Pants. Essential Indulgences.

Time for a quick inventory. Mass manufactured things to wear bought in 2009 so far: one three-pack of pants. Not bad, eh? (But I can't promise hand-on-heart that I won't own some more shoes before the year is out.) And I wouldn't have bought those if my fashion-papping work hadn't of taken me into the underwear shop Oysho, leading to my exposure to their irresistably cute pants selection.

I have been attempting to avoid mass-manufactured clothing, and doing pretty well at it, for almost two and a half years now. Throughout this period, my motivations for doing so have multiplied, developed and evolved. No, I don't think what I am doing is going to make any direct impact on mass-manufacturings' socially and environmentally unsound practises, I'm not a dumb-ass! I doubt Primark, Topshop, Bershka and the rest, or more specifically the huge conglomerates which own them, are quaking in fear as the news of my (in)actions reaches them (which it inevitably will!).

But I do believe that an effect has been, and will continue to be, created by what I'm (not) doing. Talking and writing about my choices and role in this live experiment is hopefully, in some immeasurable way, pushing towards change. I try to back up this debate by on-and-off producing handmade alternatives to mass-manufactured garments and accessories and, ultimately, living in a way that I can justify to myself. But let me clarify, the changes I feel are required must occur both in mass-manufacturings' methods and impact, as well as society's relationships towards consumption, ownership and waste. Which is a circuitous route to get back to talking about pants.

I must confess that I bought those pants not because I needed some new pants, but because they were pretty (little hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades on them, my inner 'casino imagery' junkie was aroused). I feel guilty enough to not let that happen again for some time, but it is unlikely that I won't NEED new pants at some point in the future. What to do? Etsy had an awswer:

Handmade pants! The beauties above (by seller 'Five is for Riches') are so up my street, the postman keeps accidentally delivering me their post.

Or what about something a little more burlesque?!:However, we all know that give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever. So in addition to the Swallow pants, another etsy purchase I'm seriously considering is this:


A knicker making kit/pattern, which was used to create the brown pants from a recycled T-shirt. I'm definately drawn to this whole scenerio, not least because the kits contains these:

Alternatively, one could download the Cheeky Panties pattern from Burdastyle, as created and uploaded by EmilyKate, to create winners like these: Now my homegirls Hazza and Michelle have been on the homemade pant-making tip for some time. Maybe it's time to put my money where my, um, mouth is (!).