Introduction -- The desire for the new: its nature and social location as presented in theories of fashion and modern consumerism -- Consuming Goods and the Good of Consuming -- Conspicuous Confusion? A Critique of Veblen's Theory of Conspicuous Consumption -- The Meaning of objects and the meaning of actions: a critical note on the sociology of consumption and theories of clothing -- Shopping, Pleasure and the Sex War -- Consumption and the Rhetorics of Need and Want -- I Shop therefore I Know that I Am: The Metaphysical Basis of Modern consumerism -- The Craft Consumer: Culture, craft and consumption in a postmodern society -- The curse of the new: how the accelerating pursuit of the new is driving hyper-consumption -- A Matter of Necessity: Reflections on Need and Want in a Time of Lockdown.