An immodest proposal

This began as a response to a comment in which the “fashion” industry was dissed for persuading people to buy clothes they don’t really need. But it quickly became a rather more consequential observation.

Just think about one basic meaning of the word "fashion". It means something "new" or different from what came the season or year before. The fact that it's different means that anyone who wants to "keep up" with the "trend" needs to replace something (typically clothes, but also cars, tech gadgets, TV shows, etc.) with something new and different. Hence a steady flow of business for whatever the commodity in question is. It's a perpetual motion machine for profits.

So, yes, of course, the clothing fashion industry depends on most people always wearing clothes, and buying newer versions regularly. If enough people just start going naked more often, the whole scam collapses. Exposing this scam should be a major talking point for naturists. Listen, folks, get smart and spend your hard-earned income on something more useful than the latest "fashion" in clothes that aren’t actually necessary.

Look around any large store that sells general merchandise - Walmart, Target, Macy’s, or whatever. A huge portion of the stores is nothing but clothes, shoes, "accessories", etc. So refusing to keep buying useless clothes would be a real shock to the economy. What could the replacement be? I don't know, but how about travel, exercise, better education, more and better health care, etc. Anything that improves that actual quality of life. We generally understand we'd be better off with more nutritious food instead of junk food. Same thing with clothing. Get off dependence on junk clothes and enjoy being naked instead.

I'm not kidding.