Before the mechanical stitch, what status did clothing often hold due to the immense time investment required for creation?
Answer
A significant investment, meticulously repaired and rarely discarded
In the era before mechanical sewing, the creation of any garment, even a simple shirt, required hundreds of painstaking hours from a skilled individual seamstress. Because this labor represented such an immense cost in time and skill, clothing was inherently viewed as a significant investment rather than a consumable good. Consequently, items were repaired with meticulous care and were rarely thrown away, as replacing them represented a substantial future labor commitment, contrasting sharply with the disposable nature of ready-to-wear apparel that followed.
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