The emperor’s new shoes: Fast fashion’s mockery of tradition

“We as a society have forgotten the need to cherish those things we have, to maintain them rather than take them for granted.”

Taylor Francis is one of Bournbrook’s Deputy Editors. This article previously featured in a print issue of Bournbrook Magazine.

In the 21st century, manufacturing in England is on the decline. Replacing it is the importing of cheap, low-quality goods from abroad, sustained by the pitiful wages of the Third World. Where once a 16-year-old may have left school, learned a trade and worked to improve their skill over many years, culminating in an unrivalled artisanship, now shoddy mockeries are made of this memory by the mass-produced whims and desires of the fast-fashion culture that we live in today.

We as a society have forgotten the need to cherish those things we have, to maintain them rather than take them for granted, to repair them and not cast them to the bin as soon as a rip inconveniences us or fashion dictates that we do.

When we forget this, we sow the seeds for future troubles in our lives, treating our loved ones and ourselves as we have come to treat our possessions. 

Environmentally, too, the harm of fast fashion is greatly felt. In 2018, Burberry caused outrage in burning £30,000,000 of surplus stock, a drop in the ocean compared to the wider fashion industry’s waste. Even today, many manufacturers continue to rely on sweat shops for their supply lines, sustaining the fashions of the developed world through the low standards of the developing world. 

But there is an alternative. While buying locally-made clothes is sadly not an option for most of us, with the high expense brought about by manufacturers outsourcing to Asia often forcing us to import from abroad regardless of preference, there is one area of fashion where buying locally can be done; shoes. 

In the historic town of Northampton exists a legacy still continued to this day of producing high-quality, British footwear. In the First World War, 70 per cent of British Army boots were manufactured here, over 20 million pairs. The UK as a whole continues to produce over 6 million pairs of shoes per year. A good pair of Northampton-made shoes will last years and, with the right care, a lifetime. Undeniably, scanning the catalogue of, say, Trickers Shoes or Crockett & Jones may make one’s eyes water. But upon closer inspection, the price of a pair is remarkable considering their quality and lifespan, far more worthy of their price-tag  than their cheaper, imported cousins.

Even among the higher quality designer fashion brands, a pair of shoes is often of shoddy construction, with cemented rather than stitched soles, and poor-quality leather. With a fashion brand you are buying a name; with a traditional shoemaker you are leasing a legacy. Indeed, ‘leasing’ is an apt term, for your shoes - with proper care - may outlast even you, and be inherited by your children. The investment into a pair of well-made shoes will, in time, prove to be a sounder use of money than having to replace your shoes on a yearly basis, an ultimately more costly endeavour. The value in caring for them alone outweighs any monetary factor. 

Rather than degrading ourselves with the importing of cheap, immorally-made or poorly-produced goods, we should endeavour to support our local tradesmen, and in so doing support our economy, our culture and our traditions. And when buying a new pair of shoes, or any item, consider this: who and what are you supporting?