Construction
Learning the hows and whys of fashion design made me a picky consumer. Cut corners have spotlights on them and even when I buy something basic it has to be made well. I see women every day who have fashion sense but their cheaply made clothes betray them. Are Americans losing their eye for detail or our interest in such things? Quantity is trumping quality.
Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster touches on this. Americans are OK with a hanging thread on a new item; British clip the thread; Japanese return it to the store. Why did we come to expect and accept shoddy workmanship? I’ll be writing more about the book when I finish it.
I love polka dots and big prints and minidresses but there is no way I would pay $325 for a dress so simple to construct yet the pattern is unmatched. Just check out the back view. Ugh. Outrageous.
Demand better, dear readers, or I fear we’ll live in mismatched sweats soon. As The Smiths asked, “How soon is now?”
I am in Japan this week, shopping away in Tokyo. The Japanese do things with CARE. Even young girls who work in loud teen shops provide you with more service (even though they don’t speak much English) than any shop assistant in the US. They don’t chew gum. They don’t talk on their cell phones to their friends. And best of all, they do provide you with very useful advice on how to put various pieces together. After you pay for your clothes, they hand you the receipt with both hands and lovingly wrap your purchase. Then, they take your bag and escort you to the door, and hand the shopping bag to you. That is service. What we call “service” in Europe and the US is such a laughable concept, you might as well not use the word at all. It’s a disgrace.
So in department stores, you won’t find expensive dresses or coats with buttons about to fall off or threads hanging. They take it off the shop floor.
Until people demand real service, nothing will happen. In fact things will get much MUCH worse.
I think everyone should come to Japan to experience quality, service, care and attention. Then when they go back to the US or wherever they are from, they can help upgrade the crappy quality of just about everything.
When Nordstrom is known as the service-focused department store you know we’re in trouble.