I occasionally read fashion blogs not because I am interested in fashion, but because I find clothes the most boring thing in the world and yet I occasionally need to project an appearance that others find acceptable in a professional (e.g., my employer is relying on me to sell something and therefore willing to pay me) or social (e.g., not embarrass my wife in public) situation. Anyway, this article goes through a long discussion on how to layer to stay warm. I have to say though, I find it a bit gross to have a synthetic shirt next to my skin with a bunch of stuff on top, and I am mildly allergic to wool. I love cotton, but apparently that is not the way to stay warm. There is talk of mittens, which I agree are warm, but I have never figured out how to use a key to unlock or lock a door while wearing a mitten. Maybe everybody else has moved on to other technologies and I am the only one still using keys. And finally, I’d like to hear more about socks and keeping my feet warm. I find that no matter how warm the rest of my body is, my toes are still the first thing to get cold.

The purpose of fashion blogs, of course, is to make us want to buy new stuff even when we often have perfectly functional old stuff lying around. Materials and fossil fuels get mined, the new stuff gets manufactured and moved around, people work in stores and call centers, and the old stuff gets disposed of. All of this gives some people work to do and keeps money moving around, but how much value is created? Warm hands have value, and buying my first pair of mittens therefore creates value where none existed before. Buying my fifth pair of mittens in the latest color or style would add zero value for me personally, but perhaps it brings joy to some.