[GTALUG] Ontario Bill 72: "Right to Repair"

[Russell Reiter]

On Sun, Mar 10, 2019, 12:12 AM D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk, <talk at gtalug.org>
wrote:

> | From: Don Tai via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
> |
> | A different view from the fashion industry. Instead of making more throw
> | away products, make less but better quality products. It seems very old
> | school, and much less wasteful. Not quite the right to repair, but along
> | the same philosophical line.
> |
> |
> https://www.fastcompany.com/90311509/we-have-to-fix-fashion-if-we-want-to-survive-the-next-century
>
> Interesting.  I think that some of this is exagerated but I'm on-side.
>
> Just like electronics got radically cheaper (orders of magnitude) in
> my lifetime, the cost of clothing has gotten radically cheaper in the
> last three centuries.
>
> I just read:
> <https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/MedCloth04chapfourC.pdf>
>
> The cost of a woollen broadcloth (about 27 meters long) in this period
> (say 1500) was about the same as a master mason's annual wage.
>
> The processes of building garments was complex and labour-intensive.
> There are many steps that most people don't know.  Ever heard of
> carding?  Fulling?  Mordants?
>
> Clothes were inherited.
>
> Worn-out linen was prized for making paper.  There was an occupation
> "rag picker".  You can see paintings of rag pickers in the current
> exhibition at the AGO "Impressionism in the Age of Industry: Monet,
> Pissarro and more".
>

Up until 2005 or so, until a fire, Toronto had a permanent rag trader on
Queen St. near Niagara. He would buy, sort and sell rags. This was a go to
location for painters and wood workers where you could get a big bag of
lower quality cleaning rags for a couple of dollars. If you were into fancy
wood finishes ie. french polishing with linseed oil and turpentine, he
would sell you a few linen or cotton rags but he kept the bulk of those for
artisan paper makers and he apparently shipped those world wide.

>
> Prices started to go down (I think) with the introduction of machines
> like the carding machines, spinning jenny, power looms, cotton gin,
> etc.  Here's a timeline that I found after typing that:
>
> <
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_clothing_and_textiles_technology
> >
>
> This automation eliminated the "need" for slaves in cotton production.
> If I remember correctly, picking the cotton and separating the staple
> from the seeds was very labour-intensive.
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