A note on craftsmanship

Have you seen the TikToks of Chinese manufacturers “exposing” the luxury market in response to the tariffs on Chinese goods? If you believe them, I have two bridges to sell you, one in San Francisco and a gorgeous beauty in Lagos, Nigeria. Leave a comment, I’ll send the price and pick up details (pick up and cash only. No deliveries). 

If you gave me a free Hermes bag I’d take it but I’d probably wear it infrequently. I am uninterested in owning most luxury goods for status or style. I buy what I like and my emphasis on fit comes from an understanding — albeit elementary — of craftsmanship. Craftsmanship is a skill which impacts the quality and design of a craft. In this case, a well-made fashion item is evident in the design, maker’s skill, and the four Fs: fabrics, fit, finishings, function. So even if you bought the same fabric, finishings and copied the exact design of an Hermes bag, lacking the skill to assemble the parts in a manner that enhances aesthetic appeal and longevity will affect its quality. 

The original Hermes bags utilizes a stitch called the saddle stitch which is a time consuming hand stitch that utilizes two needs and a single thread. This technique ensures the seams are strong and long lasting. By contrast, the videos supposedly exposing the production of Hermes bags showed several clips of Chinese manufacturers assembling their counterfeit bags with industrial sewing machines. If you compare both bags, you will notice that the hole a hand stitch makes is significantly smaller than that of an industrial sewing machine. The size of the holes on the seams not only affects the appearance of the bag, but reduces the longevity of the seams, which means that if a single stitch from a machine sewn bag unravels, the entire area unravels. This is not the case with a saddle stitch. This is not a defense of the exorbitant prices for luxury goods — in fact, from what I’ve seen, contemporary Hermes bags are often sewn on industrial machines as well.  Instead, it’s a distinction of quality. Neither the current-day Hermes bags nor their counterfeits have the same markers of quality the saddle-stitched Hermes bags have.

While observing the responses to the aforementioned TikToks, I noticed that the people who believed this incredible marketing campaign for counterfeit goods weren’t those who cannot afford luxury fashion; the people who shill for luxury goods were at the forefront of hailing the dissent of Chinese manufacturers. Yet it is unsurprising. I have written ad nauseum about the downsides of acquiring fashion goods for status and class ascension. I have explored what Marx describes as commodity fetishism — a belief in the power of objects in themselves, sold to consumers as goods that can change their lives — disconnects us from the means of production. Most of the people who own six figures’ worth of designer goods don’t know what makes the craftsmanship of their belongings superior to other goods on the market; they only understand brand recognition. 

You should buy things you like and use them often. I also challenge you to learn about the skill and time it took to dream up and assemble everything you own. Doing so sharpens your senses for why things work well and why they don’t. You will notice that the kinds of stitches on a leather bag or garment affects its longevity and aesthetic appeal. Our alienation from how we produce everything has affected how we spend our money and escalated overconsumption to astronomic levels. This disconnect is also why most people believe that Chinese manufacturers are willing to jeopardize lucrative manufacturing contracts to sell directly to American consumers. Can you also tell me why Chinese vendors chose to “expose” the production practices of Hermes, a European fashion house, in response to AMERICAN tariffs. My god! Open the schools! 

In one of my many conversations about fashion with my brilliant writer friend, Adedoyin, she said your relationship to clothes and fashion is directly linked to what you owned. She meant that if you never repaired or learned how to care for your clothes, it will manifest in what you buy and how you dress. I wrote it down and ruminated on it frequently especially in the midst of big brained commentary like the ones prompting this newsletter. So it wasn’t surprising to see the same people who cannot ignore a new fashion collaboration or collection exalt brilliant marketing for counterfeit goods as “going rogue.” Chinese manufacturers bet on the gullibility of American consumers and it worked. As writer Tahirah Hairston puts it, the revelation is that Chinese manufacturers understand the wants and desires of Americans and what makes us feel important more than we understand ourselves. On the other hand, these manufacturers revealed also that they too exalt the influence of a brand like Hermes. If they didn’t they’d be showing you their own bag designs, rather than using the Hermes name recognition to promote their goods. This campaign revealed that none of us are exempt from participating in capitalist consumption. You have not outsmarted the capitalist machine by buying counterfeit products regardless of the quality — but you’re not necessarily outsmarting it by buying a better-quality vintage bag either. If you didn’t want a Birkin bag before this marketing campaign, you don’t need it now. 

This isn’t to say that you cannot find well-made fashion goods outside of the heritage luxury market. Your knowledge of markers of quality, beyond an item’s raw materials, will affect what you choose. I have hesitated to write a more technical newsletter on what to look for while purchasing fashion goods because I worry that you will focus on checklists — like fabric content, expensive finishings — while ignoring other nuances for markers of quality. Instead of buying a Hermes cashmere jacket because of brand reputation and fabric content, but which you rarely wear, learn how a jacket should fit and find one that fits your body.

When I made a conversation thread regarding these TikToks and the responses, someone asked for specific newsletters that covered markers of quality. While I hesitate to write prescriptive newsletters on what to buy, I have written newsletters that cover the important aspects of quality.