Well, who says that because people make it at home it will fit or be of good quality? Home sewn clothes may also not fit and be worn only once, left to rot in the back of a closet OR half finished in a ‘to-do’ pile instead of a warehouse. Let us not forget that sewing is a developed skill, that takes years to develop properly to ensure durability and fit. She makes it seem like anyone sitting in front of a Singer can be a tailor.

Also, her methodology of production would mean that everyone would have to go and purchase sewing machines, surgers, button hole makers, and other tools and machines to make their clothes… if every household had to purchase and run these, it wouldn’t be very sustainable or economical, would it? Where does the electricity come to power home sewing machines? Then everyone would have to drive to stores and tansport their fabrics to their own individual houses. That may not be very sustainable either. Logistics play a huge role in sustainability. Where does the fabric you buy “from your local store” come from? Probably from china, from fabric sales points. Why not produce it in a factory in China if that where the fabric comes from anyway? Then it at least gets produced in factories that generally currently now recycle fabric scraps.

Another point is who has time to make all those clothes? Designers like this usually spend very little time in front of their sewing machines producing anything but their samples- sometimes not even that. They forget how time consuming sewing is. Mass production – or outsourcing the production of your clothes- actually lead women to have more time to do things like develop a career. I’m not devaluing sewing at home, nor am I validating mass sweat shops that take advantage of developing classes in countries with corrupt and lax labour laws- but it is something to be considered.

This woman has an interesting concept- and her clothing is beautiful. It puts the VOGUE patterns of old to shame. Most major fashion labels in the 1800’s to the present produce patterns to buy and sew at home. You know, the patterns that also never got purchased and sit around in the backs of fabric land or were sent to the landfill… oh now you can download them from her. We all know how sustainable computer and printer production is. E-waste isn’t an issue, right?

Patterns and home sewing have died off for a reason. It’s not something new or radical. It’s not pioneering or building a new path. SANS just does it with a neo-sustainable, ungrounded modernist attitude, that’s all.

I also find people who smoke (usually putting money in the pockets of huge and ethicalless corporations) a wee bit out of touch with what they preach. You know the average smoking habit takes 300 trees a year to support?