GLL Book Club: Less by Patrick Grant

Less by Patrick Grant ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Recently, I needed to buy some new formal clothes for my new job, in particular a few top options smart enough for meetings. I looked around various high street stores and hit the same issue each time – quality. Regardless of brand, price, even fabric, I found the majority of items to be so thin they were almost see-through. You would think that clothing having the ability to actually cover the body would be one its primary functions, so when did we reach a point that most of the clothes sold to us are such bad quality?

If you’ve been mulling over quality of items nowadays, or how we seem to be wading through so much stuff, why we are forever in a cycle of decluttering or how a system built on constant pursuit of growth and sales can ever be sustainable, this is the read for you.

Intertwined with stories from his time in the clothing industry and how Community Clothing came about, Grant takes us through a brief history of how humans innovated their way into making things that added meaning to life, to our current shift to overconsumption and waste. This book covers the why behind what is driving this increase in consumption, the ways quality has been gradually reduced from most products, the shift in work since manufacturing industries dominated, and why so many people work in jobs that feel meaningless and unfulfilling and how having less, but better, can make us happier.

I’ve been reading this book on my morning commute for the past month or so. Aside from being super informative and interesting, I think it epitomises the shift of feeling in sustainability. At the beginning, sustainability usually materialises as turning off the lights, recycling, and having a vegan sausage roll. These individual actions are great (and I personally love a vegan sausage roll), but if when you recycle it just gets shipped abroad, or when you turn off the light the government open a new power station, we don’t see any real progress. The inconvenient truth is that our current system does not work for us or our planet. We need more radical systems change. And a fashion system built on churning out cheap, low quality plastic clothes is not sustainable.

What I enjoyed most about reading Less was understanding the examples of companies and individuals doing things a different way: going back to natural materials, repurposing, making local, and see the huge society wide benefits and returning to what Grant describes as a “high value, low consumption” model. The detail given to how his company Community Clothing operates is really inspiring for others can do the same. The book provides many examples of companies making high quality products of various goods, showing us the places where our money does good and where we can enjoy the use of our clothes and things for many years to come. I love the idea of having items for a lifetime, with their own stories and memories that can be passed on through the generations. This book celebrates making, whether for work or enjoyment, taking pride in the local and living a life with less stuff, but so much more good.

Review: Even though its not a Patrick Grant memoir (which may disappoint some people!), this book is such a good read for understanding how production and purchasing behaviours have changed over time, how to tell quality from basically single use clothes and how to be part of a more sustainable, community driven way of getting the things you need. Written in a no-nonsense yet friendly style, read this book and feel empowered to take on the big polluters while drinking from your favourite mug ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Where to read: Borrow from a friend, the library, buy second hand, or support your local book shop https://www.waterstones.com/book/less/patrick-grant/9780008663971