For Sociology: Alex Hoppe
Why does one pair of jeans feel right, while another looks hopelessly out of date? And how much of our personal fashion taste is shaped before we even enter a shop? In this episode of For Sociology, host Kevin Caners speaks with sociologist and Kohli Fellow Alex Hoppe about the people, processes and decisions behind the clothes we wear. Drawing on eleven months of fieldwork inside clothing factories in India, Alex explains how suppliers are taking on design work long associated with Western fashion capitals. Alex begins by recalling the socks he needed to fit in at school, which first sparked his interest in fashion and belonging, and how a month in Nicaragua at sixteen set him on the path to sociology. The conversation then turns to how suppliers help trends gather momentum, why fashion remains so difficult to predict, and what changing tastes in everything from clothes to baby names reveal about social life. Alex also reflects on his two years as a Kohli Fellow at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and the slow work of turning field observations into a book. For Sociology is a podcast from the Kohli Foundation. Learn more at kohlifoundation.eu. 00:00 Introducing Alex Hoppe 02:27 Cool socks and fitting in 04:28 A turning point in Nicaragua 08:14 Why study fashion? 11:53 What is fashion? 15:26 When suppliers become designers 19:48 Inside India’s clothing factories 23:03 Turning fieldwork into a book 28:26 Who shapes what we wear? 30:11 Why trends are hard to predict 33:13 How designers spot trends 35:38 Quick-fire questions 41:41 The book and what comes next 45:46 Closing and credits