In May, Cora Rasp wore the same dress every single day.
It was sleeveless and knee-length, a basic shift. It was also reversible, a farm scene on one side and a small geometric print on the other. The boat neckline could be converted into a V-neck.
Rasp wore the dress with boots, flats, sandals and heels. She wore it with sweaters, tights, belts, button-down tops and under other skirts.
She wore it with things she normally would not have paired with a simple printed dress — a loose sweater, a head scarf, a metallic top.
And she wore it to challenge herself to think differently about her clothing, what she needs and how she wears it.
While Rasp, like many, has loads of Clothing and Accessories , she found she was wearing the same sorts of things — in her case, mostly jeans and button-down tops — over and over. She wore the dress in part to break out of her fashion comfort zone.
But she also wore it to force herself to simplify.
“I love the idea of having a small amount of staple pieces in your wardrobe,” said Rasp, who is in the process of paring down her closet to the bare essentials — high quality, timeless pieces that fit.
Rasp's mind-set points to a larger trend in fashion, said Elizabeth L. Cline, author of “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion,” which was published earlier this year. After a decade of buying massive amounts of clothing (64 garments a year on average, according to Cline), after shopping at discount stores and fast-fashion retailers, after dumping clothing that falls apart or goes out of style after a single season, some Americans are beginning to rethink the clothing that they buy.
At the same time, a growing number of designers are producing high quality clothing intended to last well beyond a season or two, in some cases using eco-friendly or recycled materials. Chris Hughes, founder of Omaha's Artifact Bag Company, sells his leather and canvas tote bags and lunch sacks with a lifetime guarantee. Lincoln natives Camilla Eckersley and Davora Lindner founded Prairie Underground, a women's clothing line designed from mostly eco-friendly fabrics and sold exclusively in independent boutiques. Several designers showing at Omaha Fashion Week, including Amanda Clark, Joi Joison, Terri Jen Buckner and Audra McAvaddy, incorporate either sustainably-produced or vintage fabrics into their designs.
Cline likens the shift toward higher quality clothing to the beginnings of the slow food movement. And it's a sharp contrast to how most Americans have dressed and shopped for the past 10 years.
“We were just on a decade-long shopping spree,” said Cline in Bamboo Space .
The onset of the recession ended that shopping spree for many, she said. Since then, some consumers have begun to think about the environmental impact of purchasing clothing made with synthetic fibers or the social impact of purchasing clothing sewn in countries with lax labor laws. Cline described the revelation that the uniforms Ralph Lauren designed for U.S. athletes to wear during the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics had been made in China was a “watershed moment” that reminded consumers where their clothing came from.
In any case, the result is that clothing made of quality materials, by skilled workers, sometimes in the USA, is making a slow but noticeable comeback.
“We definitely try to find a lot of brands that are made in America, and I have definitely noticed a big shift in our customers looking for that,” said Jenny Galley, a co-owner of Denim Saloon, a boutique in Dundee.
When Galley and her sister, Sarah Troia opened the shop in 2010, they were primarily concerned with offering a large selection of well-made, high-quality denim. While some of the brands they carried were made in the USA, they didn't necessarily seek them out.
Over the past six months or year, though, customers have increasingly asked where garments were made, and as customers have sought out USA-made clothing, Galley and Troia have responded by carrying more domestically made brands, including Hughes' Artifact Bags.
Hughes has long dressed in mostly vintage or domestically made clothing — things he was initially drawn to because of their quality and fit. When he started making canvas and leather tote bags and lunch sacks a few years ago, he wanted to emulate the textiles he had long been drawn to, as well as to make a product he was proud of.
“I operate on my personal best,” he said, “and I don't see the point of operating a company if you're doing anything less than that.”
The bags are not cheap — his utility tote costs $145, the lunch tote, $65. But Hughes strives to make sure they are high quality (they're made of leather and waxed canvass, and, for the most part, Hughes sews them himself). He also guarantees them for life.
Slowly, Hughes said, consumers' mind-sets are changing.
“In the last year,” he said. “I've seen more of an emphasis on the idea of buy less, buy better.”
Lindner, co-founder of Prairie Underground, a Seattle-based women's clothing company that makes interestingly designed basics — including monochromatic dresses, tops, tunics, hoodies and leggings — agreed.
“It really is something people are paying more and more attention to,” she said.
Prairie Underground has used sustainably-produced fabrics when possible and has made its garments in Seattle since the company's first collection in 2005. Doing so, she said, gives both the company and its customers the ability to express their values through their clothing. Recently, a boutique catering to new moms began carrying Prairie Underground clothing, she said, and the environmentally friendly aspect of the line seemed to strike a chord with the boutique's customers.
Producing their garments in Seattle also allows the company to be responsive to trends; they can place an extra order for a popular style mid-season and get it to stores quickly, without waiting for the garments to be shipped across an ocean, she said.
Like Artifact Bags, Prairie Underground clothing is not cheap; their popular cloak hoodie retails for more than $200, a long-sleeved T-shirts runs around $60.
The Mens tops clothing is designed to last, she said. But even the best-made clothing won't last if it isn't washed properly or otherwise cared for. Lindner hopes that the trend toward better made clothing also helps consumers rediscover disappearing skills like hand washing, mending and ironing.
“Sometimes, when you pay more for something, you take better care of it,” Lindner said.
Audra McAvaddy, who made Rasp's dress grew up sewing. As a teenager, McAvaddy converted jeans into skirts. As an adult, she'd look in her closet, find nothing to wear, and alter a top to make it more interesting.
“I believe that the future of fashion is in reinvention,” she said.
McAvaddy will show nine looks Friday during Omaha Fashion Week. Her collection — dresses that look like crazy quilts, rompers, high-waited pants and shirts — are made almost entirely from vintage fabrics.
McAvaddy, a mother of four, gravitates toward vintage fabrics in part because she believes it is a responsible thing to do. But she also likes the surprise of going shopping for fabric and having no idea what she might find. It's resulted in her mixing patterns she wouldn't have otherwise, or challenging herself to find a use for a small piece of interesting fabric. “I feel like I end up with more of a unique look in the end,” McAvaddy said.
Of course, not everyone can sew their own clothing, and not everyone can afford to spend $145 on a tote bag or $200 on a sweatshirt. But Cline said merely being mindful of what we're buying and whether we truly need or even want it is a good start.
“It's really more about just slowing down and being conscious on some level of what you're buying,” she said. “And I think that ultimately if you do that you're going to be more satisfied with the things that are in your closet.”
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