Clothing

Clothing. We all have it, we all wear it, we all love it. But clothing today doesn't primarily serve its original purpose anymore. The cavemen were some of the first people to wear clothing. They wore clothing to keep themselves warm and protected. They didn't care whether their animal skins were from Nike or Gucci. As long as they did the job. Today, clothing does not only serve to keep us warm and protected, it also costs us a lot. People spend a lot on clothing, both in money and in time. We, teenagers, are the main target of many clothing companies. They figure if we wear it, older and younger people will too. Jeans can last 10 years but to make sure we buy a new pair every year, clothing companies make a new fashionable pair of jeans every year so that we'll have to keep on buying new ones and throw the old jeans that aren't "in" anymore out. 10% of the average American's budget is spent on clothing. That's the same as about 10 cents out of every dollar or 5000 dollars a year for an average family. But 5000 dollars is nothing compared to what people in Hollywood spend. For example, Victoria Beckham will spend at least 175,000 dollars on her clothes a year. Or Sarah Jessica Parker, has around 100 pairs of shoes, all costing between 400-800 dollars. There is actually an illness called compulsive shopping disorder which affects 2-8 % of the population in the US and is pretty much just when you can't stop shopping. Not only does it take a lot of money, it takes a lot of time to shop too. Malls are made now, not just to buy things, but to be entertained. They have food courts, cinemas, day spas, playgrounds, everything to make sure you come. Many people don't go shopping for the sake of shopping, but just to socialize. And a lot of the stuff you do buy is expensive but of poor quality. This way, we'll spend days at the mall. And once you have all these clothes, it's a hassle every single morning to pick something to wear, and it always seems to come down to: I don't have enough clothing. It takes so much time to buy it and pick it out, and so much money, but is it even worth it? You could save a lot of money and time by just having to live with a little less clothing. This way, you might even be on time for school for a change. Clothing was originally meant to protect you. From other people seeing you, from the cold and from the heat. First of all, when you look around you, it seems with clothing 'less is more'. Often, girls will wear so little clothing it couldn't possibly keep them warm. Also, even though clothing is supposed to protect you, a lot of times people are verbally attacked because of their clothing. They might make fun of you or reject you. People judge you on the basis of what you wear. Someone wearing rags won't easily be mistaken for some millionaire. People have a certain tendency to put other people into a certain category, in that way creating stereotypes. For example, if you wear all black people will think your a Goth, even if it was a coincidence. You might say that what you wear defines your identity. But if you need clothing to do that, that's pretty sad. Clothing shouldn't make the man, they just help him express himself. So, for something that doesn't entirely fulfill it's purpose, we spend too much on clothing. But I'm not saying we should all run around naked or dress alike. I'm just saying we should limit ourselves and think before we buy. And just ask yourself: am I buying it because this is a cheap, high-quality t-shirt that will keep me warm or am I just buying it because it's cool? And just so you know, the first answer was the right one.