Pre-reading questions:
- Where is your favorite place to buy new clothes?
- Personally, is your confidence affected by the clothes you wear?
- How would you describe your fashion style?
Fashion reporter Marc Bain fully understands the pleasure in shopping for clothes. It is even more rewarding when you get to buy clothes for less than what you would normally expect. However, shopping becomes less fun and even worrisome once you realize you spent too much, or you bought too many clothes. This is why Marc Bain recommends setting a spending limit when buying new clothes.
According to Marc Bain, changing your wardrobe or shopping too often doesn’t only have an effect on your budget but on the environment as well. This should be a cause for concern. When you buy more clothes, you also produce more trash. When the demand for clothes is high, the production needs to keep up with the demand. The production of clothes involves chemicals for dyeing cloths, use of too much water, and other polluting by-products of manufacturing clothes.
Vocabulary:
rewarding – pleasing; giving satisfaction
worrisome – causing worry or concern; troublesome
wardrobe – all of the clothes that a person owns
demand – a need for something to be sold or supplied
dye – a substance used to change the color of something
by-product – something that is produced as a result of making something else
manufacture – to produce goods in large numbers, usually in a factory using machines
Comprehension Questions:
- According to the article, what makes shopping even more rewarding?
- What makes shopping less fun and even troublesome?
- According to Marc Bain, what should be another cause for concern?
- What is also produced when you buy more clothes?
- What does the production of clothes involve?
Express Your Opinion:
- Do you like it when a shop assistant follows you around when you shop for clothes? Discuss.
- What do you consider most when you shop: price, quality, or design? Discuss.
- What do you do with the clothes you no longer wear?
- Where do you think is the best place to shop for clothes?
- Are you willing to wear something extremely uncomfortable but exceedingly fashionable? Discuss.