Episode 149: Toys Gone Wild (part one), with Jess!

Welcome to Clotheshorse, the podcast that still loves Jem and The Holograms.

I’m your host, Amanda and this is episode 149. And in today’s episode, our friend and fellow Delia*s fangirl, Jess Todd, is back! Today is part one of our two part conversation about toy crazes of the 80s and 90s and how they fueled fights, department store riots, and lots of frantic holiday weekends for parents. In this episode we will specifically dig in to the ways in which children of the 80s and 90s were set up to be perfect consumers as adults via a mixture of lots of advertising and cartoons that were really just longform commercials! As you may have guessed, somehow it’s Ronald Reagan’s fault.

These last two episodes–with special guest Jess–will be the final episodes of 2022, as I’ll be taking a break for a few weeks to go to Japan and just generally give my brain a break. And what a way to end the year! I was laughing my butt off as I edited these episodes. And at the same time, it made me think a lot about all of the shit we have to untangle in our brains if we want to break away from the false promises of overconsumption and so-called “retail therapy.”

Before we jump into my conversation with Jess, you guessed it…we have two audio essays from small business owners in our community. First we will hear from Patricia of The World’s Corner, followed by Rachel of Cute Little Ruin…let’s take a listen!

Hi there. My name is Patricia Chourio and I’m the founder of The World’s Corner. We are a Fairtrade shop that offers products that are handcrafted by women artisans around the world, all of our products are made with natural and ethically sourced materials and dyes. And we give a percentage back to the artisans so that they can continue their entrepreneurial journey. What motivated me to start the word scorner was when I was living in Southeast Asia, I saw firsthand the effects of in the negative impact of fast fashion in that region. I realized also that a lot of the vendors at local markets have to buy things that are already made at factories or mass produced in order to sell them for cheap prices, because a lot of tourists will not buy things that are expensive, or what’s the actual products are worth. And so I wanted to create a platform where I could combine the things that I love, and that I appreciate, and really share those stories of the artisans share the story behind the product, and also highlight the connection of the artisans with nature and how they work and to make the products that we use and that we purchase. I think for me, it’s important to do this, because we have so much to learn from artisans, we have so much to learn from their connection, their storytelling, and how they utilize textiles and nature to create these beautiful products and beautiful items. And I think we have to learn from them, and continue to appreciate them but also elevate and amplify this techniques, because they’re the only way that we can get ourselves out of this problem that we have created with overconsumption, and in fast fashion throughout you know, the last five years since I started this project, I’ve lived in different cities and share the stories of the artisans that I work with and and share our mission and our passion with so many people. And I think one of the things that I’ve learned and that I really appreciate is that people are so willing to buy in to invest in a product when they know that there’s a story behind it and that there’s so much more than just a simple product. And I think that that connection, it’s so important and and I’ve learned that people do want to learn and they do want to take the time to to educate themselves and appreciate more the the process of fashion and production and I think we just have to take the time to share those stories and really find spaces where where we can share them and create that community that appreciates them. You can find uw online we have a lot of our products there at the worldscorner.com And also on Instagram where we share events and highlights of our artisans and their process and what goes into making their products @shoptheworldscorner on Instagram

Hi, I’m Rachel Raskin Grandstaff and I own and operate Cute Little Ruin vintage located in Dallas, Texas. I carry antique to y2k clothing, home items, and vinyl. My small business came into being much in the same way other clotheshorse community members have recounted their own origin story. I left a 12 year teaching career in the fall of 2020. After nightmare spraying teaching virtually and taking care of an infant full time. Come summer, my district mandated returning to the classroom but gave only vague assurance of basic safety measures like we here’s a single cloth mask with the district logo on it. And they were pretty hostile when I asked what I thought were benign questions about these kinds of things. Ridiculously I was still considering going back. I missed my students who were mostly seniors in high school, and I was ready to at least go back to that part of the job. The part I really loved the most. Then I called HR asking about a possible short term sabbatical. whole or part time Virtual Teaching at least until vaccines were available. I don’t remember the exact phrasing. But the woman on the phone basically insinuated that I would need permission from my principal if I wanted to resign at all. And I didn’t rage at her. But inside, it was fuming, the top of my head literally felt hot. And I knew that was it. I was fucking done, done with working 60 hours a week, and being guilted into doing more done with being micromanaged by people that didn’t have half the experience or skill I brought to the classroom. So, thinking about this topic led me to consider my long, strange resume that does have a singular theme. Small businesses tended to treat myself and other employees like humans, larger entities tended not to. I’ve often heard the same argument, usually parroted by students, when I taught macro economics, from things they’d heard in the media and elsewhere repeated over and over that a good reason for turning a blind eye to bad treatment from large corporations was because the capital economy needs the jobs they create. But if people are treated as if they’re disposable, or not paid enough to get by, or barely get by, value to these jobs really hold for society at large. So here are some examples from this checkered resume I have. When I was a freshman in high school, I begged the couple that ran the vintage shop just so cool. In the mid to late 90s, Central Wisconsin, small town I grew up in and begged them to let me help out there. They took me under their wing and I not only learned about the ins and outs of clothing, I learned how to run an ethical business that excelled based on excellent customer service. And the kind in the sense that everyone is helpful and knowledgeable. Not the demeaning, let people walk all over you nonsense. They knew I needed to work other jobs when I got a little older, and always let me work around those on top of school and extracurriculars. They were my cheerleaders and a second set of parents sometimes, if anybody knows Heather and Shawn van Donaldson and Wausau, Wisconsin, make sure you tell them they are amazing people in bio Miranda limeys. I’ve had the same experience whenever I worked for a small or smallish business. And there’s been more family owned scissor manufacture that I worked third shift for two summers between first and second year of college. They let me leave abruptly for a couple of weeks when I got an incredible offer to coach at a debate camp at UCLA. And they let me come back to finish out the summer to earn as much as I needed for school the next year. The small single location thrift store I worked for during the summer, when I began my teaching career in New York was full of welcoming kind, creative people that gave me a home in a city that was exciting, but often very lonely. My husband’s business, which is smallish, less than 50 employees operates similarly, if an employee needs to attend to a medical or family concern, they can leave no questions asked, except to see if they can help ease the burden in any way. Contrast, I worked as a sales part person for a large fancy at least to me department store for a couple of years. Let’s call it Borgstrom when I started I felt like I lose sophistication by proxy and work 1012 hour days standing and running in heels. Happily because I thought surely with a little Moxie and hard work. I could learn the ropes and move up in the company. I did get promoted pretty quickly to a low level management position at a new location. The first day it was supposed to work at my new job was the same day a bonkers storm coded Dallas and ice and snow. I white knuckled it in my 99 Cutlass and made it in anyways in the store managers only comment was regarding how disappointed she was that I wasn’t wearing more makeup my small business cute little ruin vintage started as a D stashing project and summer hobby when I went back to teaching shortly after the makeup incident and then something to give me a sense of self and when I unexpectedly became a stay at home parent now I hope to build it into something that can impact and uplift others, the way these small businesses did for me, whether that is or donating portions of sales, volunteering in the community where my storefront and studio are located, or I hope eventually being able to hire folks and pay them living wages, and treat them with the dignity they deserve. Small Business, at least to me is less of a term denoting physical size than it is an outlook and a reason for being 

Thank you so much to Patricia and Rachel for taking the time to share their stories! I’ll share all of their contact info in the show notes. Please give both of them a follow on Instagram and check out their businesses!

Next week’s episode will include our final two audio essays of the year and I couldn’t be happier with how they have all come together. I am still thinking through the next round of audio essays, which will *not* be about small business, and hopefully I will have more info for you in our first episode of 2023.

The whole point of THIS showcase of audio essays was to demonstrate the importance of small businesses. To put a human face to them. To show how they are different from say, Amazon or Anthropologie. As Rachel said in her audio essay, “Small business-at least to me—is less of a term denoting physical size, than it is an outlook and a reason for being.”

That’s how I feel about it, too. If you’ve been listening to the podcast long enough, then you’ve heard a lot of my stories from my career and how my employers tended to treat all of us as disposable, easily replaced in a second by someone else who needs a job. I mean, nothing says “hey, you’re valueless to us” than letting someone go during a global pandemic and cutting off their health insurance a few days later.

Every time I post about small business on instagram, at least one person shows up to say “well, I worked for a small business owner and it was terrible.” Yeah, I get that. So have I. Ask me about the really fucked up vintage store I worked for one summer in Chicago. It was horrible and abusive. We were rarely paid on time. The owner was a sexually harassing creep. The reality is that there are unsavory people in every area. Not every small business is owned by a saint. Some owners are terrible bosses, sell bad product, or just don’t care about their communities and their employees. And if they are bad, skip them! In fact, tell others in your community WHY these businesses are bad, so others skip them, too. Let’s direct our money to the businesses we do love.

But overall, even the worst small businesses have significantly smaller impact than the big baddies like Amazon or some of my past employers! And the fact is, most small businesses are run by people you know and they are just trying to make a living while doing the best job they can, however imperfect they may be.

Small businesses are all about community and people. If they are an active, positive part of their community, they will be supported by the people around them. Their communities view them as people, rather than these big corporate monoliths. No one looks at Ikea and says, “I sure am glad I can support Ikea and their family). No, right? If small businesses are good to their employees, view them as people, treat them like people…and this is all part of being a good community member, because their employees are a part of their community, too…then, their employees spread the good word.

Ironically–back at my horrible fast fashion retail job where we were all treated like potential criminals–we were told in our interviewing and hiring training that all employees and applicants were also customers, so we should make sure they had a good experience, both throughout the selection process and while they were working with us. Well, I’m not sure that worked out…in fact, everyone I know who has ever worked for that company leaves feeling burned out and resentful, and few ever shop there again. Could a chain of 200 stores be a part of their local communities? I think they could, if they reevaluated…but when you burn and churn employees, you just alienate yourself from those communities. And I’m not saying that my employer–or a lot of these other big companies–care about their standing in the community. Because they are chasing other priorities, like profit and stock prices. I don’t think they are considering their impact on their areas and people around their stores, much less their impact on the world or the humans that really fuel their profits.

One more reason to shop small whenever possible. It’s not just the local impact. It’s not just the environmental impact. It’s the human impact: on the owners themselves, their employees, their neighbors, and even their customers. Shopping small is about people. It’s about seeing people as…people. Not just a means to an end, whether that’s running a cash register, making clothes or buying clothes. . It’s about community. It’s about human connection and collaboration. Tell me the last time you got that at …”Blorgstrom.”

Thank you again to Patricia and Rachel!

Now we are going to transition into my conversation with Jess, which will hopefully fill you with a lot of nostalgia and…fury!

Thank you Jess for spending almost four hours with me talking about toys! In next week’s episode, we are going to go hard on some of the biggest toy crazes of the 80s and 90s, including Cabbage Patch Kids, Teddy Ruxpin, Furby, and so much more. We had such a good time recording these episodes!

I’m sure by now you are following Jess on all the social media platforms, but just in case you aren’t: you can find her on instagram as @jesinspace (that’s with one S) and also on TikTok (where she shares some awesome videos) as jesinspace (yes, still one S).

Ordinarily I would do a longer outro here, but to be perfectly transparent, it is Sunday afternoon and I have to finish this up and transition into working on my day job work, which has been…to be brutally transparent: killing me lately. There hasn’t been a day off in a long time and my mental and physical health is suffering from the constant stress and long days. I’m trying to keep it together and tell myself that things will be better after the holidays. And while I’m tired and at times, catatonic with despair and anxiety, I have found that Clotheshorse and our community has helped me cope and get some happy moments during all of this. So thanks for listening to me talk, and therefore giving me a chance to work on something I love. I’m grateful for all of you. I logged into Apple podcasts this morning to look for something regarding The Department and I was like “omg, so many people are listening to Clotheshorse now. Like, it’s a real thing!” Thank you! Seriously. I don’t know what I would do without all of you and your support and encouragement. With that I’ll say…

Thank you for listening to another episode of Clotheshorse.

Also: a reminder that my other podcast, The Department, is back! I cohost it with my friend Kim, also a career buyer. We talk about trends of all kinds, from fashion to food to social, and how they impact us and the world around us. To show all of you Department listeners how happy we are to be back, we released two episodes in one week about holiday trends like Hallmark movies and gross supposedly “gourmet” gift baskets. You can find The Department anywhere you listen to podcasts and on instagram @_the_department