One of the many things a large number of women like to do is go shopping for clothes. Most clothing stores only have women’s clothing, and those that also have men’s clothing have a much smaller selection for men. Most clothing commercials are targeted toward women, even those that advertise men’s clothing, and I have more clothes in my closet than in my dad’s and little brother’s closets combined. Why, then, do women have worse quality clothing than men?
For example, flannels are supposed to be warm. Men’s flannels are thick and slightly fuzzy. Women’s flannels, however, are thin and made of a material that doesn’t keep one warm at all. It is a well-known fact in my group of friends that if a girl wants a good quality flannel, she would have to buy one from the men’s department.
Another thing that many girls find annoying is pockets. Women’s pockets are so much smaller than men’s, and while some people argue that it’s because women have purses, I’m pretty sure many women and girls wouldn’t use purses if they could just have big pockets. Some pairs of pants don’t even have front pockets, just indents that look like pockets. Other items of women’s clothing do have pockets, but the tops are sown together, forcing the buyer to open them up with scissors. This is unnecessary work and could lead to clumsier people, like me, poking a hole in their pants the day they buy them. While we’re on the subject of pants, women’s shorts are either booty shorts or really tight or both. I’m not exactly skinny, and even though short shorts show off my large thighs, all of the longer pairs I’ve tried have made them look worse than the short shorts did.
In addition to that, T-shirts with logos are things that I really like wearing. Showing off one of your interests is a good way to make friends, in my experience. The only problem is, most of those T-shirts with logos come in one style called “unisex.” Unisex shirts usually have really high collars and really large and wide sleeves. They’re basically men’s shirts with a different name. Now, some websites have recently started adding a “women’s” style for these graphic tees, but they have extremely low-cut collars if they are V-necks and usually cost more than the unisex size. V-necks in stores are also usually revealing for women.
The list goes on and on, but I’ll refrain from complaining about how women pay more for a bra and underwear called a swimsuit than men pay for a large, baggy pair of pants called swim trunks, among other things. The point that I’m trying to make is despite the fact that women shop more, they ultimately get less for their money. Additionally, it is accepted by most girls and women that in order to get better quality pants, flannels, and shirts that aren’t cut obscenely low, one would have to shop in the men’s department. There are blogs online about how to do so effectively, and even Buzzfeed showed a video titled “Struggles only Geek Girls Understand,” which included one girl sneakily shopping in the men’s section for graphic tees. Why is this concept so accepted?
I think that it’s unfair to women to treat them like this when they are the larger consumers of clothing. The good news is that this issue is starting to be mentioned more on social media.
Thousands of Twitter users, for example liked and retweeted a tweet by Fat Amy that said “why do bras cost $50? why does makeup cost $50? why do men’s shirts come in plastic packs with four for $10?” Now all people need to do is raise more awareness about this and have people start asking clothing companies why they skimp on women’s clothing. We deserve better.