5 ms·

The Shitthropocene

59 points by uptown 1y ago

thomassmith65 1y ago
I hope Patagonia paid Diane Morgan for impersonating her voice and her Philomena Cunk character.
- mandmandam 1y ago
  As long as they stuck Belgian techno anthem "Pump Up the Jam" in there somewhere, I'd say she's cool with it. Pump up the jam, pump it up, while your feet are stomping...
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
benrutter 1y ago
Looks interesting (haven't watched yet) - people into this might also want to check out "Buy Now" (I think only on Netflix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34350086/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34350086/) which is a pretty good documentary on the same subject.
fauria 1y ago
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/4TsndZxysts https://youtu.be/4TsndZxysts
anonu 1y ago
(Maybe TMI) Last week my wife was admiring a pair of Patagonia boxers she gave me over 10 years ago. I did note they still looked great after probably a few 100 cycles of washing and drying. I commented that Patagonia made great stuff and actually cared about their materials. So this video is timely. I'm reminded about what Scott Bessent, the new Treasury Secretary, said earlier this month: Cheap goods are not part of the American Dream [0]. In the US we love our big houses and we fill them up with crap. When the crap overflows it just gets stored in our big garages were we also put our oversized cars. [1] How we got here today is just the result of the post-WW2 world-order. Global trade was designed to make cheap stuff. While labor rates skyrocketed. So you make more money but you can surround yourself with status symbols and things that supposedly make you more comfortable. [0] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/06/treasury-secretary-bessent-says-the-american-dream-is-not-about-access-to-cheap-goods.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/06/treasury-secretary-bessent-s... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLoge6QzcGY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLoge6QzcGY
- world2vec 1y ago
  100 cycles of washing and drying over a decade? Really hope you're not wearing it frequenty, that's 10 washes a year! o__O
  - tylershuster 1y ago
    A few 100
  - MisterTea 1y ago
    Those underwears have so much character they can literally stand on their own.
  - thfuran 1y ago
    Right. And that's one wash every 36 days, so if he has a dozen pairs of underwear and "a few" means three, the math checks out for regular use.
  - anonu 1y ago
    I maintain a 2-week supply of boxers, but do laundry every week. Over 10 years theres roughly 520 laundry cycles. I change my boxers at least once a day. Assume each boxer has equal probability of being selected, so it creates a 50% chance of being in that wash cycle. So its feasible that they've been through ~260 wash cycles.
- metroholografix 1y ago
  > I commented that Patagonia made great stuff and actually cared about their materials Last I checked a lot of their clothes were full of forever chemicals and processed plastics but maybe they've made progress. https://www.insidehook.com/gear/patagonia-major-microplastic-problem https://www.insidehook.com/gear/patagonia-major-microplastic...
- chneu 1y ago
  It's worth mentioning that Americans (or the industrial revolution) made a ton of formerly high status goods available to everyone. Specifically meat. Those high status goods have absolutely insanely high environmental footprints. Most people didn't regularly consume red meat before industrialization. However, once we made it "cheap", the everyman could eat steak for dinner every night! Same goes for all kinds of goods, especially plastic. It's wild how many things changed around the turn of that century, for the worse, but we accept all these things as just the way things are and should be. Like, seriously, widespread use of toilet paper is just over a century old. That's not that long for something most people probably assume has just always been that way. Sorry if this is a bit off topic. It's just something that boggles my mind; how close we are yet so far away from our past.
pmdulaney 1y ago
Shitthropocene. Shittification. Just say no to neologisms that incorporate the word shit.
- marcosdumay 1y ago
  It's "enshittification" BTW. And why say no to a word that almost perfectly describes the phenomenon? My only complaint is that it should be "shittocene".
  - windhaven 1y ago
    Eh, I kind of get why they did shit“thro”pocene, since that also integrates the idea of anthropocene (that we’ve entered an era where the world is shaped by human effects) that’s been bouncing around for the past few decades. “We’re affecting the world, and part of it is that our products have become terrible so they produce more waste”
  - pmdulaney 1y ago
    Thanks for the correction. I just think our society is descending into ubiquitous poor taste fast enough without such words rattling around in our brains. But I'm old-fashioned; I had similar reactions to "The Dead Kennedys", "The Butthole Surfers", and "The Vagina Monologues".
    - marcosdumay 1y ago
      Yeah, that's where I disagree. This phenomenon is inherently in poor taste, it deserves a bad name. The actual phenomena that require serious discussion like lack of market protection, lack or consumer protection, lack of contractual protection all have serious names that allow for the discussion. So the bad name isn't an impediment to anything important.
    - johntitorjr 1y ago
      [dead]
- ishopatbakers 1y ago
alamortsubite 1y ago
I have a half-dozen pairs of North Face pants I bought when I was climbing a lot in the mid 90's. They're seriously out of style, but I wear them all the time because I love how practical they are. Except where I've damaged them due to my own negligence, every pair is still in great shape. It's incredible how well they've held up, and I have other garments and shoes of that era from TNF, Patagonia, REI, and the like that are the same. During the pandemic, I bought two more pairs of TNF pants (my first since the 90's). Different styles, but within weeks each had developed holes in the pockets, then other weird problems. I hung onto them for a couple years because they were still new and I hate throwing stuff away, but I stopped wearing them because they sucked, then finally, I tossed them. All of the pants from 30 years ago are still going strong.
- Etheryte 1y ago
  Maybe this is just an urban legend, but I recall hearing that the reason Patagonia stuck to its roots so strongly is exactly because of what happened to North Face after the original owners sold the company. It turned into just another fast fashion brand, producing new junk season in, season out.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
lif 1y ago
oh the irony of this being a Crapagonia product.. "plastic microfibers are us" https://www.wsj.com/articles/patagonias-poly-hypocrisy-blend-on-petroleum-policy-11555360188 https://www.wsj.com/articles/patagonias-poly-hypocrisy-blend...

The Shitthropocene

59 points by uptown 1y ago

thomassmith65 1y ago

I hope Patagonia paid Diane Morgan for impersonating her voice and her Philomena Cunk character.

mandmandam 1y ago
As long as they stuck Belgian techno anthem "Pump Up the Jam" in there somewhere, I'd say she's cool with it. Pump up the jam, pump it up, while your feet are stomping...
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]

benrutter 1y ago

Looks interesting (haven't watched yet) - people into this might also want to check out "Buy Now" (I think only on Netflix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34350086/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34350086/) which is a pretty good documentary on the same subject.

fauria 1y ago

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/4TsndZxysts https://youtu.be/4TsndZxysts

anonu 1y ago

(Maybe TMI) Last week my wife was admiring a pair of Patagonia boxers she gave me over 10 years ago. I did note they still looked great after probably a few 100 cycles of washing and drying. I commented that Patagonia made great stuff and actually cared about their materials. So this video is timely. I'm reminded about what Scott Bessent, the new Treasury Secretary, said earlier this month: Cheap goods are not part of the American Dream [0]. In the US we love our big houses and we fill them up with crap. When the crap overflows it just gets stored in our big garages were we also put our oversized cars. [1] How we got here today is just the result of the post-WW2 world-order. Global trade was designed to make cheap stuff. While labor rates skyrocketed. So you make more money but you can surround yourself with status symbols and things that supposedly make you more comfortable. [0] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/06/treasury-secretary-bessent-says-the-american-dream-is-not-about-access-to-cheap-goods.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/06/treasury-secretary-bessent-s... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLoge6QzcGY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLoge6QzcGY

world2vec 1y ago
100 cycles of washing and drying over a decade? Really hope you're not wearing it frequenty, that's 10 washes a year! o__O
- tylershuster 1y ago
  A few 100
- MisterTea 1y ago
  Those underwears have so much character they can literally stand on their own.
- thfuran 1y ago
  Right. And that's one wash every 36 days, so if he has a dozen pairs of underwear and "a few" means three, the math checks out for regular use.
- anonu 1y ago
  I maintain a 2-week supply of boxers, but do laundry every week. Over 10 years theres roughly 520 laundry cycles. I change my boxers at least once a day. Assume each boxer has equal probability of being selected, so it creates a 50% chance of being in that wash cycle. So its feasible that they've been through ~260 wash cycles.
metroholografix 1y ago
> I commented that Patagonia made great stuff and actually cared about their materials Last I checked a lot of their clothes were full of forever chemicals and processed plastics but maybe they've made progress. https://www.insidehook.com/gear/patagonia-major-microplastic-problem https://www.insidehook.com/gear/patagonia-major-microplastic...
chneu 1y ago
It's worth mentioning that Americans (or the industrial revolution) made a ton of formerly high status goods available to everyone. Specifically meat. Those high status goods have absolutely insanely high environmental footprints. Most people didn't regularly consume red meat before industrialization. However, once we made it "cheap", the everyman could eat steak for dinner every night! Same goes for all kinds of goods, especially plastic. It's wild how many things changed around the turn of that century, for the worse, but we accept all these things as just the way things are and should be. Like, seriously, widespread use of toilet paper is just over a century old. That's not that long for something most people probably assume has just always been that way. Sorry if this is a bit off topic. It's just something that boggles my mind; how close we are yet so far away from our past.

pmdulaney 1y ago

Shitthropocene. Shittification. Just say no to neologisms that incorporate the word shit.

marcosdumay 1y ago
It's "enshittification" BTW. And why say no to a word that almost perfectly describes the phenomenon? My only complaint is that it should be "shittocene".
- windhaven 1y ago
  Eh, I kind of get why they did shit“thro”pocene, since that also integrates the idea of anthropocene (that we’ve entered an era where the world is shaped by human effects) that’s been bouncing around for the past few decades. “We’re affecting the world, and part of it is that our products have become terrible so they produce more waste”
- pmdulaney 1y ago
  Thanks for the correction. I just think our society is descending into ubiquitous poor taste fast enough without such words rattling around in our brains. But I'm old-fashioned; I had similar reactions to "The Dead Kennedys", "The Butthole Surfers", and "The Vagina Monologues".
  - marcosdumay 1y ago
    Yeah, that's where I disagree. This phenomenon is inherently in poor taste, it deserves a bad name. The actual phenomena that require serious discussion like lack of market protection, lack or consumer protection, lack of contractual protection all have serious names that allow for the discussion. So the bad name isn't an impediment to anything important.
  - johntitorjr 1y ago
    [dead]
ishopatbakers 1y ago

alamortsubite 1y ago

I have a half-dozen pairs of North Face pants I bought when I was climbing a lot in the mid 90's. They're seriously out of style, but I wear them all the time because I love how practical they are. Except where I've damaged them due to my own negligence, every pair is still in great shape. It's incredible how well they've held up, and I have other garments and shoes of that era from TNF, Patagonia, REI, and the like that are the same. During the pandemic, I bought two more pairs of TNF pants (my first since the 90's). Different styles, but within weeks each had developed holes in the pockets, then other weird problems. I hung onto them for a couple years because they were still new and I hate throwing stuff away, but I stopped wearing them because they sucked, then finally, I tossed them. All of the pants from 30 years ago are still going strong.

Etheryte 1y ago
Maybe this is just an urban legend, but I recall hearing that the reason Patagonia stuck to its roots so strongly is exactly because of what happened to North Face after the original owners sold the company. It turned into just another fast fashion brand, producing new junk season in, season out.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

lif 1y ago

oh the irony of this being a Crapagonia product.. "plastic microfibers are us" https://www.wsj.com/articles/patagonias-poly-hypocrisy-blend-on-petroleum-policy-11555360188 https://www.wsj.com/articles/patagonias-poly-hypocrisy-blend...