To think no one should be buying new clothes for young kids?

This is so bizarre to me. Yes fast fashion is bad for the environment, so my personal way of trying to minimise my contribution to that is by buying only what I need. I see fast fashion as buying something of poor quality to wear once, and buying hundreds of items in a year. I like to buy very few quality pieces and wear them as many years as I can before replacing.

I buy my daughter quality new clothing, just 100% cotton things that look well made. So for example I buy her bobux shoes but she only has 2 pairs and for those in Australia her clothes are mainly from Purebaby or the Myer Sprout brand.

I’ve only ever bought new clothes for my toddler, never occurred to me to buy second hand either from op shops or online.

Baggy knees, tired and stained clothes… that’s all I remember. And is clearly shown in my childhood photos.

My MIL was a cleaner/baby-sitter to several well-off families and so my DH had loads of high quality clothes, toys, sports gear etc all second hand. It never did him any harm at all. I wasn't so lucky cos my mum worked in a sweet factory and she wouldn't bring me sweets, but I recall hand-me-downs from my older cousin, including bikes!

One DD (age 41) buys loads from charity shops but she lives in an up-market area where folks discard stuff after one wearing and don't care what it sells for.

Where we live has only one charity shop so choice is limited.

Sorry, but I do buy from Primark etc cos I believe the workers would likely have no jobs at all if I didn't.

And how soon would shops stop seeing any if no one was buying any?

Hand me downs or second hand clothing is not intrinsically scruffy though?

I wore hand me downs all the time when I was a child and absolutely hated it. I always looked scruffy. No way would I dress my child in second hand clothes.

Stating the obvious but if no one ever bought new clothes for their children, there wouldn't be any second hand clothes to sell! Clothes don't last forever. I say that as someone who gets 90% of my clothes second hand!

I don’t like buying from charity shops (and Vinted wasn’t a thing when DS was little) but I was more than happy to get hand me downs from a friend with a slightly older DS plus a cousin as well. I then passed it on to my friend for her DS and then it went to her sister who has 3 boys. Some stuff went thorough 7 boys before it was finally consigned to the bin.

I am a massive fan of second hand but it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Telling people that they are not allowed new clothes for under 8s is just going to turn them off the idea of second hand completely.

What should be encouraged is shopping sustainably - whether that means buying second hand, buying good quality which you can then resell or keep for other children or nephews/nieces, and most importantly of all, shunning all the ridiculous "baby's first Christmas" or "Halloween 2025" or other similar outfits designed to be worn once, on one day.

We had a set of clothes handed in to the charity shop where I volunteer, BNWT, About 10 items from vests to jackets, all embroidered with "born in 2023". Who is going to buy that now, 2 years later? What an absolute waste.

What's with all the moralising. I buy some stuff new and some stuff used. And I don't buy cheap shit that won't even last until they grow out of it.

Lol If I had put mine in brand new stuff the grandparents got them ( on paternal side anyway( they would have looked a sight in cheap , lairy market stall outfits
.I preferred monsoon clothes for them when they were little and have some lovely pictures of them wearing outfits from there

A question for all those who wouldn't let their kids wear anything secondhand. Does this also apply to siblings? My girls were just over 3 years apart so some bits did get passed on. Would you not do that in the same scenario or does baby 2 never get so much as a sleep suit passed down?

You are being unreasonable in my opinion OP. You do come across as a bit pretentious and using your single parent status as a shield against debate.
It’s strange, you are OK with new underwear and shoes plus anything you are gifted. Is it possible you are being gifted new clothing because your DC looks like he/she is constantly in hand me downs? Perhaps your family are bored of your virtue signalling.
I come at it from the other side I guess, I had to wear a lot of my brothers and cousins hand me downs as a child and it was often commented on. My parents are great and as soon as they could I had mainly (cheap) new clothes, I guess this coincided with when I wanted to choose styles.
People don’t need to judge others so much in my opinion. My DC had mainly new clothing but I would wait for the 80% off at say Gap/Matelan. I also walked to the stores to save all the money on transport and postage. I tried really hard to remove all stains and I passed on almost everything in perfect condition. Does that absolve me as far as you are concerned? I certainly don’t feel more worthy than others who did not have the time/energy/resources.
Before judging on this one aspect it’s necessary to consider all your own habits re holidays, transport, food, make up, beauty treatments and hobbies to name just a few.
I know what it feels like to feel poor and I know what it feels like to be able to just buy what I want. If people enjoy saving up to buy their children new clothes, be that expensive or Primark that’s fine by me. There are so many other things to worry about right now that I don’t personally need to suck the joy out of people buying new clothes for their own child.
You sound very judgemental and I bet it doesn’t stop with children’s clothing.

I appreciate this might come across as snobbish, but, you never know where they come from really (ie. A smokers house, that's still in the clothes) and knowing how often kids are sick, wiping snot, having toilet accidents etc, who knows how well they were cleaned? I would never want to buy second hand for my own young children. There's also the photos, those first years are so unbelievably precious with soooooo many photos to remember every second, you want them in something you love, or the grandparents are proud they got them for example. If anything I would be the opposite and say better for grown ups! Sorry!

I found second hand shopping much harder for a boy than a girl. The girls always had tons of stuff that looked practically brand new but the only boys stuff ever seemed to be cheap bobbly joggers and t shorts with footballs in which my son hated.
Now he's older a lot of his shirts are second hand but apart form that nothing ever fits as he's too tall and skinny and struggle to find much for his shape. The girls are easy. Tons and tons of stuff for them

Why do you care what others do with their children’s clothes, I personally would not put second hand clothes on my children

@Roxietrees I am so much in agreement with your pov. When my DD was an infant, we were vv poor & had no/nil/none extended family to help out. My experience was: many mums were so pleased to pass on their used & 'pre-loved' pieces of baby clothing. I was very grateful & happy to be the beneficiary of this 'bush-telegraph network', pre-internet, system.
At this same time my dearest friend, living in EU city, was weekly scouring the local Flea Market and sending over really lovely retro outfits.

I'm still so grateful for those bag-fuls of outgrown-infant-stuff from those mums.
I was always delighted with the stuff from the markets.
I was able to kit out my DO(dearest only) with really nice gear: natural fibres, etc.
Best to avoid unnecessary expenditure - for very many reasons.

My ds has had no new clothes, we are very lucky to have a few friends with slightly older boys. Problem is DS is also messy and loves to climb etc so most clothes aren't suitable for passing on further. I do often give bundles of them for free on our local mum's sharing page with a clear description that they all have stains!

We do always get new shoes though. The thought of wearing someone else's shoe with their foot shape in it is not nice.

The issue is with seller sites like Vinted. When I was young they didn't exist and people just handed on outgrown clothes and baby equipment to friends and neighbours for free. Even in the early 2000s I used to give my kids' clothes to charity shops. There were a few people selling them on ebay but I preferred for the charity to get some money out of mine.

Now, everyone is looking for money to change hands. It's a shame that genuine free hand me downs are no longer a thing. There are threads on here about people giving whole bundles of clothes away to friends or neighbours they thought would appreciate them and then they end up being sold and the person bought some new items instead It's like genuine charitable giving has disappeared. Sad times.

I get as much as I can from vinted but find clothes can take a while to arrive, which is tricky. Eg my DS needed some T-shirts for nursery, I would have preferred Vinted but knew they wouldn’t come for a week so had to buy new.

The only real way to make Vinted worthwhile is to buy a bundle from the same seller but this is time consuming, trawling loads of wardrobes to find a seller with multiple items that you like.

Im finding as DS gets older he’s more messy especially with food and more of his clothes go in the bin.

But how is this different from your own clothes that have been worn, got dirty & then washed properly? Do you throw clothing out when it gets dirty?

asuppose I'm lucky that there's at least 4 or 5 within half hour drive

I wouldn’t say it’s realistic for nobody to ever buy new, but I think most people I know do now buy a mix of new and second hand. I definitely use Vinted a lot more, but if I see something I like for my daughter in a shop then I’ll get it. I also only ever buy new underwear, socks, pjs and shoes.

Fair play to you. I don't know any car boot sales near me so wouldn't have the opportunity to go to them.

We buy/given 80% second hand kids clothes. They are always good quality.

Exceptions are underwear, socks, and white school polo shirts - which usually gets thrown in with the groceries at Sainsbury's.

It goes through my kids and onto my niece or charity shop. Only stuff we would not use for play clothes goes in the bin.

Works in our home, and the kids never look scruffy or like charity cases.

Of course it can