Millennials Can't Sew Or Do Laundry As Well As Their Parents & Grandparents, Study Says
The Huffington Post | By Rebecca Adams
Millennials have managed to get a pretty bad rap in the grown-up department -- they've landed a reputation for being "lazy," "selfish" and "entitled." A new study won't help their case: Turns out, Millennials can't take care of their clothes, either.
After surveying 502 women, researchers at the University of Missouri found that Baby Boomers reported a greater ability to sew, hem, repair buttons and clean laundry, while those in the 18 to 33 age range reported significantly lower mastery of these basic maintenance skills. Pamela Norum, a professor in the Department of Textile and Apparel Management and the lead researcher for the study, told The Huffington Post that part of her motivation to dig into this age discrepancy was personal.
"One day when my daughter, who's in her 20s, said to me, 'Mom, can I take my pants to a tailor to have the button sewn on?' I thought, 'Are you kidding me?'" Norum said. "That's terrible -- I really let her down."
Norum said she herself had been taught how to sew by watching her mother, who was always sewing in the house. But Norum said her own kids had never seen their mother sew -- the modern-day demands of work, after-school activities and classroom budget cuts had left her children's generation in the dark about clothing care and other tasks that used to be common knowledge.
For her study, Norum worked with a market research firm to survey a nationally representative panel of women who had purchased clothing within the last year. She chose to work with women because they spend more money on clothes than men, and they often buy clothing for themselves, their husbands and their children. Plus, data from the American Time Use Survey shows that it's women who continue to take on the brunt of the housework, which includes laundering and repairing clothes. (Fortunately, public discourse seems to be shifting this conversation a bit.)
After analyzing the self-reported results, Norum found that skills in sewing, hemming, button repair and general laundry knowledge gradually decreased with each generation after the Baby Boomers, with Millennials the weakest of the bunch when it came to those skills.
"I don't like to say that it's somebody’s fault," Norum said. "There just wasn't the same exposure and value placed on them as there had been in prior generations."
Aside from the home, schools have also reduced their focus on clothing maintenance skills, since budget cuts have limited the scope of education. While there's been a recent resurgence in Family and Consumer Sciences (aka "home ec") coursework, the emphasis on basic life skills -- like sewing, cooking and managing personal finances -- hasn't been a nationwide priority for schools. And it probably won't be any time soon, Norum said.
"I would say, now, if Millennials or any consumers want to maintain a more sustainable lifestyle and they miss those skills somewhere along the way, its going to be up to them to figure out how to get them," she said.
Norum recommended that those interested should watch online videos and go to sites like Pinterest for inspiration on upcycling and repurposing textiles. With textiles making up 5.7 percent of solid municipal waste in the US in 2012, moving towards sustainable clothing practices could certainly boost the Millennials' reputation. Luckily, Norum doesn't think this is out of the realm of possibility.
"Young people are really creative and innovative about getting things done in different ways than we older consumers might have traditionally done," she said.
The thing that always irritates me about articles like these is that it's the very baby boomers who DIDN'T BOTHER TEACHING THOSE SKILLS that are so horrified that their kids didn't learn them. Hello?
The thing that always irritates me about articles like these is that it's the very baby boomers who DIDN'T BOTHER TEACHING THOSE SKILLS that are so horrified that their kids didn't learn them. Hello?
YYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS.
My mom used to sew her own clothes. She learned from her mom. Did she teach me? OF COURSE NOT.
I think most of it is socioeconomic. It wasn't a hobby for her. So once she could afford to stop she did. By the time she had me she didn't even own a sewing machine.
Post by cattledogkisses on Oct 20, 2014 16:21:44 GMT -5
Oh look, another day, another article knocking millenials.
That aside, I wonder if the prevalence of "disposable fashion" has something to do with this. Cheap, poorly made clothes probably aren't worth darning/repairing/sewing buttons back on. I would do that for an investment piece of clothing, like a nice cashmere sweater, but I'm not going to pull out a sewing kit to repair a cheap tshirt when it's easy to just to buy another one, KWIM?
Post by irishbride2 on Oct 20, 2014 16:23:03 GMT -5
I'm the only one of my peers who sews at all. I can do basic clothes and quilt like crazy. I even helped run sewing camps for kids. Beyond that I have no interest. But my mom loves it and is a great seamstress.
The thing that always irritates me about articles like these is that it's the very baby boomers who DIDN'T BOTHER TEACHING THOSE SKILLS that are so horrified that their kids didn't learn them. Hello?
YYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS.
My mom used to sew her own clothes. She learned from her mom. Did she teach me? OF COURSE NOT.
I think most of it is socioeconomic. It wasn't a hobby for her. So once she could afford to stop she did. By the time she had me she didn't even own a sewing machine.
my boomer mom taught us girls how to sew .. how much it 'took' was up to us. 1/3 isn't bad (my baby sis (1980) is the sewer of the bunch). my mom can say that ALL 4 of her kids know how to do laundry, sew a button, hem something and a few other minor clothing maintenance hacks. then again, 3/4 of us are squarely Gen X not the millennial set.
Post by tacosforlife on Oct 20, 2014 16:24:01 GMT -5
I also imagine this is tied to the rise of two income households and single mothers.
My mom sewed a ton of her own clothes growing up. My grandmother died when my mom was a child. Her dad didn't have a lot of money. Her friend's mom helped her see her own prom dress.
I know my mom sewed a few of my Halloween costumes when I was younger. Then my dad left. Do we really think mamaharpy had time to sew while teaching and being the single mother of two small children? LOL NOPE.
To this day, I struggle to iron things without actually making them wrinklier or ruining the textile. My mother can iron the shit out of any piece of clothing. I weep with envy when I visit my parents and she irons my clothing into a state of perfection.
I also cannot fold a motherfucking fitted sheet to save my motherfucking life.
To this day, I struggle to iron things without actually making them wrinklier or ruining the textile. My mother can iron the shit out of any piece of clothing. I weep with envy when I visit my parents and she irons my clothing into a state of perfection.
I also cannot fold a motherfucking fitted sheet to save my motherfucking life.
On the rare occasion when I need to iron something, I usually do it with my flatiron.
To this day, I struggle to iron things without actually making them wrinklier or ruining the textile. My mother can iron the shit out of any piece of clothing. I weep with envy when I visit my parents and she irons my clothing into a state of perfection.
I also cannot fold a motherfucking fitted sheet to save my motherfucking life.
Really, I don't think they're meant to fold. The idea that they should is Of The Devil.
Post by Scout'sHonor on Oct 20, 2014 16:34:15 GMT -5
My mom taught me and my sister so that we could make our own barbie clothes. I don't sew a ton now, but I'm glad I know the basics. And yes, H has no idea, so I have fix all his buttons and rips.
When the art of folding/ironing/laundering/and sewing becomes something both genders are expected to understand then maybe younger generations will give two shits about it.
I grew up in a culture that still values traditional gender roles...so I learned how to sew and cook and iron and fold fitted sheets because that's what ladies do!
Now, do I do any of those things, LOL. No. Ain't nobody got time for that.
To this day, I struggle to iron things without actually making them wrinklier or ruining the textile. My mother can iron the shit out of any piece of clothing. I weep with envy when I visit my parents and she irons my clothing into a state of perfection. I also cannot fold a motherfucking fitted sheet to save my motherfucking life.
I'm confused. The 18 to 33 demo are not really the kids of boomers. They're Gen Xer's kids. So at what point can we stop blaming the boomers for everything?
As for not learning these "domestic maintenance tasks", aren't millennials the rulers of the technology age? Tell them to fucking YouTube it and quit their bitching.
My H is better at these things than I am. Of course, he's also not a millennial. But his mother taught he and his brothers how to do all of these kinds of things "so they would never need a woman to take care of them."
To this day, I struggle to iron things without actually making them wrinklier or ruining the textile. My mother can iron the shit out of any piece of clothing. I weep with envy when I visit my parents and she irons my clothing into a state of perfection.
I also cannot fold a motherfucking fitted sheet to save my motherfucking life.
Really, I don't think they're meant to fold. The idea that they should is Of The Devil.
I learned to fold them while watching BBC America's Perfect Housewife (something like that). Mine do not come out as well as hers, but waaaaay better than they used to. H thinks it's witchcraft.