Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion

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Penguin, Jun 14, 2012 - Business & Economics - 272 pages
“Overdressed does for T-shirts and leggings what Fast Food Nation did for burgers and fries.”
—Katha Pollitt
 
Cheap fashion has fundamentally changed the way most Americans dress. Stores ranging from discounters like Target to traditional chains like JCPenney now offer the newest trends at unprecedentedly low prices. And we have little reason to keep wearing and repairing the clothes we already own when styles change so fast and it’s cheaper to just buy more.
 
Cline sets out to uncover the true nature of the cheap fashion juggernaut. What are we doing with all these cheap clothes? And more important, what are they doing to us, our society, our environment, and our economic well-being?
 

Contents

Introduction Seven Pairs of 7 Shoes
I Have Enough Clothing to Open a Store
How America Lost Its Shirts
High and Low Fashion Make Friends
Fast Fashion
The Afterlife of Cheap Clothes
Sewing Is a Good Job a Great
China and the End of Cheap Fashion
Make Alter and Mend
The Future of Fashion
Afterword to the Paperback Edition
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Copyright

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About the author (2012)

Elizabeth Cline has written for AMCtv.com, The Daily Beast, New York Magazine, Popular Science, The New Republic, The Village Voice, and seedmagazine.com. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit overdressedthebook.com.

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