Clothing

As one historian noted, 'Clothing used to be way more expensive, more expensive than you can imagine. Think of spending a years salary on a set of clothes'. Which seems unreal, until you realize until the industrial revolution, every bit of clothing was handmade. Sewn by hand, dyed by hand, woven by hand. 

I feel like that has happened again, even in my lifetime. T-shirts became SWAG, something so cheap to provide that it could be given away.  Working at Einstein's Bagels, my brother used to get a new shirt every month or so. My Dad kept all of them, and wore them. Its easy to make fun of the last generation for wearing T-shirts with all sorts of logos, but times were different--incomes were lower and it was a free shirt (regardless of whatever logo/brand it had scrawled on it).

The cheapness of clothing made it possible for people to have a whole lot of clothing, and hence a wide variety of clothing. And that made style matter. Which in turn drove the explosion in clothing retail across America over the past couple of decades. Accustomed to scarcity, people gorged. But I wonder if part of what is driving the collapse in retail is satiation--the people accustomed to scarcity have swollen closets. And the generation following them has never known that scarcity. The explosion of thrift stores, clothing recyclers, and second-hand boutiques (stuffed with discards from the gluttons) probably contributes, but fundamentally I don't think buying clothes provides the same dopamine surge. 

The increasing affluence of the 'scarcity-induced-glutton-mentality' generation has offset this--moving from Shopko to Loft. But that too will pass. This has major implications for retail, which has major implications for city budgets. Less need for retail space means more vacant retail space, which means falling property values, and smoke-shops and karate studios replace chain stores. Retail structures age fast, much faster than offices or even warehouses. 

Prior to COVID, most of that retail seemed to be on-track to be developed as low-rise elevator apartments (< 7 stories). There was always a conflict there, as the locations ideal for retail (adjacent to wide, high-traffic roads) is less than ideal for human habitation (noise, pollution).