More is Less
We are faced with more and more decisions and options and choices and it’s becoming detrimental to quality of life. There are two many channels on T.V., too many blogs, too many items on the menu, too many colors of slub-cotton cardigans on the shelf. It’s exhausting.
I recently had a chat with Sid Mashburn and something came up that has been stuck in my head since. Sid has that iconic menswear shop on the Westside. Because he’s mostly known for fine tailoring and custom suits, the store has gained a reputation of being inaccessibly high-brow (until you actually go in and meet them).
Buried beneath the mystique of choice cotton and wool one finds the store’s true intention: a highly edited experience. As Sid put it:
“There are hundreds of jeans out there. It can be confusing. Our experience lets us save our customers time and money. We’ve seen all the different options, and we offer what we think are the only ones worth buying – a pair of Levi’s (good option) and a pair of APCs (better option).”
Think for a minute of living in a culture of fewer but better. Where everything was boiled down to the essentials and the best, where there were only a few kinds of toothpaste, where there were two pairs of jeans, where restaurants were focused on making a few things well. Would you enjoy an “edited” world?
8 Comments
"Absolutely. Too many options lead to indecision and regret about the choices we eventually make. Keep it simple, select the best, and move on."
- JD
"I believe your opinion is correct, there is too much of everything, but without diversity there is no chance for new markets to develop. Competition and over saturation causes companies and individuals to rise above and create something of greater quality."
- Andrew
"Too many times these days I feel like I'm doing less with more."
- Darrell
""Less is more" tarnishes the good name of Less. A reduction of choices reduces the subconscious anxiety of having to actually choose things. Have a good things, but have few of them. Read good blogs, but curate your internet experience. Less is better."
- Adam Plouff
"Hm. This is tricky. Taken to its most logical conclusion, there might be some scary sociological implications. But, in the context of markets and products and such, does that mean fewer people have the chance to make something? And who "edits?" Who gets to decide what is good, better, and best? How do they know what is best for me?
Just interesting to think about, I guess."
- caroline
"[...] more” really true? What if the whole world was edited to give a certain experience? Check out this article from a brand blog I’ve been reading [...]"
- some things for Saturday | musings in montage
"I think that options are great. There are so many different kind of personalities, likes, & dislikes in this world that options are needed. Besides, if we took away options and only provided two, there will be someone out there that will create a third, or a forth option in order to meet standards that they feel are important in the product. Though too much diversity may seem over bearing, such as in jeans, but you have to remember there are different people that like & purchase each one of those brands and love them for what they are."
- Eric Beatty
"An edited world? No. But a world without editors? No, again.
We need both."
- Josh