Precision 🗞️ Slow News Day #27

Hey,

I bought a blazer, trousers, and shirts from Uskees a couple of months ago. They’re quality. Proper craft and care with good, grounded ethics. Paying a little bit more for items is a privilege I’m still pretty new to, but it’s throwing up some interesting things for me.

When I think about the hallmarks of ‘quality’, the first thing that comes to mind is precision.

Precision is what separates the mass-manufactured shirt that quickly fades and thins from the carefully manufactured one that lasts for a decade. Delicate double-stitching, specific cuts of quality fabric, buttons made of natural materials instead of plastic. It’s not viable to make these products at the same scale as DTC behemoths or cheap-and-fast retailers, because the process can’t be done quickly.

Care, craft, and precision are time-consuming — they’re the antithesis of fast fashion.

I’m realising that, when I choose to speed through things, I’m denying myself the chance to experience (or create) something with care and attention.

That’s why I’m enjoying writing this newsletter so much. I’m prioritising quality over quantity. I refuse to publish this newsletter daily or even to guarantee it weekly. Sure, producing at that kind of scale would probably help me gain more subscribers faster, but it’d come at the cost of craft, awareness, and precision.

What would be the point?

I’m going to keep pouring my time, focus, and skill into things steadily. I’m refusing to do it all at once. Thanks for walking with me on the slow path.

Slow down guide

Need a little help moving slower?

Ease your way out of Friday afternoon with this newsletter, a nice cup of something, and a little background music. Steal my setup if you aren't sure where to start.

Another Friday, another coffee enjoyed.

This week, rather than brewing something up, I’m remembering enjoying a cup of Yallah Coffee’s Las Brisas at Penzance’s Jubilee Pool Café. I’m a sucker for batch brew and there are few better ways to enjoy a filter coffee than luxuriating in the white-walled suntrap of their terrace.

Once I’m done with that memory and come back to the present, I’ll jangle my way through The King Khan & BBQ Show’s 2009 joyfest Invisible Girl.

Sunshine on tap. Pour yourself a glass and bask in the knowledge that we've started the steady march towards the long lazy days of summer. King Khan will meet us there, I hope.

Take it easy,