Slide one of our first Design
and Technology lecture- a pair of Manolo Blahniks- very expensive and sought
after high heels. One of the first things I thought about as
soon as I read the name ‘manolo Blanik’ was how much my main gals, Carry,
Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha (the sex and the city gals OF COURSE), love
these shoes and how much I love sex and the city.
Slide two- a picture of
the sex and the city girls. By this point I had decided that this was
definitely my favourite course.
The topic of discussion
was surprisingly more serious than sexy shoes and a 90s sitcom about four New York fashionistas. Craig used Manolo Blahniks to kick of
the discussion of the current state of skilled manufacturing. Making shoes
which ‘spellbound an international set of adoring and loyal devotees’ is very hard work and therefore needs to be done by very skilled
workers. The number of skilled workers is however drastically decreasing due to
the fact that less labour intensive jobs are more attractive. If
it’s a toss up between getting paid two
pounds something an hour to spend all day slaving over the meticulous task of
making bespoke shoes or answering calls in a call center office and drinking
cups of tea for 3 something an hour I know what I would choose.
Maybe if there
was more support for companies who utalise skilled workers and manufacture
locally there would be a recgonised increase in wages. Maybe
we should stop buying so much cheap throw away crap form overseas factories and
support the companies who endorse quality made goods. Should everything we buy be manufactured in Britain by British skilled workers? Surely it would be much
more sustainable for people to buy higher quality things less often than cheap
rubbish every 6 months.
So maybe next
time I think about buying a pair of shoes I'll stroll over to the Manolo Blanhiks and
just think about all those many pairs of cheap shoes I'd be saving from landfill.
