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Evan Hanlon's avatar

The unspoken critique - DIALECTIC??? - that seems to be at play of your example jacket needing democratization is that "scaling" production requires engagement in a system that is profoundly undemocratic. Globalized supply chains and labor arbitrage are the only way to get there. Which kind of feels like the point small makers are making implicitly.

Those Verner Panton IKEA chairs instantly make me think about Enzo Mari's ideas behind Autoprogettazione, and what "democratization" can mean when you do it your damn self. Of course, the irony then when Artek charged more than 300 bucks for the privilege of building the Sedia-1 yourself.

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Luke's avatar

Great Sletter! I think the market is in a weird space at the moment where the middle has been progressively hollowed out and we're left with ever escalating-price luxury goods (with shoddier quality in a lot of cases) and hyper-fast fashion. A lot of the middle space where department stores sat that could produce a nice, well designed jacket at a price someone on an okay wage could afford has been hollowed out, and collabs like Jil Uniqlo and Uniqlo U or "premium" lines at Gap, Zara etc. sort of taking their place. Also small brands doing more direct and less wholesale means smaller minimums from factories and higher costs for consumers (which has nothing to do with the quality of the fabrics/make/design)

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