The Great American Apparel Diet » The Great American Apparel Diet

Thank you, Sally!

Grace — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 04:07:45 +0000

It’s been almost eight months since I decided to stop mindlessly buying clothes. But for Sally and many others of you, it’s been almost TWO YEARS.

I stumbled upon this site a few days after I decided to start my Year (Almost) Without Shopping, and found out that I was not the first one to come up with this idea, and I was not alone.

The rules of The Great American Apparel Diet are a lot tougher than my rules, but we have a lot in common: try before you buy, quality not quantity, don’t buy anything on sale that you wouldn’t buy at full price — all this after, the non-shopping year is over, of course. I allowed myself that 40th birthday allowance, but Sally says shoes are allowed. No way I’d put in that clause, or I’d have myself a huuuge collection of shoes by now. (That pair of sandals I bought before BlogHer will have to come out my end-of-year savings.)

In the early weeks of my Year (Almost) Without Shopping, TGAAD was a big part of keeping me on track. On more than one occasion, I followed my old habit of wandering over to the mall when I had an extra hour between appointments or before picking the kids up from school. Those after-Christmas sales were mighty tempting. It sounds cheesy, but I really did think about those 300 other non-shoppers at TGAAD, many of whom have blogged their accomplishments — and slip-ups — and that was enough to keep me from buying something I didn’t need. Either that or I’m just really competitive, and the idea that if all these other shopaholics could kick their habit, then so could I.

On the rare occasion that I go “window shopping”, I still get that OMG, I NEED THAT, MY LIFE WILL BE SO MUCH BETTER IF I HAVE THAT urge. But I am able to recognize it for what it is, and — for the most part — resist it.

So thank you, Sally, for creating The Great American Apparel Diet and inspiring (soon to be former) shopaholics like me.

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4 Months Down!

Janna — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:21:41 +0000

Just wanted to check in! I have been participating for 4 months and although I may or may not have purchased a few items, my drive is still strong! At least the things I may, or may not, have bought were of necessity and on sale! i.e. jackets and sweaters (I do live in COLORADO!) I’m just happy that I have been learning about myself during this process and thus far, I am pleased. Happy to say that I am remaining on the band wagon THROUGH the TGAAD date and hopefully all the way till next March!
xoxo

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You must read Geenen Roth’s Lost and Found

Sally Bjornsen — Fri, 27 May 2011 22:36:21 +0000

Alright people. Here is a must read book you need to run out and get asap! Geneen Roth, a renowned expert on women and food has now written a book about women and money. It’s excellent and so speaks to what we are trying to do on this clothing diet. I found her inspiration to be wonderful and spot on for people who are struggling to control their spending habits. Why do you buy so many clothes? If this is a question you have asked yourself again and again then this book is for you.

Roth lost all of her life savings in the Madoff debacle and was forced to examine all of her history and emotions around money. What she uncovered was so much more than money woes. Money is never just about money, it is packed with emotion, history and power. Now go, run out the door and buy this book or get a copy at the library. You will thank me!

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I learned something new yesterday.

Amy S — Mon, 02 May 2011 02:12:22 +0000

I went to the mall yesterday to return a purse my daughter picked out for prom. She brought it home and it didn’t exactly match her dress. Since my husband was home with the kids, I went alone. I usually have to run errands with at least a couple of kids in tow, but this time, luxuriously, I went alone. In retrospect, it would have been better to have a few little people with me moaning about being bored and rushing me along, but I went into the den of enticement without anyone to keep me from “just looking”. I was sorely tempted by lovely, adorable things that I absolutely don’t need and didn’t want to spend money on. I withstood and didn’t buy anything, but I came pretty close! Today, I am so glad I didn’t, but it was very hard to walk away at the time.

I should have know better than to spend more than two minutes at the mall because the first step to withstanding temptation is to avoid, it, right?

Anyway, later in the evening, while I sat up waiting for the above mentioned daughter to return from the prom, I read part of a book on weight loss with a chapter about resisting temptation. It suggested imagining the food that was tempting you as dirty, smashed and maggot ridden. I was thinking today that that might work to help with the temptation to buy while I am on TGAAD. I still think the best thing to do is stay out of the mall, but that isn’t always possible. I could imagine a new sweater pilled and stretched out, or dress pants with frayed edges and tees with stains on the front. If I get really desperate, maybe I’ll even go all the way and think about maggots on that pretty dress!

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by the numbers.

Susie Hanna — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:44:21 +0000

84
days since I began this diet.
49
days until I broke down and bought “something”
875
what that ‘something’ cost. “shh..”
35
days since then
8
items I tried selling on eBay in hopes of M.M.M [making more money]
1
item that actually sold [jeans]
69.99
was the price I sold them for [yay!]
200
was what I paid for them [boo]
281
days left in this challenge!

HAPPY FRIDAY LOVIES :)

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Who makes your clothes?

Patricia — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:02:42 +0000

146 women workers died in the Triangle fire, some from asphyxiation and others after they jumped from the upper floors where they had been locked in.

Before the diet, I used to ignore the sources of my clothing. It was hard enough to find things that fit my plus-size, pear-shaped body and looked good on me, without checking the labels.

In the time that I’ve been on the diet, I’ve become more of an activist in my community (there’s a video on YouTube of me leading a rally supporting my state’s workers), and also done some thinking about what I want to buy when the diet is over.

I still go window-shopping online sometimes, and I’ve given myself permission to buy if something is exactly right, but it never is.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. An article from The Boston Globe describes how we haven’t stopped putting garment workers in danger — we’ve just sent our sweatshops offshore. Sociologist Robert Ross:

I’ve been studying Bangladeshi garment factory fires. There’s a horrific crescendo, years after year, of garment factory fires there, and they resemble the Triangle fire of 100 years ago in terrible ways. … That the Triangle fire is in the past is comforting because that was then, this is now. I wish that were true. More than 90 percent of our clothing is imported from a market that’s mostly unregulated. What happens in each country is that the employers and the governments are worried that if they increase their standards and conditions, another country will beat them to the market.

I would love to buy clothes that fit me, look good on me, and are made in this country by people who were getting paid properly to do so. I may have to compromise once the diet is over, but I’m going to start my shopping on sites like these:

Sweatfree Communities
EthixMerch (this leans more toward uniforms and work gear, but if you need ‘em, might as well buy them ethically)
Union Label

Sweatshop-made clothes are a fact of life, unfortunately — try finding ethically made bras or underwear! — but whether they are in New York or Bangladesh, the people who make my clothing deserve my respect.

Footnote: OK, I have to be a little bit political here. On the day of the Triangle fire, a young woman named Frances Perkins was having tea nearby and arrived at the scene in time to see women jumping from 10th-story windows to their deaths, because their employers had locked them in to prevent unauthorized breaks. Moved by this, she went on to work for reform in working conditions and eventually became Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. Today, the governor of Maine, where her parents were born and where I now live, is trying to dishonor her work by taking her name off a conference room and removing a mural honoring her. If you agree with me that this is a lousy way to behave, call 207-287-3531 and make your feelings known.

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Cycling Girdle

Sally Bjornsen — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:39:49 +0000

Hi guys…anyone out there? Things are sort of quiet on the blog these days which makes me wonder….are you all still dieting? Remember only a few more months.

Some good news. My husband and I just got a tandem bike. The bad news…cycling apparel. For those of you unfamiliar with cycling shorts they are every girl’s fashion nemesis. The good news, I don’t have to spend anytime in a dressing room trying on cycling shorts like I did last year thanks to TGAAD. I will blaze forward in the same bad, unattractive shorts I wore last year. Which brings up a scary topic. Trying on bike shorts. If you haven’t done it don’t. It’s enough to make a girl give up on the sport. See my post from last Spring when I found myself in the same situation. Unfortuantely I was still shopping…

June 2009 (pre TGAAD)

I have recently and reluctantly re-taken up cycling, I guess you could call it recycling. I say reluctantly not because I don’t enjoy cycling or its benefits—forty miles equals a monster sized burrito and a frothy Hefferweizen. I say reluctantly because the clothes SUCK. I am being kind when I say that no one, not even Mark, my handsome, 2% body fat husband looks good in the stuff.

My re-entry into the sport began last spring when Mark talked me into upgrading my old, Raleigh ten speed to a fancy, schmancy, carbon fiber, eighteen speed something or other, with clip-in pedals. He said the upgrade was for me but I really think the old red Raleigh along side his pimped-out racing bike embarrassed him. My new bike, donned with all the components and the aero dynamic seat that is sure to give me hemorrhoids, is something he can stand by with pride. My outfit? Not so much. Upon completing the expensive bike transaction with the tattooed sales specialist, Mark insisted we stop by the apparel section of the store to check out some cycling pants. He obviously had a vision.

“Wait a minute,” I said, pausing in my tracks for effect. “Cycling pants? Are you !@#$%^ nuts? I told you I’d ride but I didn’t say I’d wear the pants. I would rather wear a pair of high waist, acid washed jeans than a pair of ugly, spandex, sausage legged shorts with a crotch chaffing, Kotex Maxi Pad chamois. It’s not my look.”

“Well then what are you going to wear?” he asked.

“My yoga pants.”

“Your yoga pants, for cycling?”

“Yeah, why not? They look so much better. You know the ones, the bell bottom lulu lemon pants with the hipster contrast border at the waist.”

“You’re not serious.”

“Yes. I am not wearing those weird pants. No way.”

I saw in his eyes his vision for our future of biking together slip away. “You can’t wear yoga pants babe. Not with your fancy new bike. It’s just not done.”

I knew then I was in over my head. This cycling business was so much more than the bike. It was a culture that demanded an aesthetic reset. I was now the proud owner of a fancy bike that required me to scrap my instinctive fashion sensibility and embrace the ugliest, most unattractive trend invented by man (a woman would know better).

And so right there in the bike store I acquiesced. I gathered six to ten pair of black cycling shorts and began the demoralizing task of squeezing my soft body into a variety of girdle like contraptions, one after the other in search of the “most flattering pair.” News flash, for those of you who have an issue with cellulite the issue becomes an all out crisis in bike shorts. I stood face to face with myself in the small, dingy fitting room and mouthed the words “you know better.”

Mark called from outside the dressing room, “hon, come out and show us.” The us included the youngish, sinewy sales woman. “Not yet,” I said, nearly out of breath and laboriously peeling off another pair of tourniquet shorts. The sales girl chimed in, “do you have a jersey?” And with that she hung three loudly colored polyester jerseys over the dressing room door. “Try these on, we just got them in. They’re awesome.” Awesome was not the word that came to mind. Logo-mad print designer on acid was more like it.

I finally settled on a pair of black, below the knee knickers with a stayfree mini-pad sized chamois. They were $90. Who knew that being unattractive could cost so much? My husband and his sales clerk side-kick were disappointed that I passed on the Jerseys. I was certain that I could get away with cycling pants and a Gap t-shirt for a while. At least until I found an inconspicuous jersey that didn’t scream “this is ugly.”

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Clothing Swaps! my new best friend

Jen Mason — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:22:20 +0000

Hi everyone,

I just joined and I’m so excited about this challenge
because it takes my current self imposed challenge to another level.
At the beginning of the year I made the personal decision to abstain
from shopping at any department/retail stores for one year and this
includes shoes. Yes, shoes! (will tell you later how I have overcome
that pain) As a result of my personal challenge my sewing skills have
been reignited, my Goodwill and thrift store shopping skills have been
enhanced and I have discovered the latest craze, Clothing Swaps!

In case you don’t know, the way a clothing swaps works is you bring a
few folks together who have clothes they decide they don’t want
anymore and trade with others. There is no limit to how much you can
take away or how much you can bring to the swap. Afterwards if any
clothes are left over you can donate to Goodwill or use for crafting
projects. Just this past weekend at The Green Living Expo I attended
a seminar given by Goodwill, I was introduced to the TGAAD and have
decided to participate. Since I cannot use thrift stores or Goodwill I
will be swapping at least once a month. Swaps more than anything have
allowed me to expand my wardrobe beyond belief. Ive attended 5 this
year. It’s amazing how much excess we have in our closets that we
don’t wear, that still have tags on them or that just don’t fit. I’ve
found suits, sweaters, shoes, boots and dresses. You name it you can
find it. And the larger the swap the better the selection.

To bring a little relief to this challenge we have embarked upon I
would recommend getting a group of your friends together and having a
small swap in your home. 5-10 people who wear nearly the same size
clothing swapping their wears can yield some great finds. In fact I’m
organizing a swap on May 1st in Bowie, MD. For those who are
interested and live in the DC, MD or VA area let me know and I will
send you the info or check out
http://www.meetup.com/PrettyGirlz-Clothing-Swap/ for more information.
If you need ideas or help getting organized in you city let me know
and I’m happy to help.

Oh and the self imposed shoe diet………Well I’m attending a shoe
swap in May. That should take care of my shoe needs through the end of
the year problem solved.

Happy Swapping!

Jenn

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Just Joining!

Janna — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:06:30 +0000

I have been seeing different sites and blogs that suggest “consumer diets” and have slowly built an interest. At first I thought “Good for them!”, then I started thinking “Could be fun…” and now I’m thinking “I can do this!!” I do shop very frugally, enjoying the hunt for sales and thrifting, but have now turned my focus towards home decor and cooking, so why not just cut out buying clothes altogether? I have a whole closet room-so no need to purchase more clothes, my hubby and I have begun our financial planning for investing and retirement-so I can contribute more toward that with the money I save and honestly I think it’ll do me good to face this challenge. I would like to believe that I am not a materialistic person by nature and this will be proof to me that I have my priorities in order and am not consumed by consumerism

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Close call at the thrift store!

Debbie Y — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:05:21 +0000

This was almost going to be a confessional. I need a purple-ish top to wear for a family reunion in a few months. Found one at for $1 at the thrift store. I carried it around with me for a few minutes but ended up not totally loving it so I put it back and felt proud of myself. If I make one purchase and fall off my diet, then I better make it a good one.

But first I’ll look in my closet to see if I don’t already have a purple top.

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