#import cheap clothing from China

[determinate-negation]

“This raises the question: if industrial production is necessary to meet decent-living standards today, then perhaps capitalism—notwithstanding its negative impact on social indicators over the past five hundred years—is necessary to develop the industrial capacity to meet these higher-order goals. This has been the dominant assumption in development economics for the past half century. But it does not withstand empirical scrutiny. For the majority of the world, capitalism has historically constrained, rather than enabled, technological development—and this dynamic remains a major problem today.

It has long been recognized by liberals and Marxists alike that the rise of capitalism in the core economies was associated with rapid industrial expansion, on a scale with no precedent under feudalism or other precapitalist class structures. What is less widely understood is that this very same system produced the opposite effect in the periphery and semi-periphery. Indeed, the forced integration of peripheral regions into the capitalist world-system during the period circa 1492 to 1914 was characterized by widespread deindustrialization and agrarianization, with countries compelled to specialize in agricultural and other primary commodities, often under “pre-modern” and ostensibly “feudal” conditions.

In Eastern Europe, for instance, the number of people living in cities declined by almost one-third during the seventeenth century, as the region became an agrarian serf-economy exporting cheap grain and timber to Western Europe. At the same time, Spanish and Portuguese colonizers were transforming the American continents into suppliers of precious metals and agricultural goods, with urban manufacturing suppressed by the state. When the capitalist world-system expanded into Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, imports of British cloth and steel destroyed Indigenous textile production and iron smelting, while Africans were instead made to specialize in palm oil, peanuts, and other cheap cash crops produced with enslaved labor. India—once the great manufacturing hub of the world—suffered a similar fate after colonization by Britain in 1757. By 1840, British colonizers boasted that they had “succeeded in converting India from a manufacturing country into a country exporting raw produce.” Much the same story unfolded in China after it was forced to open its domestic economy to capitalist trade during the British invasion of 1839–42. According to historians, the influx of European textiles, soap, and other manufactured goods “destroyed rural handicraft industries in the villages, causing unemployment and hardship for the Chinese peasantry.”

The great deindustrialization of the periphery was achieved in part through policy interventions by the core states, such as through the imposition of colonial prohibitions on manufacturing and through “unequal treaties,” which were intended to destroy industrial competition from Southern producers, establish captive markets for Western industrial output, and position Southern economies as providers of cheap labor and resources. But these dynamics were also reinforced by structural features of profit-oriented markets. Capitalists only employ new technologies to the extent that it is profitable for them to do so. This can present an obstacle to economic development if there is little demand for domestic industrial production (due to low incomes, foreign competition, etc.), or if the costs of innovation are high.

Capitalists in the Global North overcame these problems because the state intervened extensively in the economy by setting high tariffs, providing public subsidies, assuming the costs of research and development, and ensuring adequate consumer demand through government spending. But in the Global South, where state support for industry was foreclosed by centuries of formal and informal colonialism, it has been more profitable for capitalists to export cheap agricultural goods than to invest in high-technology manufacturing. The profitability of new technologies also depends on the cost of labor. In the North, where wages are comparatively high, capitalists have historically found it profitable to employ labor-saving technologies. But in the peripheral economies, where wages have been heavily compressed, it has often been cheaper to use labor-intensive production techniques than to pay for expensive machinery.

Of course, the global division of labor has changed since the late nineteenth century. Many of the leading industries of that time, including textiles, steel, and assembly line processes, have now been outsourced to low-wage peripheral economies like India and China, while the core states have moved to innovation activities, high-technology aerospace and biotech engineering, information technology, and capital-intensive agriculture. Yet still the basic problem remains. Under neoliberal globalization (structural adjustment programs and WTO rules), governments in the periphery are generally precluded from using tariffs, subsidies, and other forms of industrial policy to achieve meaningful development and economic sovereignty, while labor market deregulation and global labor arbitrage have kept wages extremely low. In this context, the drive to maximize profit leads Southern capitalists and foreign investors to pour resources into relatively low-technology export sectors, at the expense of more modern lines of industry.

Moreover, for those parts of the periphery that occupy the lowest rungs in global commodity chains, production continues to be organized along so-called pre-modern lines, even under the new division of labor. In the Congo, for instance, workers are sent into dangerous mineshafts without any modern safety equipment, tunneling deep into the ground with nothing but shovels, often coerced at gunpoint by U.S.-backed militias, so that Microsoft and Apple can secure cheap coltan for their electronics devices. Pre-modern production processes predicated on the “technology” of labor coercion are also found in the cocoa plantations of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where enslaved children labor in brutal conditions for corporations like Cadbury, or Colombia’s banana export sector, where a hyper-exploited peasantry is kept in line by a regime of rural terror and extrajudicial killings overseen by private death squads.

Uneven global development, including the endurance of ostensibly “feudal” relations of production, is not inevitable. It is an effect of capitalist dynamics. Capitalists in the periphery find it more profitable to employ cheap labor subject to conditions of slavery or other forms of coercion than they do to invest in modern industry.”

Capitalism, Global Poverty, and the Case for Democratic Socialism by Jason Hickle and Dylan Sullivan

[dresshistorynerd]

How did cotton win over linen anyway?

In short, colonialism, slavery and the industrial revolution. In length:

Cotton doesn't grow in Europe so before the Modern Era, cotton was rare and used in small quantities for specific purposes (lining doublets for example). The thing with cotton is, that's it can be printed with dye very easily. The colors are bright and they don't fade easily. With wool and silk fabrics, which were the more traditional fabrics for outer wear in Europe (silk for upper classes of course), patterns usually needed to be embroidered or woven to the cloth to last, which was very expensive. Wool is extremely hard to print to anything detailed that would stay even with modern technology. Silk can be printed easily today with screen printing, but before late 18th century the technique wasn't known in western world (it was invented in China a millenium ago) and the available methods didn't yeld good results.

So when in the late 17th century European trading companies were establishing trading posts in India, a huge producer of cotton fabrics, suddenly cotton was much more available in Europe. Indian calico cotton, which was sturdy and cheap and was painted or printed with colorful and intricate floral patters, chintz, especially caught on and became very fashionable. The popular Orientalism of the time also contributed to it becoming fasionable, chintz was seen as "exotic" and therefore appealing.

Here's a typical calico jacket from late 18th century. The ones in European markets often had white background, but red background was also fairly common.

The problem with this was that this was not great for the business of the European fabric producers, especially silk producers in France and wool producers in England, who before were dominating the European textile market and didn't like that they now had competition. So European countries imposed trade restrictions for Indian cotton, England banning cotton almost fully in 1721. Since the introduction of Indian cottons, there had been attempts to recreate it in Europe with little success. They didn't have nearly advanced enough fabric printing and cotton weaving techniques to match the level of Indian calico. Cotton trade with India didn't end though. The European trading companies would export Indian cottons to West African market to fund the trans-Atlantic slave trade that was growing quickly. European cottons were also imported to Africa. At first they didn't have great demand as they were so lacking compared to Indian cotton, but by the mid 1700s quality of English cotton had improved enough to be competitive.

Inventions in industrial textile machinery, specifically spinning jenny in 1780s and water frame in 1770s, would finally give England the advantages they needed to conquer the cotton market. These inventions allowed producing very cheap but good quality cotton and fabric printing, which would finally produce decent imitations of Indian calico in large quantities. Around the same time in mid 1700s, The East Indian Company had taken over Bengal and soon following most of the Indian sub-continent, effectively putting it under British colonial rule (but with a corporate rule dystopian twist). So when industrialized English cotton took over the market, The East India Company would suppress Indian textile industry to utilize Indian raw cotton production for English textile industry and then import cotton textiles back to India. In 1750s India's exports were mainly fine cotton and silk, but during the next century Indian export would become mostly raw materials. They effectively de-industrialized India to industrialize England further.

India, most notably Bengal area, had been an international textile hub for millennia, producing the finest cottons and silks with extremely advance techniques. Loosing cotton textile industry devastated Indian local economies and eradicated many traditional textile craft skills. Perhaps the most glaring example is that of Dhaka muslin. Named after the city in Bengal it was produced in, it was extremely fine and thin cotton requiring very complicated and time consuming spinning process, painstakingly meticulous hand-weaving process and a very specific breed of cotton. It was basically transparent as seen depicted in this Mughal painting from early 17th century.

It was used by e.g. the ancient Greeks, Mughal emperors and, while the methods and it's production was systematically being destroyed by the British to squash competition, it became super fashionable in Europe. It was extremely expensive, even more so than silk, which is probably why it became so popular among the rich. In 1780s Marie Antoinette famously and scandalously wore chemise a la reine made from multiple layers of Dhaka muslin. In 1790s, when the empire silhouette took over, it became even more popular, continuing to the very early 1800s, till Dhaka muslin production fully collapsed and the knowledge and skill to produce it were lost. But earlier this year, after years lasting research to revive the Dhaka muslin funded by Bangladeshi government, they actually recreated it after finding the right right cotton plant and gathering spinners and weavers skilled in traditional craft to train with it. (It's super cool and I'm making a whole post about it (it has been in the making for months now) so I won't extend this post more.)

Marie Antoinette in the famous painting with wearing Dhaka muslin in 1783, and empress Joséphine Bonaparte in 1801 also wearing Dhaka muslin.

While the trans-Atlantic slave trade was partly funded by the cotton trade and industrial English cotton, the slave trade would also be used to bolster the emerging English cotton industry by forcing African slaves to work in the cotton plantations of Southern US. This produced even more (and cheaper (again slave labor)) raw material, which allowed the quick upward scaling of the cotton factories in Britain. Cotton was what really kicked off the industrial revolution, and it started in England, because they colonized their biggest competitor India and therefore were able to take hold of the whole cotton market and fund rapid industrialization.

Eventually the availability of cotton, increase in ready-made clothing and the luxurious reputation of cotton lead to cotton underwear replacing linen underwear (and eventually sheets) (the far superior option for the reasons I talked about here) in early Victorian Era. Before Victorian era underwear was very practical, just simple rectangles and triangles sewn together. It was just meant to protect the outer clothing and the skin, and it wasn't seen anyway, so why put the relatively scarce resources into making it pretty? Well, by the mid 1800s England was basically fully industrialized and resource were not scarce anymore. Middle class was increasing during the Victorian Era and, after the hard won battles of the workers movement, the conditions of workers was improving a bit. That combined with decrease in prices of clothing, most people were able to partake in fashion. This of course led to the upper classes finding new ways to separate themselves from lower classes. One of these things was getting fancy underwear. Fine cotton kept the fancy reputation it had gained first as an exotic new commodity in late 17th century and then in Regency Era as the extremely expensive fabric of queens and empresses. Cotton also is softer than linen, and therefore was seen as more luxurious against skin. So cotton shifts became the fancier shifts. At the same time cotton drawers were becoming common additional underwear for women.

It wouldn't stay as an upper class thing, because as said cotton was cheap and available. Ready-made clothing also helped spread the fancier cotton underwear, as then you could buy fairly cheaply pretty underwear and you didn't even have to put extra effort into it's decoration. At the same time cotton industry was massive and powerful and very much eager to promote cotton underwear as it would make a very steady and long lasting demand for cotton.

In conclusion, cotton has a dark and bloody history and it didn't become the standard underwear fabric for very good reasons.

Here's couple of excellent sources regarding the history of cotton industry:

The European Response to Indian Cottons, Prasannan Parthasarathi

INDIAN COTTON MILLS AND THE BRITISH ECONOMIC POLICY, 1854-1894, Rajib Lochan Sahoo

[yuri-is-online]

Bitch the Pot (Trey Clover x Reader)

Trey's birthday is coming up and you really want to buy him a present.

But what if he doesn't want it? What if he just thinks of your efforts as annoying, or even worse what if he sees right through you and makes things awkward. What if he stashes things away and makes fun of them later, years later when he barely remembers your name.

What if he's secretly looking forward to your presence and hasn't even considered he'd be lucky enough to get a gift. What if... what if...

notes: they/them used for Yuu, we're going to hurt comfort town choo choo mother fuckers, I am using the Hitchhiking Ghost names for the Ramshackle Ghosts because I am unoriginal, the more I think about Trey the more I realize Idia is right, Trey's a skethcy mfer and yeah that's hot. If you like this check out my masterlist for more fic.

You didn't want to indulge Trey's teeth thing.

Sure it will make him happy, smooth over all your little insecurities pricking at your heart as you poke through the second hand store for what you had thought would be a really cute idea on your way here but now weren't so sure about. Besides you are pretty sure that everyone else is going to buy him a bundle of floss and call it a day, well other than Rook who has been waxing poetic about how he had "the most fitting cap for the Rose Chevalier" so all the more reason to put a little less of a personal interest into your gifting and more of a thoughtful touch.

As thoughtful as you could afford anyway. You aren't even sure Trey likes these sorts of things, though that worry is sort of drowned by how surprised you are to find nice looking china in Crane Port's equivalent of a Good Will. There is a nice selection of tea cups, mismatched saucer plates, and the odd pot sat all by its lonesome all with neatly written prices on stickers you don't look forward to scrubbing off.

Afternoon Tea Special~ Pick one Pot, 4 cups w/ saucers, creamer, and sugar bowl: all for just 25 T!

Cute, and not a bad idea you supposed even if it did feel a bit overkill. Your original intention had just been to pick up a sugar bowl and maybe one cup, something for him to put candies in that had a lid so no flies could get at his violets. But it really would be a shame to pass up such a nice deal and hey, if Trey didn't like it he could just ditch it with the Heartslabyul kitchenware once he graduated and never speak to you again.

"Oh this is such a cute little selection!" The lady at the counter's eyes practically sparkle as she carefully wraps up your choices in tissue paper.

"It's a birthday gift." You can't help but mumble and the sparkle flutters out to her entire body, ah that's right, this lady always did look a bit bored when you came in. It seems like you have fed her and her knitting circle for the rest of the week.

"Well then this won't to at all." She huffs and stops wrapping up your order and bends under her counter, the tell tale ruffles of paper and boxes sounding oddly comforting as she produces what you think is a hat box and proudly begins to organize the mismatched set and fetches out even more tissue paper. "Must be for someone important with how long you've been eyeing up a sugar bowl." She wiggles her eye brows. You try to keep your focus on said bowl, you didn't realize she'd been watching you but then again you have been coming down here every spare weekend to stare at it. This shop was nice, it had a bunch of cheap clothes and nick knacks that were used sure, but a life saver for someone from a completely different world. If the lady is thankfully not offended by your silence. She simply tacks your receipt to the box and sends you off with a wink.

"Thank you for your purchase! Please come back soon!" And tell me all bout it! You swear she says it but you don't hear it, too much blood is thrumming in your ears

The hat box is not out of place among the gifts on the party table, so trey doesn't have an excuse to stare at it even if his eyes keep coming back to it. It's lavender, plain save for the cream bow he hopes Yuu tied around it, and had been decently heavy when he picked it up before Cater scolded him about playing favorites.

"Be a good Senior and eat the cookies we made for you until Riddle brings out the cake." He flicks his nose with a knowing look. "Normal people save the best for last right? I'm sure Yuu-yuu will be fine with waiting, since they can barely look at you today~" And of course like a fool he whips his head to look, startling them and proving Cater's point as they immediately scurry back to Ace and Deuce.

"Screw you." He's only half joking but Cater's fully laughing and probably already took a picture. "I'm just worried they felt like they needed to bring a gift I would have been happy just to-"

"No you wouldn't have." For someone who likes lying to himself Cater really doesn't seemed thrilled with his choice to gaslight himself. "You would have spent the rest of the night thinking 'ooooh it'd be really nice if I got something from Yuu, I wonder if they hate meeee, I should make sure they think I don't care about helping them some more so they leave me alone and I don't have to think about how nice it would be to-'"

"Cater!" Trey has never been so grateful to hear Riddle yell about anything in his life. "Could you please help me with the cake? I was going to ask Yuu but they had to go back to Ramshackle."

"Yuu's back at Ramshackle?" Trey reaches to adjust his glasses, trying to ground himself.

"Yes, they said they were feeling sick and-" That's all Trey registers, though he hears the rest "went back to lie down, Grim insisted on staying to make sure the food didn't get them sick." It's his party, he can't just leave that would be an extreme violation of the rules but Cater's earlier accusation comes back to him. Make them think I won't care about them. It's not intentional, he thinks it's obvious he always will but then again-

"Fifteen minutes." Cater whispers under his breath.

"Thirty."

"You're delusional." Still Cater doesn't sound mad. "Eighteen."

"Twenty." He's already snatched up the hat box and making his way towards the doors.

~~~~

"Awww Yuu." Phineas would pat your head if he could. "I'm sure it's not that bad, you're just overthinking things."

"Yeah I think anyone would be happy to get a gift from you!" Gus tries, all three ghosts perking up slightly when you smile just a bit at his encouragement. "And if not then well..."

"I know I'm just being dramatic but I couldn't stand waiting anymore." You don't mention how Ace and Deuce had been teasing you, not wanting to relive the absolute embarrassment of having been caught staring at their Vice-Warden one too many times for dots to remain unconnected. "I asked Grim to bring back some cake but I don't know if he'll remember."

"Oooh let's take bets on it!" Ezra cheers and a familiar, unexpected laugh interrupts sending the ghosts scattering and leaving you at the mercy of a familiar face.

"I think it's safe to say that would be a pretty obvious bet." Trey sets the hat box on your coffee table, folding his strong arms and firmly sticking a lump in your throat. "You should have bet on me."

"Returning your gift is not bringing me something." You huff and Trey has the decency to look a bit awkward.

"I'm not here to return it, there's rules to gifts you know." Oh no. "For example, on our birthdays, the Queen of Hearts says we get to ask for anything we want." He finally moves, unfortunately for you he's decided to use his height to his advantage and lean over the table to crowd you back into the couch. "And I spent a long time thinking about what I should ask for from you."

"Um- I well-" You're looking everywhere but him now, as if you were before. "I did get you a gift though?" He laughs.

"And you ran away before I could thank you." Trey begins to unwrap the ribbons, slowly as if he's waiting for you to look at him but not wanting to deny his curiosity any longer. "But that doesn't change the rules. Sorry, I didn't make them."

The sugar bowl is the first piece he finds, the shop lady has to have set it on top on purpose. His eyebrows raise, not in disappointment you think, curiosity hopefully as he slowly opens the rest of them.

"Sorry." You immediately say to fill the space out of habit, and Trey stops his examination to look up at you.

"What for?" He picks up the sugar bowl, just as amused as you with the clover flowers patterned across it in a nice twist on his name and half the accessories he owns. "Don't tell me you want this stuff back, its mine now."

"No! I'm glad you like," you cringe at the question in your tone and cower at the smirk on Trey's face "I mean I hope you like it."

"A hand picked tea set from the Ramshackle Prefect? It's perfect. Especially for a birthday gift for me." He carefully wraps up the cups and their saucers, silence once again falling over the room as you wonder why he hasn't called you out on your lie, the self doubt suggesting he hadn't noticed. "I meant what I said earlier you know."

"What, about making demands of me?" You say.

"Hey chill I only sort of meant it like that." He doesn't even bother trying to hide his amusement. "I mean betting on me. I know it might sound strange to hear me say, but I do have things I think are worth extra effort. And if I have to put in a lot of it to get you to understand that I am glad you are in my life, then I'll just have to do that." So he did know you weren't sick, and was just dancing around the subject to be polite as usual.

"Happy birthday Trey." Because what else are you supposed to say, and he tries his best to not let his disappointment show as he takes his opened gift back to the rose garden. "I'm- I hope you have a nice time at your party."

He pauses at the threshold of your dorm, the wicked smile returning. "I think I know what I want to ask you to do."

"Oh no." You did not mean to say that out loud.

"Mhm. But you are going to have to come back to Heartslabyul to hear it, but after the party, we can use our cups." Our cups he says, as if you had picked out any cups that were supposed to represent you.

He noticed, of course Trey noticed that there was no trace of Yuu in this very you gift. But he could fix that, if you would just give him a chance. And maybe get the calm celebration he actually wants when you do.

[probablyasocialecologist]

In Eastern Europe, for instance, the number of people living in cities declined by almost one-third during the seventeenth century, as the region became an agrarian serf-economy exporting cheap grain and timber to Western Europe. At the same time, Spanish and Portuguese colonizers were transforming the American continents into suppliers of precious metals and agricultural goods, with urban manufacturing suppressed by the state. When the capitalist world-system expanded into Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, imports of British cloth and steel destroyed Indigenous textile production and iron smelting, while Africans were instead made to specialize in palm oil, peanuts, and other cheap cash crops produced with enslaved labor. India—once the great manufacturing hub of the world—suffered a similar fate after colonization by Britain in 1757. By 1840, British colonizers boasted that they had “succeeded in converting India from a manufacturing country into a country exporting raw produce.” Much the same story unfolded in China after it was forced to open its domestic economy to capitalist trade during the British invasion of 1839–42. According to historians, the influx of European textiles, soap, and other manufactured goods “destroyed rural handicraft industries in the villages, causing unemployment and hardship for the Chinese peasantry.”

Jason Hickel and Dylan Sullivan, Capitalism, Global Poverty, and the Case for Democratic Socialism

[stardust-swan]

Lifestyle of the Refined, Cultured City Girl

She takes advantage of living somewhere with access to many cultural activities. She attends the symphony, the theatre, the ballet, and the orchestra. She visits art galleries and museums. She attends book readings, poetry readings, lectures by experts in various subjects, and writer's talks. She watches independent films in small cinemas. She goes to fashion shows. She unwinds by reading in a beautiful, old library. Many of these activities are free or cheap, so money is rarely a concern.

She has social hobbies, like playing an instrument in a local band, attending a book club or writer's group, participating in poetry readings, and taking evening classes and workshops on subjects like painting, fashion, learning a language, culinary classes, learning an instrument, etc.

She has private hobbies too, like writing a novel, creating art, studying, reading, and taking private music lessons.

On dates, she goes to painting classes where her and her date paint each other's portrait, pottery classes where they make each other something special, fine restaurants where she and her date try new cuisine, and upscale hotels for a fine afternoon tea.

She is always studying. Whether it's in University for a degree that will help her get her dream job, or a less formal education like learning about the world of art from her trips to the galleries, or learning about the history and culture of her city by exploring it, she's always taking advantage of the opportunities she has to expand her knowledge.

She participates in cultural festivities that may be held in her city, such as wine tastings, cheese tastings, art exhibits, film festivals, and book fairs.

She visits historical landmarks and sites to learn about her city's past and culture.

She visits rooftop bars and lounges, both to socialise and admire the view of the city.

She networks with people in high positions, and socialises at events and gatherings like cocktail parties, charity functions, and dinner parties.

She visits both high end boutiques and small, locally owned shops.

She spends time in nature by going to parks and botanical gardens.

She gives back to her community by support or volunteering with a charity or non-profit

She attends a yoga or meditation class at a wellness centre.

She discovers her local patisseries and bakeries and enjoys fresh baked goods.

She takes walking or cycling tours of the city's historic districts to learn about its culture and landmarks.

She visits a local farmers market for fresh produce and unique artisanal products.

She's always dressed impeccably. You will never see her in ratty old clothes, gym gear unless she's actually in the gym, or flip-flops unless she's at the beach. Her hair is always tidy, and her makeup never looks caked on. Her nails are always clean and neat. Her skincare routine is down to a T. She never says "I'm just going to the store" as an excuse to dress frumpily, as she knows there's always the risk of running into someone important and does not want to look like a slob. She does not hold onto clothes that are worn out, damaged, or unflattering, leaving only chic outfits available to dress in. She checks herself from all angles before leaving home to make sure there's no wardrobe malfunctions happening at the back of her outfit, e.g a hole in the back of her jeans. She honours herself, those around her, and her city by looking presentable and neat everyday.

Her home is never cluttered. It is decorated with art, including some paintings or pictures of the city, and she has photographs on the mantelpiece of the friends she's made there. She has a variety of books on a range of subjects that interest her. Her kitchen is well-equipped - no living on takeout for her. She has a set of high quality china and luxurious bedding and linen. She plays classical and jazz music instead of keeping the TV on for background noise. She treats herself to a bouquet of flowers to put in a vase occasionally, and may have a houseplant. She lights candles for a beautiful smell. She may have a collection of herbal teas to help her relax in the evenings. She may even have a well-stocked mini bar, space and funds permitting. Her wardrobe is carefully selected. Her home is stylish, yet comfortable, and always feels ready for guests. She practices the art of entertaining, and does it well.

She knows about hidden treasures in her city that one can't find out about just from doing an internet search. For example, in Paris, a string quartet of musicians meet up on a random day each week and play a free concert in the courtyard of the Louvre, but you wouldn't know this from looking up places to visit in Paris. It's something you must discover on your own or hear about by word of mouth. It could be a small unassuming café that makes the best dish you've ever tasted, or a beautiful building people rarely visit (like the medieval church/graveyard in my neighbourhood that's usually locked up and difficult to see into because of the high walls surrounding it, but if you pass by at the right time, the groundskeepers may be there and let you in to see the blooming flowers and trees beyond the graveyard gates if you ask nicely), an out-of-the-way boutique that sells gorgeous garments, a hidden park tucked away from the main streets, or a secret or exclusive bar or nightclub.

[racefortheironthrone]

Why do economists need to shut up about mercantilism, as you alluded to in your post about Louis XIV's chief ministers?

In part due to their supposed intellectual descent from Adam Smith and the other classical economists, contemporary economists are pretty uniformly hostile to mercantilism, seeing it as a wrong-headed political economy that held back human progress until it was replaced by that best of all ideas: capitalism.

As a student of economic history and the history of political economy, I find that economists generally have a pretty poor understanding of what mercantilists actually believed and what economic policies they actually supported. In reality, a lot of the things that economists see as key advances in the creation of capitalism - the invention of the joint-stock company, the creation of financial markets, etc. - were all accomplishments of mercantiism.

Rather than the crude stereotype of mercantilists as a bunch of monetary weirdos who thought the secret to prosperity was the hoarding of precious metals, mercantilists were actually lazer-focused on economic development. The whole business about trying to achieve a positive balance of trade and financial liquidity and restraining wages was all a means to an end of economic development. Trade surpluses could be invested in manufacturing and shipping, gold reserves played an important role in deepening capital pools and thus increasing levels of investment at lower interest rates that could support larger-scale and more capital intensive enterprises, and so forth.

Indeed, the arch-sin of mercantilism in the eyes of classical and contemporary economists, their interference in free trade through tariffs, monopolies, and other interventions, was all directed at the overriding economic goal of climbing the value-added ladder.

Thus, England (and later Britain) put a tariff on foreign textiles and an export tax on raw wool and forbade the emigration of skilled workers (while supporting the immigration of skilled workers to England) and other mercantilist policies to move up from being exporters of raw wool (which meant that most of the profits from the higher value-added part of the industry went to Burgundy) to being exporters of cheap wool cloth to being exporters of more advanced textiles. Hell, even Adam Smith saw the logic of the Navigation Acts!

And this is what brings me to the most devastating critique of the standard economist narrative about mercantilism: the majority of the countries that successfully industrialized did so using mercantilist principles rather than laissez-faire principles:

When England became the first industrial economy, it did so under strict protectionist policies and only converted to free trade once it had gained enough of a technological and economic advantage over its competitors that it didn't need protectionism any more.

When the United States industrialized in the 19th century and transformed itself into the largest economy in the world, it did so from behind high tariff walls.

When Germany made itself the leading industrial power on the Continent, it did so by rejecting English free trade economics and having the state invest heavily in coal, steel, and railroads. Free trade was only for within the Zollverein, not with the outside world.

And as Dani Rodrik, Ha-Joon Chang, and others have pointed out, you see the same thing with Japan, South Korea, China...everywhere you look, you see protectionism as the means of achieving economic development, and then free trade only working for already-developed economies.

[episodeoftv]

Round 1 of 6, Group 1 of 4

Propaganda is under the cut (671 words) - may contain spoilers

summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)

propaganda

Chén Qíng Lìng/The Untamed - 1.50 Episode 50

The mastermind who plans everything has appeared. He's not someone who wouldn't think he would be the one who is behind everything, including Wei Wuxian's comeback. Who would that be?

I nominate this final on grounds of CCP information control, censorship and homophobia. They were so scared of the power of wangxian that they ended up banning ao3 in china and in the show they have to inexplicably have them part ways just to hammer home the no-homo. Plus the show is just kind of objectively bad.... but it rewires your brain all the same

Supernatural - 15.20 Carry On

cw: suicide

After Chuck is defeated and someone takes his place, Sam and Dean go about their life of hunting, but things don't turn out as expected.

1) you know why 2) god. where do i fucking start. this episode completely ignores this large cast of characters that were considered family in order to make it the "just two brothers" show again, scrapping basically every shred of character development shown throughout the course of the show, cutting out incredibly important characters at the last second (i.e. eileen being replaced with blurry wife for no fucking reason, cas not being there at all despite the whole love confession/ dying for dean that happened just two episodes before). in the penultimate episode the boys fight god. the finale? a random vampire from an episode of season one, who up until this point had never been mentioned again. then we have Dean being impaled on a very phallic looking spike and, after a speech about it just being about the brothers, dies. he then goes to heaven, where his father figure tells him his abusive dad is just down the road. he hops in his car (also in heaven, somehow) and drives for the next 60 odd years waiting for Sam to die. meanwhile, sam is moving on with blurry wife and i shown with a son named dean (as seen stitched onto his clothes), and we eventually see sam, now old and clad in the crustiest looking wig i have ever seen, die in the hospital. he goes to heaven, meets Dean on a bridge, and the last shot is the entire cast and crew on the bridge saying goodbye, completely shattering the fourth wall because fuck it, who cares anymore. and this isn't even mentioning everything that happened after. just an absolute mess the whole way through. 3) Random villain from season 1 kills one of the main characters, he goes to heaven and drives around while the other main character gets a montage of growing old a horrible wig. And that's not even all. 4) It abandoned 15 years of series theme and character growth, veered away from the natural story line and failed to resolve major plot threads. Dean deserved better, and so did Cas. See also Jared's terrible wig, Dean jr, Dean driving through heaven for five minutes... 5) Dean dies in the most anticlimactic way, cheap wig, blurry wife 6) There was no Castel :( 7) I mean... 8) destroyed every character arc in one fell swoop. the guy who tried to kill himself and struggled with depression throughout the show ended up killing himself anyway! was cas’s death even important? who was blurry wife? why was the absolute ugliest toddler imaginable cast to play Sam’s son? but in order to truly grasp how decimating this finale was, you have to understand the queerbaiting between 15.18 and the finale. why did Misha post that pic in the onion field with Uriel. why was Misha originally credited to be in 19 episodes of the final season on IMDb. why was . Hrrgghh. 9) Do I even need to write propaganda for this one? Even though it was the series finale we are still here after 3 years 😂 Title said 'carry on', but the fandom said 'nah, time for season 16'. 10) Bad old man makeup and no castiel 11) Everything had been neatly wrapped up in the previous episode. Then they decided "Hey you know what would be great? If we just killed one of the main characters." They killed him for no reason. He deserved to live a full life, have a family, retire, but nope! He met his match in a RUSTY NAIL. Not to mention that there were terrible wigs, blurry wives, and subtextual incest vibes involved.

+ After it aired, one of the actors unfollowed everyone who had anything to do with the episode.

[bread-tab]

i bought a cheap squishy toy and it smells like something i should definitely not be inhaling at all (kind of like gas/petrol but more factory-plasticky? i'm a retail drone not a chemist) and, of course, it was made in china.

("of course" not so much because of the price or quality but because everything is. at every price range and standard, tbh. i'm not trying to say everything made in china sucks. for the tumblr-pedantic record. rip to the workers in the stinky plastic factory though. :/)

so i was like "if this was made in america i could figure out where. we put the company address on everything here. but can i do that with an overseas company?" and the answer is yes maybe (i found the import/middleman companies and there are "trading" websites that track this stuff) but also no because i can't read mandarin. (sorry ancestors)

anyway that's how i find out about this place

yiwu "market" aka "international trade city." alleged "world's largest wholesale market." the mall to end all malls. this place sells stuff to the entire world by the shipping container. didn't even slightly exist in 1980; now does billions of dollars in trade annually which supports a city of 2 million people. which previously was just. like. a farming village.

(btw take this info with a grain of salt *please* i got it from youtube, google and wikipedia and i'm existing in an incredulous sleep-deprived haze)

literally miles of showrooms of every random manufactured item you can imagine. toys, clothes, electronics, household goods, christmas decorations...

i cannot stress enough that we do not have this kind of thing here. (... do we?) but. we have the stuff. this is where all the stuff is from. all roads lead to yiwu, apparently

sometimes you just get reminded... world big. but also. world interconnected. not so small after all. but so connected.

[arguablysustainable]

The Dangers of Sweatshops

(Source: https://peppermintmag.com/sweatshop/)

(Source: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/rana-plaza-garment-worker-rights-accord/index.html)

Through recent years, there has always been concerns with the fashion industry and their devastating consequences they leave on our environment. Whenever sustainability concerns arise regarding the harmful impacts of the fashion industry, many tend to turn a blind eye when it comes to the discussion of sweatshops. The problem today, is that many consumers have no clue where their SheIn top comes from or who even makes the clothes their clothes at the least. It is important for consumers to know how sweatshops are responsible for producing the majority of our clothes and understand the negative environment they have to endure in order for them to earn for a living. Before we learn how unethical sweatshops are, we must learn what they are and how they usually operate.

What are Sweatshops?

(Source: https://medium.com/maverickyouth/inside-the-ugliness-of-the-fast-fashion-industry-ac40f6a24e01)

(Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nike-fixed-its-sweatshop-image-2015-6)

Sweatshops are often referred to as a crowded workplace where workers are met with low pay, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. The term originated in the late 19th century some employers would make sure that their workers "sweat" in order to meet the maximum amount of profits. Now you may wonder, "why do they exist?" From an economical standpoint, we have seen a price decline in apparel by 1.8% per year. Moreover, despite the negative impacts of sweatshops, they are an important step in economic development. This means that this is the only way for workers to alleviate themselves from poverty. Another reason being for the existence of sweatshops is because developing countries often experience suppression of unions by multinationals and government. Most Importantly, it should be remembered that these nations also have a desperate workforce. Factors such as pressure on retailers to increase profits, consumer demand for low priced apparel, and monitoring difficulty is what keeps a sweatshop up and going. Let's take a look as to how this structured industry affects garment workers.

1. Low Wage

(Source: https://www.aier.org/article/do-employers-exploit-workers-with-low-wages/)

(Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-really-gets-the-minimum-wage-1404683348)

Often times, garment workers experience low wages with as little as $4 cents for producing $45 dollars worth of clothing. This is an issue in countries such as China since workers often work long hours with little pay. Sometimes they will even work overtime with no pay at all. The reason why garment workers experience low pay is due the retailer not paying enough to manufacture the clothing. If retailers demand manufacturers to accept cheap production costs, the factory owners will often have no choice but to accept that pay. Therefore, the owners decide to pay the workers a low wage.

2. Working With Harsh Chemicals

(source: https://greenamerica.org/program/toxic-textiles)

When working with textiles, workers come across hazardous chemicals or material with little ventilation in the factory. When worker come in contact with these chemicals, they can pass through the skin and into the bloodstream. The reason for the existence of toxic chemicals in the workplace is due to the synthetic dyes and production of textiles. According to CBC, it was reported that high levels of lead, PFA's, and phthalates were found in children's, adults, and maternity clothes accessories from fast fashion giants such as SheIn, Ali Express, and Zaful. With that being said, it is important to know what is in your clothes and how they are made as not many consumers are aware of what kind of toxic chemicals can be in their fast fashion clothing.

3. Abuse

(Source: https://www.greenamerica.org/world-hurt/8-things-you-didnt-know-were-made-sweatshop-labor)

According to Global Labor Justice, it was reported that women experienced gender-based violence across the supply chain of companies such as H&M and GAP. A garment worker who works in the supply chain for H&M recalled the time where she was pushed to the floor and kicked by her batch supervisor for not meeting the maximum goal. Back in 2018, members of the Karnataka Labor Union in India were also physically assaulted by management and called slurs for requesting demands related to wages and other working conditions. Unfortunately it is common for women to often experience retaliation for unionization and speaking out against workplace issues such as sexual harassment, wage, and other unjust conditions. This issue persists in South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, Jakarta, and so on.

Just Because Sweatshops Exists in Other Countries Doesn't mean they Don't exist in the U.S...

(Source: https://www.dailynews.com/2023/03/28/some-southern-california-sweatshop-garment-workers-paid-as-little-as-1-58-an-hour-says-report/)

As we see how most fast fashion companies produce their clothing in developing countries, we must not forget that garment workers here in cities such as Los Angeles are also exploited for low wages. According to an investigation initiated by the U.S. Department of Labor, it was found that workers were paid as little as $1.58 an hour. Contractors and manufacturers included in this report are companies such as Dillards, Lululemon, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and so on. Some factories are even found to falsify their records or not providing a salary for their workers. Since undocumented immigrants makeup the majority of workers, they cannot seek legal protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act and also fear being deported for speaking out.

(Source: https://fashionista.com/2020/10/la-garment-workers-ethical-fashion-manufacturing-sweatshops)

The existence of sweatshops prove to be harmful in many ways. Unsafe working conditions for very low wages and very long hours shouldn't be the norm for garment workers. It is important that we must hold fast fashion companies accountable for mass producing clothing in countries that are known to violate human rights in garment factories. Next time when shopping for clothing, it is important to know how transparent companies are in regards to their supply chain so you as a consumer know who manufacturers your clothes.

Next week tune in to learn about natural dyes and how you can make your own DIY dyes using natural ingredients such as fruits, vegetables, and plants!

Written by Abigail Reyes

[revcleo]

De-wiggling

Ok hear me out:

global warming messaging has not been very effective, in part because a lot of it is warning of future perils, like people don't care about a future number being a scary number, it's like how you stay awake too late at night and then when you have to get up in the morning you're like "well I should have gone to bed" but you didnt! In the morning you then have a coffee or other caffeine drink hoping that'll help, when you really should have had a good night's sleep instead. That's what a lot of western nations/global north think they are going to do when it comes to climate change, they'll just buy something which sorts out the problem, either fixing it quickly by throwing a lot of money at it (such as the speed at which the covid vaccine and space race was developed) or that it won't affect them much, it'll just mess up the global south and they'll just do a little bit of charity to feel better (see: pakistani floods). What I think is a more concrete and immediate goal for western nations is to de-wiggle the jet stream.

The reason why the USA has been having intense cold, and Europe has been having intense heat, are the same problem. They are both because of a wiggly jet stream.

The jet stream can have a bit of wiggle, for fun, but we need to refreeze the arctic by lowering overall global temperatures, to de-wiggle the jet stream. A strong polar vortex makes the jet stream stronger, like how a powerful fan makes you go wimdy in the face but a gentle fan is more shampoo advert.

De-wiggling the jet stream, or straightening it out if you'd rather say that, is: A. a visible goal. We can see the jet stream on diagrams, pictures of clouds, and we know it's changed from straight to wiggly, and we know it's this which has stopped cooling winds going over Europe, and brought icy arctic winds down over the USA. It is now, and it is happening. It's not something we'll find when we wake up in the morning, it's something happening before we go to bed.

B. something which has been primarily effecting the richest countries. Europe and China have both experienced record breaking heatwaves over the summer, and the USA is experiencing record breaking cold snaps over this winter. These countries are responsible for the vast amounts of emmissions, and have the most power to change. These countries can often be selfish as well, and knowing that things are effecting them at the moment can be initiative to change now, rather than wait until it's a bigger problem. C. something we (as a species) know how to fix, we can cool down the arctic by cooling global temperatures. This is the hardest part ofc but the important thing is we can't let people handwave this by saying "well it's too late, it's too hard, we can't do it"

it's hard work, and is basically the same call of "reduce emissions" which people have been calling for, but there have been more and more people willing to give up a lot of treats and nicknacks to create a fairer and healthier world It's not an individual issue in this way, it's all the connected things like: People don't get paid enough -> they can't afford high quality things -> the cheap things they buy break quickly -> they have to keep buying cheap things -> the factories want to make lots of cheap disposable things because people keep buying them but they have to be made even cheaper -> the people who make the cheap things get paid poorly and the factories save money on dangerous plastics which poison the environment and cheap coal power which pollutes it People don't have much time and are stressed and need cheap and fast energy -> multinationals make cheap meat/soy -> monocultures and industrial animal ag are needed for cheap food -> cheap land can be found by destroying the rainforest because cartels can kill the indigenous people

Individual and small scale responses to the risks of a wiggled jet stream are mitigation of damage. Learning how to fix your clothes, planting a local garden, and petitioning your city for more bike lanes are all good and should be encouaged, but they are mitigation.

To fix the problem requires governments to do things such as mass retrofitting of properties, large scale conversion to low carbon energy sources, polluter-pays initiatives on agriculture, mass public transport initiatives, agricultural subsidy change, subsidised/nationalised high quality clothes and appliances etc. And nothing can be done without doing it for everyone, so marginalised people need to be at the forefront. This is the part which will make a lot of people angry, so they will try to distract people with "we can't afford it", "what about the jobs", "It will take too long" etc. the answers to those are "we can't afford to keep the jet stream like this" , "this will involve many jobs", "we should have started 10 years ago, the next best time is now"

[memoriae-lectoris]

When it comes to other functions such as soaking up oil, human and animal hairs are also in competition or, should I say, collaboration. They do not absorb oil but adsorb it, gathering it into a film which spreads and clings to the scaly surface of the hair.

[…] Looking through old newspaper archives back in England I find a reference to hundreds of tons of waste hair from China being shipped to Hull in 1927 for use in the oilseed-crushing industry, where it played an important role as a filter at the base of presses.

In the early 1930s its use was apparently widespread in France, Germany and the United States, especially in the state of Georgia where vegetable oil was processed on a mass scale. Seeds such as cotton, flax and sunflower were heaped into hydraulic presses and the oil extracted would drip through the filter. Human hair was especially good for allowing free drainage and withstanding the heavy pressure and great changes of temperature. Chinese hair was preferred owing to its strength, resilience and, no doubt, its cheap availability.

Prior to World War II most press cloth used in the United States edible-oil industry was made from human hair. When the war cut off supplies of hair from China wool was substituted, followed later by nylon.

More recently, these filtering properties of hair have been put to substantial use in attempts to clean up major oil spills in Alaska, the Philippines, San Francisco Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

[dresshistorynerd]

Opinions in hemp cloth/fabric? I saw one of your post talking about polyster vs cotton/wool/linen

Hi! Thank you for the question! When I was writing that post/addition, I actually forgot the existence of hemp (not that it's among the most important natural fabrics today (sadly)). And when I went to check some sources to make sure I didn't get things wrong, I learned that cotton also gets stronger when wet, which I had previously learned the other way around. (I had gotten it wrong in that post too.)

Hemp is an amazing material. It's very similar to linen in it's properties, in some regards even better. Like linen it's extremely breathable, so great for hot weather, and antibacterial, so it doesn't smell easily and when against skin, keeps it cleaner too. It has even better water absorption abilities than linen, which is why it doesn't feel wet even when it has absorbed a good amount of sweat or water in general. Like linen (and apparently cotton) it gets stronger when wet too, which makes washing and sanitizing it without damaging it easy. It's also even before getting wet super strong, the strongest plant fiber there is. It even has one ability linen doesn't have (nor most plant fibers) it's UV resistant, adding to it's great abilities for summer use.

One thing I didn't mention in that post about linen, which makes it still very relevant, is that growing linen is so much more ecological than growing cotton, which requires a ton of fresh water. Flax (the plant linen is made of) grows very easily in fairly harsh conditions and doesn't need fertilizers, which are often damaging to the ecosystem. However, hemp does the same and better. It's very resistant to pests, so doesn't need extra pestilence that could have adverse effects to the ecosystem, and unlike most other monocultural farmland, it even enriches the earth, keeping the earth resistant against erosion.

All of these properties are why it was used for sails and ropes for millennia. Its very long and strong fibers allow it to be made into very thick canvas excellent for sails. Hemp canvas was also used for stiff interlining. But it got me thinking, why isn't hemp often talked about in clothing history (except in the fact that it was the first plant fiber to be woven into fabric)? It has such obviously excellent properties, which surely would have been attractive to pre-industrial people with limited resources. After looking around I found couple of explanations.

Hemp was indeed used widely for clothes, especially in rural setting. Since it became the first plant fabric in central Asia, it was the primary fabric for clothing in China till the introduction of cotton around a millennium ago. It was used in Europe too since the Goths introduced it in antiquity. However in historical texts (at least in 16th-18th century) hemp cloth is also often referred to as linen and it can be hard to distinguish if the fabric written about was actually made from hemp or flax, since they did make fairly similar cloth. There was a limiting factor too for more widespread use of hemp, since it's processing into fabric was labour intensive, which got better in Industrial Era, when some of the most labor intensive parts were able to be mechanized. It was though very easy and cheap to grow, and needed especially little attention in summer, when farmers had most work. Because of it's enriching properties it also could be grown in the same plot year after year. For these reasons it was often grown in small quantities within small-scale farming even when large scale farming was becoming more common. It's perhaps where the rural association came from, as it was likely grown for personal household textiles and not for selling.

Though there was of course larger scale farming of it and records of selling it by merchants after feudalism started fading, even if the labour intensive processing made it less profitable. Apparently one of the most popular usages for hemp in clothing was men's shirts, for upper and lower classes. Sailors also often wore hemp clothing as it was so excellent and durable in all the conditions that would come across at sea. Hemp also was not as fine as linen, and while very fine hemp was soft and as linen softens in use and with every wash, it still wasn't quite as soft and fine as linen could be. So especially upper classes, who wouldn't need the maximum practicality and durability, would opt into linen, which was still very practical and durable, but also a bit more comfortable against skin.

At the time, when labour was plentiful and relatively cheap compared to land, hemp was still profitable. Entering the Industrial Era this started to change as industrial production requiring less human labour was much cheaper and therefore left more profit margin, so the capitalists now controlling production would greatly favor materials that could be produced industrially. While the processing of hemp became less labour intensive with mechanization, it was still much more labour intensive than cotton for example, which was the first thing that was industrialized. Hemp production was still fairly wide through 19th century and to early 20th century, even if declining in it's share of the clothing production like all the rest of the natural fabrics (except cotton).

But then the war on drugs happened. Now the hemp typically used for clothing is not exactly the same used for weed (there's different strains and then male and female and it seems complicated and I don't know that much about plants), what I read it doesn't have at least very strong psychoactive qualities unlike those used specifically for weed (though there was some overlap). Of course that didn't stop growing hemp being banned very widely, leading the hemp fabric production to plummet in the latter half of 1900s. Growing hemp has become easier now, but the prohibition still create hurdles for farmers. Which sucks a lot because it's such an amazing material and with modern mechanized processing it's cheap to make (and can be made to be really soft) on top of being excellent quality and gentle to environment.

So I guess my opinion is hemp is great we should make more of it instead of cotton and especially synthetic fibers and legalize weed.

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Outraged Over Gaza, Protesters Show Left-Wing Divisions as Convention Opens (NYT) As Democrats gathered in Chicago on Monday, eager to project an image of a liberal movement fully united behind Vice President Kamala Harris, thousands of people marched a few blocks away, presenting a thorny counterpoint. For hours, protesters furious over the Biden administration’s support for Israel and its failure to end the war in Gaza held signs, chanted and pushed for Ms. Harris to break with the president on those issues. The loudest challenge to the opening day of the Democratic National Convention was coming not from Republicans, but from the progressive left.

Businesses Are Already Girding for Next Phase of the U.S.-China Trade War (NYT) If not for the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, Easy Signs would now be hiring dozens of workers at its factory in Allentown, Pa. It would be readying plans to build a second plant generating another 100 jobs. Based in Australia, Easy Signs manufactures banners and marketing installations for corporate events, using huge printers to press logos and slogans onto rolls of cloth. Its American business has been growing 70 percent a year. Still, the company is putting off an expansion. Its cloth signs are displayed on aluminum stands made in China. Those products are now subject to a series of tariffs reaching as high as 365 percent under a policy set in motion by former President Donald J. Trump and continued by the Biden administration in the name of protecting American industry from Chinese government subsidies. The costs of imported components could increase further should Mr. Trump win November’s presidential election and follow through on his threat to add a tariff of 60 percent or more on all Chinese goods, and 10 percent to all imports. “That’s definitely a scary concept,” said Andy Fryer, co-founder of Easy Signs. “The whole feasibility goes out the window.”

Not just for kids anymore: Adults turn to lemonade stands as side hustles (Washington Post) There was no ice at Giant. There was no ice at CVS. And Malia Blake was getting anxious. Her new side hustle, intended to help her climb out of debt, was inspired by a woman she saw on TikTok do this to pay for pharmacy school. It depended on four ingredients: ice, water, sweetener and lemons. Lemonade stands used to be only for kids who wanted to make pocket change during their summer breaks. Now people in their 20s and 30s around the country have started squeezing lemons to pay off bills. They set up stands at farmers markets, local festivals and concerts. Proprietors say it’s very profitable, but the business is extremely weather dependent and has gotten highly competitive. Blake, 26, said she has around $40,000 in debt from student loans, credit cards and a car. “The cost of living is kind of high and I have a lot of expenses,” said Blake, who lives in D.C. and works in corporate communications. “I’m constantly looking for ways outside of my 9-to-5 [job] to put towards my debt and my future. Lemons are cheap. I thought I could do this, too.” Blake says she makes $1,000 to $1,500 in sales per event. She sells her lemonade for $8 a cup and offers five flavors: watermelon, mango, strawberry, hibiscus and plain. It takes her about one minute to make a cup.

Phone taps, sabotage and an assassination plot: Is Germany in Cold War 2.0? (BBC) Holes mysteriously found cut in army base fences. An alleged plot to assassinate Germany’s top weapons manufacturer. Phone taps on a high-level Luftwaffe call. These aren’t storylines lifted from a 1960s spy novel but real-life events in Germany, this year. Not all of these events can definitively be blamed on Moscow, but Germany is on heightened alert for possible acts of Russian sabotage, because of Berlin’s continued military support for Kyiv. As a hot war rages between Russia and Ukraine, there are fears that Europe has slipped into a new Cold War. But what does a rekindled Cold War look like for Europe’s biggest economy and a country that was once itself cut in half by the Iron Curtain? The biggest bombshell dropped just last month when CNN reported that US officials had told Berlin of an alleged Russian plot to kill the chief executive of Germany’s biggest arms company Rheinmetall. The 61-year-old is, to use a crude term, a real “somebody”, particularly in a world where Nato countries are spending billions to re-supply Ukraine and boost their own security. Had a plot to kill him been successful, it would have sent shockwaves through the West.

Ukraine Strikes Bridges in Russia, Aiming to Entrap Troops (NYT) Russian troops defending a pocket of territory wedged between a river and the border with Ukraine were at risk of becoming encircled, military analysts said Monday, after Ukraine bombed bridges that are the only routes for resupply or retreat. In their counterattack into Russia, which has been underway now for nearly two weeks, Ukrainian troops quickly broke through thinly manned border defenses, fanned out on highways and captured towns and villages, initially pushing deeper into Russian territory. The bombing of bridges, in contrast, takes aim at land between the Seym River, the border and an area inside Russia already controlled by Ukraine, with the potential to entrap the Russian forces positioned there. Three bridges span this stretch of river, all now destroyed or damaged, according to statements released by the Ukrainian Air Force and to social media posts by Russian officials and military commentators. The potential encirclement of its forces in the area adds another challenge to a Russian Army caught off guard by Ukraine’s startling incursion over the border on Aug. 6.

Azerbaijan raises alarm over Caspian Sea's 'catastrophic' shrinking (Reuters) Things are drying up between Asia and Europe. Really big things. According to the president of Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea is drying up at a worrying pace. In a meeting held on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the sea’s “catastrophic” shrinkage, citing a decades-long trend of its waters slowly receding and the fact that rocks that were hidden under water just two years ago are now sticking out “a meter above the surface.” The Caspian Sea isn’t really a sea. It’s actually the world’s largest lake, though it is almost as salty as a sea. It’s steadily shrunk since the mid-1990s thanks to a combination of climate change-accelerated evaporation and the diversion of the Volga (Europe’s longest river) for irrigation projects.

Pakistan suffers internet slowdown as government denies setting up a national firewall (AP) People in Pakistan reported much slower internet over the past several days with some experts on Monday estimating its speed falling to less than half its usual capacity at times. The problem has affected millions of users, disrupting businesses and drawing nationwide complaints, while authorities have denied allegations that the installation of a national firewall was behind the slowdown. Since February, users have been either unable to use social media or allowed limited access following a governmental crackdown before the Feb. 8 parliamentary election. However, internet speed has now noticeably slowed down. Users are unable to quickly send emails or use the messaging service WhatsApp, with businesspeople and doctors saying it has negatively affected their daily work, particularly receiving statements and medical reports.

Contingency plans for the Taiwan Strait (Defense News/WP) It has become conventional wisdom among the halls of the United States government that China will launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan within the next few years. And when that happens, the US military has a relatively straightforward response in mind: Unleash hell. Speaking to The Washington Post on the sidelines of the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual Shangri-La Dialogue in June, US Indo-Pacific Command chief Navy Admiral Samuel Paparo colorfully described the US military’s contingency plan for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan as flooding the narrow Taiwan Strait between the two countries with swarms of thousands upon thousands of drones, by land, sea, and air, to delay a Chinese attack enough for the US and its allies to muster additional military assets in the region. “I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities,” Paparo said, “so that I can make their lives utterly miserable for a month, which buys me the time for the rest of everything.”

UN says a record number of aid workers were killed in 2023 and this year may be even higher (AP) A record number of aid workers were killed in conflicts around the world last year—more than half after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7—and this year may become even deadlier, the United Nations said Monday. The 280 aid workers from 33 countries killed in 2023 was more than double the previous year’s figure of 118, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs known as OCHA said in a report on World Humanitarian Day. OCHA said this year “may be on track for an even deadlier outcome,” with 172 aid workers killed as of Aug. 7, according to a provisional account from the Aid Worker Security Database. More than 280 aid workers have been killed in the war in Gaza, now in its 11th month, mainly in airstrikes. The majority of them are Palestinians who worked for the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, according to OCHA. It said that “extreme levels of violence in Sudan and South Sudan “ also have contributed to the death toll both this year and last.

In Uganda’s chaotic capital, boda-boda motorcycle taxis are a source of life and death (AP) The young men perched on motorcycles looked dazed in the morning heat. But at the sight of a potential passenger, they furiously kick-started their machines and tried to outrace each other for the business. For tens of thousands of men in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, this is how to make a living. For others, the speeding motorcycles embody the city’s chaos as an essential but menacing means of transport. The motorcycle taxis, known locally as boda-bodas, are ubiquitous in East African capitals like Nairobi and Kigali. But nowhere in the region have boda-boda numbers been surging more dramatically than in Kampala, a city of 3 million people, no mass transit system and rampant unemployment. An estimated 350,000 boda-bodas operate in Kampala, driven by men who come from all parts of Uganda and say there are no other jobs for them. The boda-boda men, who operate mostly unregulated, have resisted recent attempts to dislodge them from the narrow streets of Kampala’s central business district, frustrating city authorities and underscoring the government’s fears over the consequences of angering a horde of jobless men.

Nearly half of world’s migrants are Christian, Pew Research shows (Religion News Service) The world’s 280 million immigrants have greater shares of Christians, Muslims and Jews than the general population, according to a new Pew Research Center study released Monday (Aug. 19). “You see migrants coming to places like the U.S., Canada, different places through Western Europe, and being more religious—and sometimes more Christian in particular—than the native-born people in those countries,” said Achsah Callahan, the study’s lead researcher. While Christians make up about 30% of the world’s population, the world’s migrants are 47% Christian, according to the latest data collected in 2020. The study found that Muslims make up 29% of the migrant population but 25% of the world’s population. Jews, only 0.2% of the world’s population but 1% of migrants, are by far the most likely religious group to have migrated, with 20% of Jews worldwide living outside their country of birth compared to just 6% of Christians and 4% of Muslims.

[marketdevelopment]

Premium Denim Jeans Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2023 – 2030

The Global Premium Denim Jeans Market size is expected to grow from USD 10.31 billion in 2022 to USD 17.32 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period (2023-2030).

Premium Denim Jeans can be identified as high lower-body attire that is worn by both men and women across all age groups. These jeans are normally constructed utilizing superior-quality dungaree and denim materials to provide greater comfort to the wearer.

By manufacturing premium denim, vendors place particular emphasis on maintaining high levels of quality, innovation, and craftsmanship. In comparison to cheap jeans, they are more durable in terms of materials and colors and also improve the general aesthetic appeal of an individual.

Currently, companies primarily examine numerous characteristics like as stretchiness, durability, clothing design, and simple washability of denim apparel to deliver bespoke wearable solutions to consumers.

Get Full PDF Sample Copy of Report: (Including Full TOC, List of Tables & Figures, Chart) @

https://introspectivemarketresearch.com/request/16591

The latest research on the Premium Denim Jeans market provides a comprehensive overview of the market for the years 2023 to 2030. It gives a comprehensive picture of the global Premium Denim Jeans industry, considering all significant industry trends, market dynamics, competitive landscape, and market analysis tools such as Porter's five forces analysis, Industry Value chain analysis, and PESTEL analysis of the Premium Denim Jeans market. Moreover, the report includes significant chapters such as Patent Analysis, Regulatory Framework, Technology Roadmap, BCG Matrix, Heat Map Analysis, Price Trend Analysis, and Investment Analysis which help to understand the market direction and movement in the current and upcoming years. The report is designed to help readers find information and make decisions that will help them grow their businesses. The study is written with a specific goal in mind: to give business insights and consultancy to help customers make smart business decisions and achieve long-term success in their particular market areas.

Leading players involved in the Premium Denim Jeans Market include:

H & M, Levi Strauss and Co., LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, PVH Corp., 34 Heritage, American Eagle Outfitters Inc., BESTSELLER AS, Capri Holdings Ltd., Giorgio Armani Spa, Kontoor Brands Inc., and Other Major Players 

If You Have Any Query Premium Denim Jeans Market Report, Visit:

https://introspectivemarketresearch.com/inquiry/16591

Segmentation of Premium Denim Jeans Market:   

By Age Group

Baby

Teenager

Adults

Elderly

By Distribution Channel

Speciality Stores

Supermarkets and Hypermarkets

Online Stores

Others

By End Users

Women

Men

Children

By Regions: -

North America (US, Canada, Mexico)

Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Rest of Eastern Europe)

Western Europe (Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Spain, Rest of Western Europe)

Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of APAC)

Middle East & Africa (Turkey, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Israel, South Africa)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Rest of SA)

What to Expect in Our Report?

(1) A complete section of the Premium Denim Jeans market report is dedicated for market dynamics, which include influence factors, market drivers, challenges, opportunities, and trends.

(2) Another broad section of the research study is reserved for regional analysis of the Premium Denim Jeans market where important regions and countries are assessed for their growth potential, consumption, market share, and other vital factors indicating their market growth.

(3) Players can use the competitive analysis provided in the report to build new strategies or fine-tune their existing ones to rise above market challenges and increase their share of the Premium Denim Jeans market.

(4) The report also discusses competitive situation and trends and sheds light on company expansions and merger and acquisition taking place in the Premium Denim Jeans market. Moreover, it brings to light the market concentration rate and market shares of top three and five players.

(5) Readers are provided with findings and conclusion of the research study provided in the Premium Denim Jeans Market report.

Our study encompasses major growth determinants and drivers, along with extensive segmentation areas. Through in-depth analysis of supply and sales channels, including upstream and downstream fundamentals, we present a complete market ecosystem.

If you require any specific information that is not covered currently within the scope of the report, we will provide the same as a part of the customization.

Acquire This Reports: -

https://introspectivemarketresearch.com/checkout/?user=1&_sid=16591

About us:

Introspective Market Research (introspectivemarketresearch.com) is a visionary research consulting firm dedicated to assisting our clients to grow and have a successful impact on the market. Our team at IMR is ready to assist our clients to flourish their business by offering strategies to gain success and monopoly in their respective fields. We are a global market research company, that specializes in using big data and advanced analytics to show the bigger picture of the market trends. We help our clients to think differently and build better tomorrow for all of us. We are a technology-driven research company, we analyse extremely large sets of data to discover deeper insights and provide conclusive consulting. We not only provide intelligence solutions, but we help our clients in how they can achieve their goals.

Contact us:

Introspective Market Research

3001 S King Drive,

Chicago, Illinois

60616 USA

Ph no: +1-773-382-1047

Email: sales@introspectivemarketresearch.com

[criticaldesign-turbo]

Fashion and Fame

“DNA, The Kardashians & The Konsequences” by Marie Clare Jones

Marie Clare Jones explores the popularity of ancestry kits and the commercialization of DNA testing. It imagines how Kylie Jenner could introduce K-DNA kits through her brand, Kylie Cosmetics, and explore the implications of widespread DNA testing through a timeline linking DNA, the Kardashians, and its consequences. The project raises important questions about DNA ownership, commercialization, and ethical implications for the future, culminating in the creation of two spoof articles where children sue their parents for irresponsible use of K-DNA Kits. Overall, it offers and questions insights into the potential uses and ethical concerns surrounding DNA in a commercial context.

2) “How the Shein influencer trip marked a turning point in the brand-sponsored vacation trend” by Jenna Benchetrit

Shein, an online store that specializes in selling clothes and shoes, is one of the largest retailers with $100 billion in sales in 2022. Known for its extremely low prices, the online shop sources directly from China. Like other fast fashion companies, Shein has faced criticism for poor working conditions, high levels of toxins in its clothes (with no commitment to using standards), and extremely high CO2 emissions (source: https://time.com/6247732/shein-climate-change-labor-fashion/).

The article discusses Shein's attempt to "greenwash" these criticisms by sponsoring and paying influencers to visit a "fake" manufacturing facility, in the hopes that they would promote Shein as "not as bad as everyone thinks." However, this move sparked a huge backlash and controversy for the influencers. This situation is critical as it highlights how such companies try to improve their image without making substantive changes.

3) “Dirty Laundry” by  Carole Frances Lung, Aditi Mayer, Minga Opazo, Alicia Piller, and Sommer Roman

The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art held an exhibition called "Dirty Laundry" focusing on the problems of fast fashion. Fast fashion makes lots of cheap clothes quickly to keep up with trends. This leads to waste and harm to people and the environment. The works in "Dirty Laundry" highlight critical design aspects by making people think about the problems of fast fashion. They use creativity to show how this industry harms the environment and people. By raising awareness the exhibition encourages viewers to think differently about the clothes they buy and the impact of their choices.

4) Smog Free Project by Daan Roosegaarde

Led by Daan Roosegaarde, the SMOG FREE PROJECT is an urban innovation project that showcases the aesthetic value of clean air. Roosegaarde crafts SMOG FREE RINGS from compressed smog particles gathered from the SMOG FREE TOWER (world's first smog vacuum cleaner which creates clean air parks). You can donate the city 1000 m3 of clean air by sharing the SMOG FREE RING.

It is currently included in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Zurich, Utah Museum of Fine Arts USA, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and The Biosphere Environment Museum in Montreal.

5) Solar-Powered Jacket by Vollebak:

The Solar Charged Jacket is made of a highly adaptable material that can be quickly charged and made to glow in the dark by any kind of light you can find. For example, a phone flashlight can be used to draw on it. You can use sunlight to charge it. If it is fully charged it glows completely. The piece deals with fashion's functionality and sustainability while presenting creative responses to environmental issues.

[marketinsight1234]

Premium Denim Jeans Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2023 – 2030

The Global Premium Denim Jeans Market size is expected to grow from USD 10.31 billion in 2022 to USD 17.32 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period (2023-2030).

Premium Denim Jeans can be identified as high lower-body attire that is worn by both men and women across all age groups. These jeans are normally constructed utilizing superior-quality dungaree and denim materials to provide greater comfort to the wearer.

By manufacturing premium denim, vendors place particular emphasis on maintaining high levels of quality, innovation, and craftsmanship. In comparison to cheap jeans, they are more durable in terms of materials and colors and also improve the general aesthetic appeal of an individual.

Currently, companies primarily examine numerous characteristics like as stretchiness, durability, clothing design, and simple washability of denim apparel to deliver bespoke wearable solutions to consumers.

Get Full PDF Sample Copy of Report: (Including Full TOC, List of Tables & Figures, Chart) @

https://introspectivemarketresearch.com/request/16591

The latest research on the Premium Denim Jeans market provides a comprehensive overview of the market for the years 2023 to 2030. It gives a comprehensive picture of the global Premium Denim Jeans industry, considering all significant industry trends, market dynamics, competitive landscape, and market analysis tools such as Porter's five forces analysis, Industry Value chain analysis, and PESTEL analysis of the Premium Denim Jeans market. Moreover, the report includes significant chapters such as Patent Analysis, Regulatory Framework, Technology Roadmap, BCG Matrix, Heat Map Analysis, Price Trend Analysis, and Investment Analysis which help to understand the market direction and movement in the current and upcoming years. The report is designed to help readers find information and make decisions that will help them grow their businesses. The study is written with a specific goal in mind: to give business insights and consultancy to help customers make smart business decisions and achieve long-term success in their particular market areas.

Leading players involved in the Premium Denim Jeans Market include:

H & M, Levi Strauss and Co., LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, PVH Corp., 34 Heritage, American Eagle Outfitters Inc., BESTSELLER AS, Capri Holdings Ltd., Giorgio Armani Spa, Kontoor Brands Inc., and Other Major Players 

If You Have Any Query Premium Denim Jeans Market Report, Visit:

https://introspectivemarketresearch.com/inquiry/16591

Segmentation of Premium Denim Jeans Market:   

By Age Group

Baby

Teenager

Adults

Elderly

By Distribution Channel

Speciality Stores

Supermarkets and Hypermarkets

Online Stores

Others

By End Users

Women

Men

Children

By Regions: -

North America (US, Canada, Mexico)

Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Rest of Eastern Europe)

Western Europe (Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Spain, Rest of Western Europe)

Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of APAC)

Middle East & Africa (Turkey, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Israel, South Africa)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Rest of SA)

What to Expect in Our Report?

(1) A complete section of the Premium Denim Jeans market report is dedicated for market dynamics, which include influence factors, market drivers, challenges, opportunities, and trends.

(2) Another broad section of the research study is reserved for regional analysis of the Premium Denim Jeans market where important regions and countries are assessed for their growth potential, consumption, market share, and other vital factors indicating their market growth.

(3) Players can use the competitive analysis provided in the report to build new strategies or fine-tune their existing ones to rise above market challenges and increase their share of the Premium Denim Jeans market.

(4) The report also discusses competitive situation and trends and sheds light on company expansions and merger and acquisition taking place in the Premium Denim Jeans market. Moreover, it brings to light the market concentration rate and market shares of top three and five players.

(5) Readers are provided with findings and conclusion of the research study provided in the Premium Denim Jeans Market report.

Our study encompasses major growth determinants and drivers, along with extensive segmentation areas. Through in-depth analysis of supply and sales channels, including upstream and downstream fundamentals, we present a complete market ecosystem.

If you require any specific information that is not covered currently within the scope of the report, we will provide the same as a part of the customization.

Acquire This Reports: -

https://introspectivemarketresearch.com/checkout/?user=1&_sid=16591

About us:

Introspective Market Research (introspectivemarketresearch.com) is a visionary research consulting firm dedicated to assisting our clients to grow and have a successful impact on the market. Our team at IMR is ready to assist our clients to flourish their business by offering strategies to gain success and monopoly in their respective fields. We are a global market research company, that specializes in using big data and advanced analytics to show the bigger picture of the market trends. We help our clients to think differently and build better tomorrow for all of us. We are a technology-driven research company, we analyse extremely large sets of data to discover deeper insights and provide conclusive consulting. We not only provide intelligence solutions, but we help our clients in how they can achieve their goals.

Contact us:

Introspective Market Research

3001 S King Drive,

Chicago, Illinois

60616 USA

Ph no: +1-773-382-1047

Email: sales@introspectivemarketresearch.com