A teen perspective - More conscious garment production and consuming, and my own dressing concept... "Tayo"

Note: This post was mostly inspired by my daughter, but also partially inspired by the simple routine act of my putting on my dad's beloved sweatshirt, again... nearly 13 years after his death.

On my personal Facebook page (about a month ago), I posted this:

My daughter: The English language needs a new word for "we, not including you".

Me: What do you mean?

My daughter: For example "We are going to the movies" can mean "you, too", or it can mean that I'm telling you where we are going, without you.

Me: So kinda like an inclusive "we" and an exclusive "we"?

My daughter: Yeah.

Follow-up: Rather than make up a new word, she suggested, we should find a language that already makes that distinction, and adopt their word for the "not you" version of we, directly.

I like this idea. Anyone speak a language where this distinction exists?

The best answer was (from a friend): Tagalog/Filipino has 

'tayo' and 'kami'. Tayo is inclusive we. Kami is exclusive we.

*She, of course, was intrigued by kami, while I was intrigued 

by tayo.

Me: If I make a shareable clothing line, I'm calling it "Tayo".

Friend: 

"Tayo" works very well as a name for a clothing line based on usage too. Much more comfortable than 'we' would, even if we ignore the ambiguity of inclusiveness. The Filipino idiom equivalent to "let's go" is "tayo na" where 'na' is barely a word, something just to indicate a sense of immediacy (or "completeness"). The phrase can also play the role of "let's do it" or the more broad "let's get going".

Tldr; Tayo seems like a great name for something that celebrates inclusiveness.

The documentary film "Cotton Road" premiered at the Tribeca Cinema on Friday, March 20, 2015.

Having seen a good number of documentaries and posts about more responsible, human-friendly, and eco-friendly production, I now feel that it is time to ask ourselves some of the more obvious questions.

Seriously.

Does your clothing have to be NEW, solely yours?  Unused? Current?

Does it need to be? Better yet, do you even want it to be?

Why does a jacket need to serve one life, with one primary owner?

For myself and my family, I have devised a new type of garment category, that I have lovingly named "Tayo".

*Sometimes I forget to conclude my point... this is an update to my rather abrupt ending.  So, just in case I didn't articulate it clearly, I am often moved by all of these stories chronicling how our clothes are made, and I feel the problem is too large for me to fight it alone, and yet I know that my own participation in the cycle is optional. I make things because I enjoy it, though, not some garment survivalist mission. So, for me and my close family, we can simply decide to pay attention to where/how our own clothing is made, and take a small step in that way.  At least it's a beginning.