What goes around comes around.

Here’s how it works:

1. You want something new in a difficult economy so you hit Marshall’s or TJ Maxx to get the Maxx for the minimum.

2. You spend $200 on a bunch of junk (albeit you have 5 new things), made in China, absolutely not eco-friendly and have taken business away from the local boutique or business run by a hard-working small business owner trying to pursue the dream of running a successful business.

3. You’ve taken away from the designer whose order is refused from the same boutique because the buyer can’t afford the order.

4. The designer can’t afford to design anymore and goes back to waitressing or dog walking – not the fulfilling life for this creative soul.

5. Little by little your options become slim because your choices are Ferragamo, Proenza Schouler and Marc Jacobs on a trendy city drag or, the other end of the spectrum, a TJ Maxx in a strip mall. And you live 70 miles from the nearest big city.

But the times are changing.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette recently posted an article on recessionary living and how shoppers are wanting items that have long term value.

“It’s choosing quality over quantity,” Ann Mack, a trend expert at J. Walter Thompson is quoted as saying in the same article.

A related story:

A friend just dropped by and saw my tailored Prairie Underground hoodie and asked me how much and where did I get it.

“$200 and I wear it all the time and get lots of compliments,” I said.

“$200!! That’s crazy!” she said, clutching her Starbucks grande latte.

I thought quick.

“That’s as much as that latte costs in probably a month in a half but I get to keep it and not wear it just on my hips like your latte, unless of course it’s a skim?”

“Point taken.”

So say this over and over:

I won’t go to the strip malls and bulk up on 70% off merchandise. It’s a matter of morals and yes, a quest for quality.

I will go to my local boutiques and buy that one piece I love.

I will give that designer an opportunity for another collection in the spring.

I will turn that boutique owner’s frown upside down as she puts my new dress carefully in scented tissue paper and string whistling, happy.

I will be part of the new shopping generation that cares about what I buy, where it’s made, and what it’s made of.

I will love getting dressed everyday.

I am worth it.

Image: Vincent Boiteau

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