> You need or want something non standard or they do not sell what you want in the usual retailers. Bespoke, Made to Measure, Made for you to use. Or for you to gift to someone. -- She Who Knits
Automation is great for standard things. Everyone agrees with that simple fact. You can replace broken things with a near-identical copy, at a relatively cheap price. This applies very well to things, especially things of common use.
Furniture, vehicles, housing... even shaped foodstuffs, like pasta.
What it's not great for is people. People tend to be non-standard. This has caused much in the way of grief in the clothing industry. Grief with the customers, not with the makers. The _makers_ in the greater sea of capitalism prefer to make the most items with the least expenditure on their part and mark it up for the maximum possible profit. It's why there's always a huge amount of smaller sizes and nothing fits properly.
It's also why you can never find anything in your size. Not _properly_ your size. They don't make clothing for _people_ any more. They make clothing for the vague _idea_ of people. Which, according to analysis, means that the average human is made out of cylinders, crudely mashed together at the relevant points. A _female_ human has additional width at the chest and hips.
Debate apparently remains about the shape and distribution of that width.
When faced with these ludicrous assumptions from the clothing industry, the customer is left with a very few choices:
One: Buy something that's comfortable and feels like wearing a sack with elastic as an option.
Two: Change the body shape.
Three: Make, or have someone make, something that looks, feels, and fits better.
There is a _hefty_ industry around option two. Mostly what it does is make people feel bad about themselves.
As for option _three_... Well. The rest of the industry causes a lot of trouble.
"What do you mean it costs seventy dollars for a dress? I can get one from WubStore for five bucks!"
"It's seventy dollars _for a dress to measure_," said Karul. "If you want to pay five dollars, you buy it from WubStore."
"But WubStore stuff _sucks_..." whined Lyria.
"You get what you pay for," said Karul. "You either pay for my time and investments, or your own time and investments."
Lyria asked, "How much are the investments?"
"Seven hundred, minimum, for a half-decent sewing machine, fifty bucks for the lessons on how to use and maintain, ten dollars per pattern or two hundred for a pattern-drafting app including the printer... and it takes three days to make anything from laying it out to the final stitch, and that's including breaks for meals, sleep, and life business."
Lyria sighed and counted out the seventy dollars.
[Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@otaciliomaia?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Otacilio Maia</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-white-electronic-device-gLNXPJXcVEA?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a>]
If you like my stories, please [Check out my blog and Follow me](https://peakd.com/@internutter). Or share them with your friends! _Or_ visit my [hub site](https://www.internutter.org) to see what else I'm up to.
[Send me a prompt](https://www.internutter.org/bb/category/6/prompts) [25 remaining prompts!]
[Support me on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/cmweller) / [Buy me a Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/cmweller)
[Check out the other stuff I'm selling](https://books2read.com/ap/n7O1la/C-M-Weller)
hiveblocks