast.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

The Decline in Clothing Quality and the Impact of Manufacturing Shifts

01:55 • 18min

Tips for Buying Quality Sweaters

19:27 • 3min

The Decline of Ironing and Domestic Care Tasks

22:15 • 8min

The Evolution of Flattering Clothing

29:57 • 10min

Announcements, Subscription Information, and Promotions

39:53 • 2min

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For the maiden voyage of the Culture Study podcast, we’re taking a hard look at a problem that plagues us all: terrible clothes. Why are shirts falling apart or pilling after just a few wears? Why does Gucci charge $3200 for a polyester sweater? What happened to ironing and will we ever dry clean en masse again?

Amanda Mull, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins me for a deep dive into the past twenty years of fashion production (and consumption) trends.

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Show notes:

The tweet I describe in the beginning of the podcast
Read Amanda Mull’s piece in The Atlantic: “Your Sweaters Are Garbage”
Read Sarah Zhang’s piece in The Atlantic: “How I Got Bamboo-zled by Baby Clothes”
Amanda mentioned: Sofi Thanhauser’s Worn: A People’s History of Clothing
Some other Amanda pieces I love: Millennials Have Lost Their Grip on Fashion, The Free-Returns Party Is Over, How Shoppers Got Tricked By Vegan Leather
You can see Amanda’s Jeffrey Dahmer glasses in the bio of her Instagram (which is private, so don’t friend request unless you actually know her)
Paul Mescal’s rat tail situation (perhaps more appropriately called a mullet)

This week, we’re looking for your questions for future episodes about:

Resurgent interest in early 2000s music (with Switched on Pop’s Nate Sloan)
The Mean Girls Trailer
A deep analysis of Taylor and Travis Kelce discourse
Kevin Bacon’s Hott Instagram and Gen-X/Elder Millennial Instagram in general
“Little treat” culture

You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here.