I continue to be befuddled, Ruby, by women not taking over clothing manufacturing. Or at least not women who understand design and engineering (and I know there are hundreds of thousands of them out there — does STEM just pay that much better than fashion?) and are willing to help their sisters who want to be comfortable.

I went shopping for new underwear a few months ago and was surprised to find half the Amazon reviews of men's t-shirts were from women about how well the shirts fit them. My Medium story about it got several comments from women who confirmed that yes, having something classified as "women's" meant the quality went down and the price went up. Sizes mean almost nothing. Seriously? In the 21st Century? How does this still happen?

Some sort of paradigm shift in female apparel needs to happen, similar to how the women who invented the "jog bra" (sports bra) threw out everything that was assumed about how bras work and just stitched two jock straps together for the prototype. I can scan my feet with a phone app and have shoes made that fit perfectly — when will something similar happen with swimwear, pants, and dresses for women?

(I should mention that my wife hates going clothes shopping, because the ordeal of trying on an armful of outfits to find one — maybe! — that will fit is excruciating. Even "custom fit" bras from a specialty shop only work because she jury-rigged an additional strap to keep them in place. 🙄 )