As I sit in my office (affectionately known as “The Bullshit Corner”), I quite often find myself pondering deep, meaningful things (along with a few nonsensical things that give me the giggles, but that’s a topic for another day); lately, I have been reflecting on a documentary that I saw on CBC’s “the fifth estate” called “Made In Bangladesh”.

In this documentary, the “fifth estate” crew interviews a former clothing designer for a national big box store after the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh in which 1,127 people perished.

The designer spoke of an executive meeting that was called just shortly after this tragedy, in which the main topic was how were they going to fill the clothing order now that the manufacturing plant was no more. “Nothing was said of the over 1,100 people who lost their lives…nothing!”

I must confess that it was extremely difficult to watch a full grown man struggle not to cry on national television. This brought home to me that we, in the so-called “first world” countries have become so used to consuming products with nary a thought of how said product comes into being in the first place.

At this point, I took it upon myself to have a gander in my closet and look at the country of manufacture tags; I was quite chagrinned to find an abundance of “Made In China” and “Made In Bangladesh” tags, but not a single “Made In Canada” tag.

Being that we live in a climate that enjoys prolonged periods of cold and wet, outright boycott of all things of Bangladeshi manufacture would cause periods of nakedness until the leaves come forth in the Spring in abundance enough to cover the “naughty bits”.  That is, if said “naughty bits” don’t freeze and fall off in the winter.

I propose that we do, as many investment advisers suggest, diversify, diversify, diversify!

In many larger metropolitan centers, there are quite often a variety of consignment shops and second hand stores that have a good selection of quality clothing for men and women. Here, in this “wee burg” that I live in, a quick perusal of the local second hand/consignment shops reveals a plethora of polyester offerings in patterns and colours that would blind airline pilots flying overhead; the one shop that has good quality offerings is located inside a church building, so be prepared for offerings of the religious variety as well as the raiment variety.

For the well-tailored male, I offer the following “Made In Canada” sources:

Harry Rosen, Tilley, Dion Neckwear, Braemore, Caulfield Apparel, Jack Victor, Lipson Shirtmakers, Samuelsohn Suits, Coppley, Phillipe Dubuc, Philip Sparks, Yenting Chen, and Stanfields.

Now, keeping in mind that many of the above sources do have some prices that are North of “Breathtaking”, I posit that we should look at this as “investment shopping”.  Yes, you may purchase a coat or suit for several hundred dollars, but that money: a) supports a Canadian business, in Canada; and b) at those prices, you are buying quality, not quantity.  I further posit that we would then take greater care of such garments, and keep them for longer.

Also, keep in mind that if you have garments that are in need of small repairs, such as a broken zipper or missing buttons, most local drycleaners have a tailor or seamstress on hand.  I took in several coats that had broken zippers and one winter coat that had some buttons fall off, and had the whole works repaired for a small sum of $75.00 which is much cheaper than replacing said items.

It is time for us to reassess the desire to wear the latest “it” fashion of the moment, and take the long view in all matters of life.  It is cheaper in the long run and looks better.