[mns]

The last part of the message that I replied to literally goes "but if the fashion industry went away and never returned, society wouldn't suffer."

Coming from the other side, yes, society would suffer, same goes with tourism (which is also mentioned, next to fashion). There is a lot more to these industries than overpriced luxury items, cheap fast fashion, overcrowded popular tourist spots and carbon emissions from flying. Not everything is black and white to the extent of "this industry can die and nobody would suffer".

[luckylion]

We disagree, I guess.

I don't see society suffering if the fashion industry disappears. Will it change society? Yes, slightly. Is that change bad? Probably not. Less status-symbol-fetishizing can be a good thing, if the luxury car industry or the cruise ship industry disappeared, I wouldn't shed tears either.