This week's episode of Patriot Act took on the fast-fashion industry, explaining how much of the clothes lining shelves in H&M, TopShop and ZARA are low-quality knockoffs destined to be worn a few times then cast off in favor of new trends. But Minhaj was only looking at trendy fashion. The politics of day-to-day wear was less considered. You know, the big industry and marketing ideas that affect the quality and types of clothes produced by places like Target and Wal-Mart.

I got to thinking about this while traveling home for Thanksgiving yesterday. In the short train-bus-car ride between campus and my parents' house, I was complimented on my top no less than seven times. What was I wearing? An XL Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sweater I got from the boy's section of Target four years ago, and which is a staple of my winter wardrobe. In the dozens of times I have worn and washed it, the material and color are both still holding up. This is also true for every single XL boys tee and small men's graphic tee I bought on that long-ago pre-college shopping spree.

Every single one of those pieces was 12 dollars or less.

The clothes I have had to throw out or replace? All bought from the women's section. A pretty Knox and Rose Top that shrunk after one wash, a flimsy Knox and Rose cardigan that tore after two uses and stretched out after four*, a women's graphic tee that faded after five washes, a Star Wars sweater that got stretched out and discolored after a year (I still wear it because the discoloring gave it a cool stonewashed look).

All of these were at least 20 dollars, except for the sweater, which I bought on clearance for 4 dollars.

What is also interesting is that every piece in the women's section, graphic tee or otherwise, is either synthetics or a "poly-cotton blend" that is less than 50% cotton. Meanwhile, the graphic tees from the men's and boy's sections are all 100% cotton, 90% at worst. There are interesting health implications for this. Cotton is known to absorb sweat easily, while polyester less so. This gives an impression of being "less wet" while wearing synthetic fabrics compared to wearing cotton. While this might appeal to some, it is important to know that being "drier" might also make you smell worse.

This weird gendered fabric content binary extends to undershirts, too. (At least Hanes has 100% cotton women's underwear, lol).

Now, I can't say anything about the girl's section, since I'm too big to shop there, but what with all the flimsy netting and cheap faux lace dripping off those things, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't last more than a few wears. (But what if the girls just sat around very carefully? Then wouldn't they hold up? Maybe, but the fact that some girl's clothes restricts function in the name of form has some unsettling sexist implications, right? I'm not saying netting and lace are bad, just that they should be detachable.)

These are all subjective descriptions of my own experiences, but if you have thoughts, feel free to sound off in the comments. I might end up doing a mini-research project on this for a future article, but we'll see...

*I stitched it closed and am currently treating it like a precious artifact. It only comes out when I know I won't be doing anything strenuous, sitting anywhere with tables with edges, sitting in any chairs with wheels, edges or arms, etc. I spent $26 on the damn thing, so I'll be damned if I wear it for less than half a year. Thank goodness for that one week of sewing lessons I took when I was nine during my Laura Ingalls Wilder bender. At least I can somewhat repair clothes.