There’s an ad for a T-shirt company right now that asks “Can a T-shirt really be worth £35?” It’s remarkably out of date. It’s possible now to spend twice that, even three figures, on a T-shirt – and that’s one without a glitzy name or flashy graphic.
It wasn’t that long ago, of course, that even the most dedicated clothes horse bought, say, plain white T-shirts in packs of three. When they lost their shape or discoloured, no matter, just buy another pack.
That doesn’t seem so smart now. Increased awareness of sustainability that – for some at least – has underscored the idea that treating any clothing as disposable is ethically dubious: a whopping 87% of all disposed textiles end up incinerated or in landfill,