Streetwear smoldragon • Now • 98%

Your Sweaters Are Garbage: The quality of knitwear has cratered. Even expensive sweaters have lost their hefty, lush glory.

www.theatlantic.com

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/8621726 > [Archive link](https://web.archive.org/web/20231010153350/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/10/sweater-clothing-quality-natural-fibers-fast-fashion/675600/) > > > As the sheer quantity of clothing available to the average American has grown over the past few decades, everything feels at least a little bit flimsier than it used to. > > > The most obvious indication of these changes is printed on a garment’s fiber-content tag. Knits used to be made entirely from natural fibers. These fibers usually came from shearing sheep, goats, alpacas, and other animals. Sometimes, plant-derived fibers such as cotton or linen were blended in. Now, according to Imran Islam, a textile-science professor and knit expert at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, the overwhelming majority of yarn used in mass-market knitwear is blended with some type of plastic. > > > Knits made with synthetic fiber are cheaper to produce. They can be spun up in astronomical quantities to meet the sudden whims of clothing manufacturers—there’s no waiting for whole flocks of sheep to get fluffy enough to hand shear. They also usually can be tossed in your washing machine with everything else. But by virtually every measure, synthetic fabrics are far inferior. They pill quickly, sometimes look fake, shed microplastics, and don’t perform as well as wool when worn. Sweaters are functional garments, not just fashionable ones. Wool keeps its wearer warm without steaming them like a baked potato wrapped in foil. Its fibers are hygroscopic and hydrophobic, which means they draw moisture to their center and leave the surface dry. A wool sweater can absorb a lot of water from the air around it before it feels wet or cold to the touch > > > A significant amount of polyamide or acrylic is now common in sweaters with four-digit price tags. A $3,200 Gucci “wool cardigan,” for example, is actually half polyamide when you read the fine print. Cheaper materials have crept into the fashion industry’s output gradually, as more and more customers have become inured to them. In the beginning, these changes were motivated primarily by the price pressures of fast fashion, Islam said: As low-end brands have created global networks that pump out extremely cheap, disposable clothing, more premium brands have attempted to keep up with the frenetic pace while still maximizing profits, which means cutting costs and cutting corners. Islam estimates that a pound of sheep’s wool as a raw material might cost from $1.50 to $2. A pound of cashmere might cost anywhere from $10 to $15. A pound of acrylic, meanwhile, can be had for less than $1. > > > This race to the bottom had been going on for years, but it accelerated considerably in 2005, Sofi Thanhauser, the author of Worn: A People’s History of Clothing, told me. That year was the end of the Multifiber Arrangement, a trade agreement that had for three decades capped imports of textile products and yarn into the United States, Canada, and the European Union from developing countries. Once Western retailers no longer had meaningful restrictions on where they could source their garments from, many of them went shopping for the cheapest inventory possible. > >

Migraine smoldragon • Now • 85%

Monitors for Graphic Design/Best Monitor Specs

I’m a graphic designer who works from home and I have an ancient monitor with a 60 hz refresh rate. I’m pretty sure that’s not helping my migraines so I’m looking to get something with a higher refresh rate to help with the flicker. I don’t think an EyeCare monitor is a great pick for me because of my job, but ideally I’d love the ability to set custom brightness profiles so I can toggle between “working at vampire light levels” and “checking color fidelity”. My current monitor lets you set one custom profile. From what I’m seeing online getting at least a 70 hz refresh rate can help with migraines. Are there any other specs I should pay attention to as I shop?

traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns smoldragon • Now • 94%

Tears of the Transmasc [Transmasc meme]

Drawing of Link from Legend of Zelda in his Tears of the Kingdom tunic. Text: can my uterus not cramp i have he/him in bio.

Sourdough baking smoldragon • Now • 100%

Sourdough Discard Biscuits

Made these yesterday and they turned out perfect. This recipe is now my holy grail biscuit recipe. Recipe source: https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-biscuits/

Transmasc smoldragon • Now • 100%

Resources for the Sidebar

I just updated the sidebar with some more formalized rules and a couple of resources. Right now its The Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline, as well as the Gender Dysphoria Bible and a list of where to get binders/packers. Anything else I should add? I’m also considering making a Google doc or some sort of wiki so we’re not limited by the physical space available in the sidebar. Maybe a pinned post? I’d love suggestions on helpful resources that might be too much info for the sidebar or where to keep the extra resources.

traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns smoldragon • Now • 97%

The Blahaj Has Come [Transmasc]

Text: It is shark week my dudes. Text is written in a yellow/orange gradient and is 3D Microsoft word art. Background is a trans flag. In front of it is a 3D model of Yakko from Animaniacs in a T-Pose. There are transparent flames and a transparent closeup of Yakko’s face.

Transmasc smoldragon • Now • 100%

Posting Languages should be fixed now

Just noticed that the language of this instance was set only to English, which means if you had undetermined selected as your profile language you couldn’t see/post here. Updated the language to undetermined and English. Let me know if there’s any issues!

New Communities smoldragon • Now • 87%

FtM/Transmasc Community

I noticed there weren’t any FtM trans support communities on Lemmy so I created https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/c/ftm. This group is for anyone who falls under the transmasc umbrella, whether they’re FtM, nonbinary, genderqueer, or some other flavor.

Noticed there wasn't a space for the guys so I made a community. Feel free to join at https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/c/ftm!