A Love of Labour

Interesting how differences in the way labour is valued can affect reactions one gets in the most unexpected of situations.

Sometime towards the end of last year I bought a charcoal grey suit from Men's Wearhouse. Cost considerations dictated that I get a machine-stitched bottom-of-the-line item that does, nevertheless, more than serve its purpose. This January, I increased my suit collection to two. Only, this one is a beautiful hand-tailored blue pinstriped item.

If you're in the overly-mechanised US, you're thinking, "Holy crap! How, in the space of a few months, did he go from a penniless mass-produced-suit buyer to being a rich snob who must have his couture, like his soup, haute?"

Funnily enough, if you're in cheap-labour-is-everywhere India, you're thinking, "Damn, the grey suit was machine-stitched? Wow, you don't get that kind of quality in this hand-tailored crap!"

So, how did I make the transition, which, depending on where you are, is either a step up or a step down? Simple - the second suit was stitched in Calcutta. And, as it turns out, both cost almost exactly the same!