Trading Up

In our society people are always trading up. Oh that iPhone is starting to lose some of that new phone shine? Here's a new iPhone4! Nevermind that it has a lot of problems. It's new! Here have one! Oh, you say you bought a dress last summer? Well now it's this summer so clearly you need to get this extremely similar-yet omigosh clearly different dress for this summer! And don't even get me started on shoes and other accessories that seem to have a shorter lifespan than fruit flies. What happened to high quality goods that last longer than a year or two? why has the attention span of Americans gotten so short that we cannot recognize that our consumer goods are no longer meeting our standards for quality?

I acquired a pair of Dockers plaid pajama pants. These pants are comfy and roomy and just about everything a gal could want out of pajama pants. I've had these pants for two years and golly- i still love them. However, about a month ago I noticed a large rip in the butt part (naturally) of the pants. Being the sentimental and resourceful girl (or woman I should say) I didn't let a little tear get me down! I took a needle and thread and sewed the rip together. Granted the plaid design was slightly more crooked than it had been before but at least my favorite pajama pants were once again intact. Sadly, tonight the rip decided that the stitches I painstakingly (okay...maybe that's an overstatement) stitched into the fabric, were useless, and the rip re-opened once again.

I'm faced with a dilemma. To repair or not to repair? That is the question. I feel that the two years that I have had these pants is obviously past the intended time of wear. I'm sure the people at Dockers are just waiting for me to run out to the stores to grab up more pajama pants to fill the void of my beloved, yet torn, pair. However, I feel as though I've been cheated out of my favorite pajama pants. Don't misunderstand me. I understand that clothes cannot last forever, but is it too much to ask that things last just a little bit longer? Why not make consumer goods more durable. Sure these pants weren't top-of-the-line pajama pants but still. It's a sad day that I'm letting this pair, that has served me well, go to that place where all discarded and torn and out-of-date clothes must go.