If there’s one activity I dread doing more than anything else, it is shopping for clothes. Once I’ve purchased everything I need I hope that I don’t have to go back for years. I’ll wear a shirt until the sleeves fall off. With that having been said, there is an atrocious issue out there that is robbing unsuspecting consumers blind. It’s disposable clothing. We need to take a stand and bring this to an end.

You’ve had this happen to you. After a long day at the local mall, you found a new shirt that’s perfect. Everything about it suits you just fine. You pay your hard-earned $30 to Trevontrelle and leave feeling successful. Of course, you’d never dream of wearing something that’s been hanging on the rack without washing it first, so into the washer and dryer it goes. Unfortunately, it comes out a full size or two smaller than when you tried it on. But how can that be?! You’ve followed the instructions on the tag–Cold water, delicate setting and tumble dry low. What do you do now?

Now you’re pissed. The easy solution is to throw it away, chalk up the $30 loss and move on with your life. That’s easier said than done. If you don’t put up a fuss, the clothing companies win and humanity will continue to suffer.

You can put your baby shirt back in the plastic bag, sans price tag, and drive it back across town at $4 per gallon, storm into Banana Safari or wherever you bought the trash and spend the rest of the afternoon arguing with the overtly gay black guy in the sleeveless, plaid sweater vest. He’s going to explain to you that they have a policy of not allowing returns without the tags. You’re going to explain that he can suck something because your policy is to trust product instructions printed by the manufacturer. He’ll excuse himself to talk to the seemingly official Asian gal in the black pants suit while he keeps his right hand on his hip, ass out and finger waving. He’ll be back soon though and at the end of the day, you’ll likely end up with a gift card to buy another overpriced, ready-to-shrink shirt at the same lousy store.

You’ll use the card, buy another shirt a size too big to allow for it to shrink. Of course, this one won’t shrink at all and now you have a baggy shirt, higher blood pressure, and $1.62 left on the gift card, obligating you to carry it in your wallet for the rest of eternity.