One hard challenge: finding shirts that are funny, because they are wildly grammatically wrong, or just whacked.
For example: When I first came here in 1993, Shihlin night market had New York Bulls t-shirts, because Michael Jordan was hot at that time. But, if you know, he played for Chicago Bulls. So, having the Bulls logo but with New York on it was awesome. Bought a couple of those for back home.
Then weird grammar shirts. Just making things up, but phrases like “Fack hur” or “The lovely skye byrns reelly grean on a luvly tee dyner with yuu”.
Those wildly grammatically wrong t-shirts are the bomb and a hit back home.
So, please help out. Where are these stores. Get on it pronto.
Many Japanese brands here have made a hard turn to synthetics. I’ve heard the restrictions/bans on cotton from Xinjiang have hit them hard and at least partially necessitated this change.
Aside from some Japanese brands, Taiwan has a lousy (and often overpriced!) selection for men. It’s far better for me just to show up in Tokyo with an empty suitcase (not possible for me, alas, during the pandemic).
What’s with skinny fit? Who actually fits in those things? I can barely get my foot through.
Shoes. Don’t get me started on shoes. The quality is crap and they have no shoes for larger feet. Also the glue doesn’t last. Maybe because you could cook an egg on the street in summer.
Shirts. Always “Asian size” which means they don’t fit anyone but skinny little people. Even the stuff that’s marked xxxl.
Overall quality is quite poor. I’ve got shirts I bought from 15-20 years ago that are still perfectly good. Yet a shirt I bought two years ago has holes in it and it’s falling apart.
Price. Taiwan does not have the economies of scale that the US does, so it’s hard to find clothes at a good price and there are hardly any outlet stores or good second hand stores either. Unless I need something desparately or see something really cool or at a great price, I wait once every 2-3 years to do a massive clothes shopping spree on visits home.
Also the idea that cotton is more sustainable than synthetics is changing. Especially when you consider the social cost and how difficult it really is to guarantee that your cotton did not come from Xinjiang, Uzbekistan etc.
Many major brands are moving towards recycled polyester and nylon, biodegradable and bio based lamination, even recycled zippers. Performance is just superior that is why it’s so popular.
I don’t get how anyone could wear jeans in this heat. Or wear on a plane for that matter.
There are some good local brands as well - Traveler is one that comes to mind.
This is a long-standing problem, due to some old-school cultural biases in Taiwan against purchasing or wearing second-hand clothes.
Thankfully it’s shifting slightly, with the arrival of Second Street (a used clothing retailer from Japan). Hopefully this trend—See! The Japanese do it!—will continue.
For me, the hardest struggle is finding sport bras (or bras in general) without padding. Everything has lots of padding, made out of synthetic and non-breathable materials, which is awful for the weather. Even swimsuits have padding
Also, leggings are not very durable and tend to rip easily if you exercise regularly.
Clothes that suit taiwans humid weather and not made in China. It is quite hard sometimes, but more and more from vietnam and the like are coming in which is nice
Unfortunately, this is the result of greenwashing. Brands convincing people that recycled poly and synthetics are more sustainable. I won’t comment on the sourcing of cotton from China, because obviously that’s its own thing. But there is no such thing as sustainable–in the environmental sense–recycled polyester or nylon. Recycled poly still sheds microplastics every time you wash it, and those tiny pieces go out with the wastewater. In Taiwan, where does that wastewater usually end up? The ocean.
You could switch to rayon, but there’s a reason rayon isn’t manufactured in the US. Price aside, the EPA wouldn’t allow it. There are so many chemicals dumped into rivers during rayon manufacturing it’s ridiculous. If you really want something that feels more like polyester though, Tencel might be your best bet. That’s bamboo viscose manufactured in a closed loop.
But there are a lot of natural fibers that aren’t cotton, so don’t give up on them until you try. Hemp, banana fiber, ramie.
Also, biodegradable is not the same thing as compostable when it comes to fashion. Most of the dyes used in the clothing you’re talking about are toxic. So while the clothes themselves may degrade, that doesn’t mean they aren’t leaching into the soil.
at least shoes seem fine. I usually wear women’s shoes. No jokes, I mean running shoes because they are narrower. hard to find men’s US size 12 in women’s form without extremely bright colors (like many sports shoes now). After china, then designed for hot and humid, that’s my third issue. but not one I expect industry to enable haha.
Greenwashing is quite a broad brush to paint. Nothing is going to be perfectly sustainable but recycled poly is more so than virgin poly and cotton.
I mentioned viscose for the hand feel but not suitable for all uses.
Taiwan is leading the industry in sustainable textiles and certifications like Bluesign, OkeoTex and GRS have become standard practice here. This ensures that fabric mills here are recycling their wastewater.
Additionally most PFC free laminates are becoming standard now as well.
Legislation and consumer demands are forcing change.
If you’re buying clothes made of recycled poly, nylon chances are the fabric comes from Taiwan. Consumers deserve to be educated and there are plenty of brands out there putting in a real effort. Educate yourselves and read your labels.
