Last weekend I visited Portwrinkle beach in Cornwall and found quite a few textile fragments including several socks. These were all made from knitted, man made fibres that appeared to have been in the water for sometime. One notable piece was the dress in the photograph. I was especially interested in this because it appeared to be hand made by a competent dressmaker ie. there was no label or overlocking of seams and made of crimplene in a style reminiscent of the late 60’s early 70’s. My theory is that they were part of a consignment of rags being shipped abroad to be reprocessed that was lost overboard.
Coincidentally I watched a programme on BBC2 last night ‘The Secret Life of your Clothes’ which traced the destination of clothing sold on by charity shops which has created a huge second hand trade in Ghana to the detriment of their own clothing industry.
Quinary 