Sunday, August 31, 2014

Thanks Giving

    Monday marks the American holiday Labor Day; a holiday designed to honor those who work on our behalf to provide the goods and services we need for our lives.  Its fitting then to take some time to honor in especial those millions of unknown workers out there, who through their constant toil provide us with the clothing we wear, and give me, and us, something to talk about here.
    Those people are the ones who literally create the Attire language in all its forms, bringing our thoughts out into the real world, and giving them physical reality.  It is to these people, working long hours, most often ill treated and badly compensated, that we owe every stitch we have on our backs, unless we have spun, woven and made up our own clothing ourselves.
    To the farmers, ranchers, mill workers, weavers, dyers, printers, pattern makers, cutters, piece workers, pickers, packers, shippers and warehousers, I say thank you, profoundly.
    To the designers, fitters, embroiderers, salespeople and display artists, Bravo.
    To the makers of thread, buttons, zippers, velcro, snaps, hooks and eyes and all other sorts of notions. Thanks for making garments possible.
    To the tanners of hides, makers of ribbons and trims and the programmers of computers, another bravo.
    And finally, to all those visionary folk out there, who in labs and work spaces are creating the technologies that will pull this whole huge language farther along, I give many thanks.
    Each and all of these disparate folk have a role in what we have in our closets. We never acknowledge them, the designer gets the spotlight.  But without them the designers would have nothing to show, and we would all be much closer to naked.

    Without them all, we are diminished, and the Attire language goes mute.
    My thanks and debt to them always, on Labor Day, and every day.

So naturally, there will be no post here tomorrow!

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