apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I do my best to buy locally, good thing I don't live anywhere near Alabama..$1425.00 for a skirt!!!! insane

$1425.00 for a skirt is a LOT, I agree, but imagine paying an American to do that work, and you can see where the costs come from. (I'm actually amazed that the "Thank you" and "Alabama" tee shirts are only $75.)

Handsewing is time consuming, and that skirt has a lot of reverse applique on it. I wouldn't guess that I could do something like that in anything less than a week of eight-hour days. If I got a wage of $10 an hour (which a handsewer would deserve, as skilled labor--it might even be too low) that's four hundred dollars of labor alone, and the minimum retail would be well over $800 (because retail always doubles costs.) I'm not sure I could finish sewing a thing like that in a week, and that doesn't count cutting time, overhead, or any premium for the design itself.

It's quite possibly overpriced, but our concepts of fair value for labor (especially handcrafts) have been skewed by imported goods where the artisan is paid less than a dollar a day.

for some reason I'm reminded of Marie Antoinette dressing up as a milk maid.

surely there must be other ways to be green and buy American?

Eh, I don't think that it is wise to buy anything just because it is green, or American, or local. Quite often the best thing you can buy for the environment is nothing at all.

I just wanted to point out that this high-end designer garment (whether you like it or not, whether you think it is worth it or not, that's what it is) with tons and tons of handstitching done with expensive labor may not be actually as overpriced as it looks.

I can't imagine ever paying $1,400 for a garment. Not even the $800 I mentioned in my example. Even so, it is nice to see someone doing high-end stuff with recycling in mind, and the designs are very DIY inspirational. I think those were the two reasons it showed up here.

Another option to buy Natalie's book, due out in March. She gives away lots of her ideas and allows all of us to create our own masterpiece. Take an old t-shirt or do a little searching in the thrift store for your ideal fabric, buy some thread and start sewing. This approach would make Natalie happiest!

Her book is called: Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand-Sewing, Quilting and Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style and you can preorder it on Amazon. I tried to see if it was available anywhere else now but couldn't find it.

http://www.amazon.com/Alabama-Stitch-Book-Celebrating-Contemporary/dp/1584796383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196205395&sr=8-1