Low-cost clothing outlasts expensive pieces

◆ Susan

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If you’ve been shelling out for designer clothing in the hopes that it will be more durable than cheaper options, you might want to reconsider it.A new study from The University of Leeds suggests that low-cost clothing might actually outlast pricier pieces.

The study was led by Dr Mark Sumner, a lecturer in fashion and sustainability.Using samples of T-shirts and jeans from a variety of brands and price points, researchers measured factors such as seam(接縫) strength, colorfastness(色牢度), and how long it took for the fabric of each piece to develop rips or tears(撕裂).

Despite the popular notion that designer clothes are more sturdily(剛強地) constructed than off-the-rack(現成的) items, the study found that fast-fashion shirts and jeans usually out-performed their luxury counterparts.

“Some of the garments performed very well across a wide range of tests—more often than not, the best products were ‘fast-fashion’ products,” Dr Sumner told The Telegraph.“Jeans from one fashion brand lasted twice as long as a designer label jeans, but cost one-tenth of the price of the designer jeans,” he said.

According to Dr Sumner’s interview with The Telegraph, designer label T-shirts were“the worst performing” in all of the tests.Surprisingly, T-shirts from an online fast-fashion brand held up the best.

Of course, price isn’t the only thing to consider when shopping for new threads.The fashion industry is a huge source of environmental pollution, with low-cost clothing contributing heavily to landfi ll waste and carbon gas emissions.

According to the EPA Offi ce of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year.With trends appearing and vanishing in the blink of an eye, the average number of times a garment is worn before it is disposed of has decreased 36% over the past 15 years, according to a 2017 report.

Although some clothing items are estimated to be trashed after just seven wears, less than 1% of clothing is recycled to create new clothing.Plus, fast-fashion can come with ethical concerns depending on the company.

But it’s not just fast-fashion brands that are guilty of wasteful practices.Earlier this year, high-end design label Burberry acknowledged burning almost $40 million of unsold clothes, accessories(飾品), and perfume.According to the BBC, the company opted to destroy the items rather than sell them more cheaply in order to protect the brand’s value.

All in all, there’s a lot to consider when purchasing new clothing.But, keeping those bargain jeans in your wardrobe(衣柜) rotation could be good for your budget and the environment—and chances are they can last just as long as the designer pair you’ve been eyeing.

閱讀理解

1.What’s the meaning of the underlined words in the fi rst paragraph?

A.Bought.B.Lived.C.Paid.D.Preferred.

2.What’s the result of the research?

A.Seam strength and colorfastness are better.

B.The more expensive the jeans are, the more long-wearing.

C.It takes long for the fabric of each piece to develop rips or tears.

D.Fast-fashion shirts and jeans last longer than luxury ones.

3.According to Dr Sumner, ‘fast-fashion’ products have the following characteristics _____.

①cheap ② durable ③ environmentally-friendly ④ expensive ⑤polluting

A.①② B.②③ C.③④ D.④⑤

4.From the passage we can infer that designer clothes are ______.

A.low-carbon B.changed quickly C.trashed easily D.wasted heavily

5.In a nutshell, the author suggested that we’d better buy _____.

A.expensive clothes B.bargain jeans

C.high-end design label Burberry D.perfume

答案與解析

1.C。詞義猜測題。根據后面語境中的“cheaper，pricier”等可以判斷C正確。

2.D。細節理解題。根據文章第三段“the study found that fast-fashion shirts and jeans usually out-performed their luxury counterparts”，意思是“研究發現，快時尚品牌的T恤和牛仔褲通常都比名牌衣服更耐穿”。

3.A。細節理解題。根據文章第四段和第五段的內容可以判斷A正確。③⑤兩點雖然是廉價衣服的特點但不是薩姆納博士的話。

4.A。推理判斷題。根據第六段對廉價衣服的描述可以推斷A正確。

5.B。細節理解題。根據文章最后一段中“keeping those bargain jeans in your wardrobe(衣柜) rotation could be good for your budget and the environment”可以知道B正確。

長難句分析

1.The fashion industry is a huge source of environmental pollution, with low-cost clothing contributing heavily to landfi ll waste and carbon gas emissions.時裝行業是造成環境污染的一大源頭，低成本服裝嚴重加劇了垃圾填埋和二氧化碳排放。

這是個簡單句，句中使用with復合結構。with+賓語+現在分詞，這是常考的一點。如：

He fell asleep with the lamp burning．他沒熄燈就睡著了。

I won’t be able to go on holiday with my mother being ill．因為媽媽有病，我無法去度假。

2.All in all, there’s a lot to consider when purchasing new clothing.總而言之，在買新衣服之前要考慮的東西很多。

這是個復合句。在there be句型中，主語a lot 有to consider這個不定式做定語，when引導的時間狀語從句使用了省略形式。例如：Many years ago,there was such a beautiful girl who was called Caixia.很久以前有一個叫彩霞的美麗女孩。