I get home from work and there's a box that's arrived - against my frugal curmudgeonly grumbling the wife has ordered me a couple new pairs of Dickies trousers and a couple of their great 100% cotton shirts... So I open the box - notice that it's awfully big for just four neatly folded items - then ponder how the hell they stayed all neatly folded in transit without being in plastic and in the absence of packing peanuts...
[Packing peanuts are a true work of the Devil himself. Utterly useless and an utter nuisance to dispose of as they are not recyclable nor reusable unless one wants to fill a whole garage with them "just in case" there a lot of shipping to be done.]
The shirts and trousers are real starchy, but a good wash in hot water will take care of that! You know, I like wrinkles in clothes.... It says comfort in my mind.
Shirts fit superbly - medium regular - none of that baggy crap that the kids are into now a days! Are they still into the baggy thing? Damn nuisance - shirts bunching up in the armpit when a jacket is put on - what's the use? I did see a fellow strutting up Fairfax Ave. last week - all tough like - and his trousers were damn near sagging to his knees. Yeah, real tough fellow - hell, you ain't even able to run at a good clip without them trousers slipping down to your ankles and givin' ya up! But I digress...
I'm checking out the labels on the inside. Another personal peeve is inner labels that are sown on with fishing-line-like thread. Always a corner of it poking up and scratching the back of the neck. Even worse is when there's a labile on the inside of the shirt on the side... Why the hell do I want to feel like there's bugs crawling all over me? Doesn't make me think of the manufacturer in a good way - all I think about is who the damned fool that thought to use this type of plastic wire - most likely thinking of the longevity of their label attached to the shirt long after it's tattered and full of holes. In these cases I get the X-Acto knife out and cut that bastard out. If a sharp blade isn't available, then just pull on the little bastard till it rips out. Either way, the offending label must go.
But all is good! I haven't purchased a new Dickies garment in a while, but it's pleasing to know that they're still using their soft thread standard!
As I glance at the labile to check out the "made in" labile I feel a sense of relief - and a sense of confusion due to my sense of relief - it says: MADE IN NICARAGUA!
China now represents that drive for cheap product. A thirst that the Credit Card Nation just can't quench. Not seeing that it is the producer that is also the financier - the blue-blood gentry having sold out their countrymen, grow fat and happy as their bank accounts grow ever bigger off-shore because they make their money on investment without labour...
I come to my senses thinking - at least Nicaragua is in the same hemisphere as the US and relatively within the reach of some sort of working conditions oversight. What are the chances that descent garments could be obtained that have been manufactured in the US unless one goes to a tailor?
Levies aren't made in the US anymore... And to someone that knows the symbol that Levies represented behind the Iron Curtain - that's about as un-American as it gets. Thanks Wal*Mart!
[Packing peanuts are a true work of the Devil himself. Utterly useless and an utter nuisance to dispose of as they are not recyclable nor reusable unless one wants to fill a whole garage with them "just in case" there a lot of shipping to be done.]
The shirts and trousers are real starchy, but a good wash in hot water will take care of that! You know, I like wrinkles in clothes.... It says comfort in my mind.
Shirts fit superbly - medium regular - none of that baggy crap that the kids are into now a days! Are they still into the baggy thing? Damn nuisance - shirts bunching up in the armpit when a jacket is put on - what's the use? I did see a fellow strutting up Fairfax Ave. last week - all tough like - and his trousers were damn near sagging to his knees. Yeah, real tough fellow - hell, you ain't even able to run at a good clip without them trousers slipping down to your ankles and givin' ya up! But I digress...
I'm checking out the labels on the inside. Another personal peeve is inner labels that are sown on with fishing-line-like thread. Always a corner of it poking up and scratching the back of the neck. Even worse is when there's a labile on the inside of the shirt on the side... Why the hell do I want to feel like there's bugs crawling all over me? Doesn't make me think of the manufacturer in a good way - all I think about is who the damned fool that thought to use this type of plastic wire - most likely thinking of the longevity of their label attached to the shirt long after it's tattered and full of holes. In these cases I get the X-Acto knife out and cut that bastard out. If a sharp blade isn't available, then just pull on the little bastard till it rips out. Either way, the offending label must go.
But all is good! I haven't purchased a new Dickies garment in a while, but it's pleasing to know that they're still using their soft thread standard!
As I glance at the labile to check out the "made in" labile I feel a sense of relief - and a sense of confusion due to my sense of relief - it says: MADE IN NICARAGUA!
- - Relief because it is not made in China.
- - Confusion because I am relieved that it's made in Nicaragua.
China now represents that drive for cheap product. A thirst that the Credit Card Nation just can't quench. Not seeing that it is the producer that is also the financier - the blue-blood gentry having sold out their countrymen, grow fat and happy as their bank accounts grow ever bigger off-shore because they make their money on investment without labour...
I come to my senses thinking - at least Nicaragua is in the same hemisphere as the US and relatively within the reach of some sort of working conditions oversight. What are the chances that descent garments could be obtained that have been manufactured in the US unless one goes to a tailor?
Levies aren't made in the US anymore... And to someone that knows the symbol that Levies represented behind the Iron Curtain - that's about as un-American as it gets. Thanks Wal*Mart!
