The Lion. The Witch, And the Smartly Built Wardrobe.

Shopping has always been a big part of my life. As a teenager, I spent countless hours browsing racks of clothes everywhere from department stores, boutiques, consignment, and thrift shops. As I started to enter adulthood, I moved more towards online shopping at sample sale sites and really foraging for deals in thrift stores so I could avoid the stench of corporate bullshit. This online shopping format proved especially useful for gift shopping because it eliminated the wrapping and shipping aspect. Today I was reading an article on Business Insider titled Don't FallFor These 5 Pricing Tricks when I came across a shopping ideal that I felt filled an ideological and wardrobe need all at once. Specifically when talking about markup pricing( fucking scam that charges you a fortune and pays the under served community that produces your clothes slave wages), the article referred the reader to an online retail start up that practices what they call "Radical Transparency." Like any curious and savvy shopper would, I promptly abandoned the article to be read at a later time and clicked on the link to Everlane. I immediately saw a purpose for this type of shopping in my life as I find it super hard in this age of trends and frills to find well made and affordable basics to fill the holes in my wardrobe while still shopping responsibly for product made in factories that I had information on. I prefer to spend my money in places that make an effort to not exploit women and children in pursuit of greater profits and I was getting to a point where I felt like the merchant walls were closing in on me and the amount of places I could shop were dwindling to the size of a damn pea. The only things I want made by little hands is maybe a Valentine's Day card or macaroni necklace and one of those cute little hand print turkeys.If the witches of the fashion industry conjured up ridiculous markups in their American Apparel cauldrons, Everlane promises to be the lion in my wardrobe enlightening me of the real cost of the plain tees, camisoles, and button ups I intermediately need to replace.