Why I Don’t Care About “Handmade” (And Why You Shouldn’t Either)

With many of my articles on this site, I try to impart some knowledge or information I have gleaned over the years to clear the way for you to have a smoother and more enjoyable sartorial experience. And even if I don’t attain that, if I can help someone go “Huh. Yeah, that’s how I feel, too” then at least I can inspire some level of community and comradery.

I also want you to feel confident. Because that’s 99% of what this whole “style” thing is all about. Even if they are wearing the same thing, a confident man will look stylish, while an insecure man will not.

There are plenty of things that, when you pass along the style spectrum from “beginner” to “experienced”, you are sort of supposed to like or want. I touched on this somewhat in my “quality versus value” article some time ago.

The concept of “handmade” is one of those things.

As style-minded gents, we are led to believe that anything “handmade” is automatically superior to the alternative, which is machine-made or mass-produced.

But is handmade really all that great?

Well, that depends on what you’re looking for.

Because I am a man of finite means, my experience with handmade clothing is fairly limited. I don’t own any bespoke suits. I buy all my ties and shirts off the rack. I’ve never spent more than a couple hundred bucks for a pair of shoes or boots.

It might just be my economic strata talking, but when I buy a product, I want it to look nice and be reliable and sturdy. In my experience, “handmade” does not necessarily connote those things.

We are conditioned to want handmade. But you know what? I don’t care if my buttonhole is hand-sewn. I don’t care whether my suit’s pick stitching was done by a machine or a human. I don’t want the imperfections that are the result of something being done by hand.

If something can be done better and cheaper by a machine, then that’s probably the product I am going to buy.

Why?

Well, because my few experiences with handmade haven’t been great.

I’ve written before about my experience with Rancourt and their handmade Acadia chukka boots. The gist of that article was that, although the folks at Rancourt were accommodating, generous, and open-minded, the boots just weren’t satisfactory. Is that specifically because they were handmade? I have no idea. But I’ve never experienced those same issues with machine-made boots.

Also, since I’m a hat guy, I’ve had many experiences with different hat makers. I once walked into a shop with handmade hats that cost in the many hundreds of dollars. These hats were completely handmade. I don’t even think I saw a sewing machine in the place. The hats were…flimsy.

Even though these hats were more costly and took much longer to make than any hat I owned, it would have been foolish to put them up against any of my Stetsons or Akubras. Yes, I know that those companies have oodles of dollars and can streamline their processes and reduce their costs, but that’s what I want when I purchase a product: something robust and reasonably priced.

And that’s what I don’t understand about “handmade”. The term has no effect on whether or not I purchase a product because it doesn’t mean “high-quality” to me. There was a time I was fooled into thinking that handmade must make it special, but I am beyond that now. It’s certainly not something I would pay extra for.

The only item in my closet I can think of that is handmade that I actually like is my Aran sweater from Ireland. I love that sweater but I am not sure if the fact that it’s handmade makes a difference to me.

Unfortunately, the term “handmade” is a bit of a marketing miscalculation. Most of us are only experienced enough with the lowest tier of handmade. So, putting “handmade” in a product description is actually a turn-off for us.

Something struck me as I sat down to write this article. My experiences with handmade items haven’t been majorly positive, that much is true. But those artists, at least the ones at an attractive price-point for me, are essentially doing exactly what I am doing with this site.

They’re trying their best to produce and create something of value that regular people can enjoy.

They’re putting themselves out there. They have the courage to put their talents on the line and risk being criticized by people like me.

I respect them for that.

The solution for me is actually NOT to stop buying handmade items, but to increase the frequency in which I do (while being as discerning as possible, of course)! The only way for those companies to get better is to interact with conscientious customers. I need to support the creative endeavors of those artists.

Because we are all in the same boat. We are all trying to spread positivity around clothes and getting dressed.

My point with all this is that you can certainly derive the same amount of pleasure from some inexpensive, mass-produced, factory-made, assembly-line product, that you do from a small-batch, artisanal, free-range, handmade item.

But it’s worth it to keep an open mind and give the little guy a chance now and again.

**main article photo courtesy of Rancourt’s website**