Good read about the intrinsic and external reward models for artists and how it impacts their work and perception of their value as artists. Along the way there is a little diatribe about Shien that I found interesting:
Shein, the fast fashion leviathan. While other fast fashion brands wait for high-end houses to produce designs they can replicate cheaply, Shein has completely eclipsed the runway, using AI to trawl social media for cues on what to produce next. Shein’s site operates like a casino game, using “dark patterns”—a countdown clock puts a timer on an offer, pop-ups say there’s only one item left in stock, and the scroll of outfits never ends—so you buy now, ask if you want it later.
Shein’s model is dystopic: countless reports detail how it puts its workers in obscene poverty in order to sell a reprieve to consumers who are also moneyless—a saturated plush world lasting as long as the seams in one of their dresses.
Many years ago when Shein was still very new, I tried shopping I few times - for myself and also for J. Some of what i got from there was remarkably nice for the price (which is not to say it was not a terrible outcome for whoever had made the item, they could have been paid closed to nothing for their work). But the rest of what I got from there was just not what I had expected - it was not even about bad quality but there were many points of failure in one item rendering it useless even if quite cheap. After those adventures, I have not returned to to Shien but I still get use of the few items that were good - and its been several years. As a consumer that is great value for money but clearly the model does not work on large scale - I must have had random good luck.
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