Resoling of our shoes might seem uncommon in our society. We have the bad habit of just throwing away things that seem to be broken. We then buy new ones. When shoes are broken, what do we do? The common consumer tends to throw away shoes. Shoes where some of its skin has peeled or the sole has peeled away. There is no thought of sending the shoes to the local cobbler. This could have long-term effects on many aspects of society. This could affect our lifestyles in the future.
The Economic Effect
People throw away shoes that could have been mended by their local cobbler. They continue to buy shoes that they do not need. Of course, this could increase domestic consumption of goods. However, we must look at the tastes and preferences of the consumers presently. We can see that consumers are leaning towards foreign imports through the increase in European luxury brands in the market. A good example would be “Gucci”. As imports increase, the money spent by consumers is transferred to foreign businesses instead of local ones. This discourages local businesses to be developed.
Throwing away your shoes makes it harder for cobblers to make a living as well. For example, there are cobblers in the world that only specialize in one specific type of shoe resole service. That would be resole climbing shoes service. Not every human on the planet buys climbing shoes. That already limits the number of resole climbing shoes that these cobblers can do. Furthermore, not all climbers would send their shoes for resole climbing shoes services. These cobblers would not be able to mend enough shoes to earn a living. This results in unemployment. Like, structural unemployment.
In our present society, consumerism has caused us to continuously buy new things that we do not need. We constantly throw away our shoes that could be mended. This gives us excuses to buy new ones. If we continue to throw our shoes that could have been mended for use again, our wastage of resources for the production of the shoes and of money will affect the economy. Other than that, our thrown away shoes will take up space as our shoes are thrown into rubbish bins to be brought away. They go to landfills to be thrown or to incinerators to be burnt. Our rubbish keeps increasing because we keep throwing things away. We will have lesser space for homes and businesses. The land is a limited and scarce resource. Also, burning rubbish will result in air pollution that discourages economic growth. For example, haze resulting from air pollution discourages tourists from visiting the country It is very unhealthy for them to do so.
In conclusion, we should not take throwing away things that can still be mended lightly. They could have severe effects on our economy in a few years’ time. It will affect the cobblers who perform resole climbing shoes services. It will affect the tourism industry. We need to play a part in ensuring the survival of our economy. Find More