to be annoyed at cheap uniform ads

[greenfanta]

workers in bangladesh are protesting about wages that they can't even live on. they want a 300% wage rise so they can survive, but the govt will only allow 80% (is it me or are these %s mental!)yet the supermarkets are bragging about school shirts for £2. how LITTLE are they paying these people??! and since when do we expect to only pay £2? IS IT ME OR IS IT IMMORAL TO EXPLOIT WORKERS IN THE EAST?

why go to all that palaver when asda sell new shirt for £2.unstained,right size,right colour in stock

Thisisyesterday - i would hate to give the impression that i am any sort of bleeding heart - but - if you had £60 a week to spend on shopping and a packet of polo shirts is £4 for two and vanish oxy stain remover is £10 with no guarantees which would you choose ?

i'd buy a cheaper stain remover

id buy asda

I'll send you the polo shirts that have been soaked, washed, treated and bleached with no success then seeing as you're so wonderful.

oh, I can't as I replaced them, cutting the buttons off the old ones, cutting the bottom chunk off to use as cleaning cloths and recycled the top half.

The school does have a second hand uniform sale (to which I've donated shorts, the only thing that survived two boys in a usable state) but there are never the items in the size I need, no matter what size I need. the charity shops have f-all.

Thankfully I am in a position where i can easily afford new and the uniform is readily available bar the logo sweatshirt. most, bar many many polo shirts, have been through two boys. DD had to have new but this will be donated to the second hand collection when she's outgrown it (marker pen and paint permitting)

and that is why you can still get £2 uniform in shops

my point made. thank you

well i apologise for being able to remove all the stains from my kids clothes

next time i won't bother. will that make you feel better?

I am all for buying 2nd hand stuff.

But the second hand market is flooded with the very clothes the OP describes.

My local charity shops are full of asda/primark/tesco clothing.

Is it more moral to buy this stuff 2nd rather than first hand? At least the workers get a percentage however pathetic if you buy direct.

When my oldest children went to primary it cost me about 300 quid to kit them out for the year. It crippled me. I had to save all year. I would buy 2nd hand where I could but you never know what you are going to get when you go to a jumble sale. You have to pick up what you can. I used to get winter coats in May and hope they fitted them when they needed them.

Now I can kit out my kids for a few quid. I would be happy to be somewhere in the middle. I dont mind spending a fiver on a sweatshirt rather than 2 pounds. 10 pounds would be very difficult. My DS needs loads of stuff due to his skin conditon and I will have 3 in school in a few years.

I cant remember the last time I saw a jumble sale advertised, they dont seem to happen anymore.

Being poor as a child is different and feels different to being poor as an adult with children IYSWIM. We were skint as kids but it didnt really bother me apart from the bullying. I remember those days when my big kids were little very well, they were scarey and stressful and hard work.

i just honestly don't understand how people managed before this cheap uniform?

how did they do it?

as someone said further down, our parents managed to clothe us. even the ones who were really, really hard up

what has changed?

and agree that there needs to be a middle ground too. but all the time people still buy the stuff they'll continue to make it

no, what would make me feel better would be if you stopped being so smug and superior and implying that everyone else must be stupid and/or lazy if they can't get paint or marker pen out of a polo shirt.

parents have to prioritise their finances and stretch budgets.soaking,scrubbing,rubbing and hoping stains removed is total faff

buy from asda and chance your luck selling on,recoup some cash,seeing its such a vibrant 2nd hand market

i think some people are too lazy/stupid to get stains out. esp when they have the option of buying another shirt for £1 or whatever

i am not saying everyone is like that, just that i honestly haven't had anything from school that wouldn't come out
ecover stain remover is remarkably good actually, despite their washing powder being distinctly mediocre

if you think i'm being smug that's up to you. i'm not. nor do i care what random internet people think of me

When I was a child, my school jumpers/cardigans were hand knitted and often my skirts were home made. My dad even made my brothers' blazers on occasion.

I'll have them mamatomany, struggling like mad to find navy in my area, all the shops have is black and grey.

i don't remember ever having homemade stuff. dp did tho.
i wonder why schools don't have second-hand sales so often. i realise it's partly because it's so cheap to buy new, and lots of that cheap stuff isn't re-usable... but there must be a reasonable amount that can be used again?

it just seems so wasteful and unnecessary.

i dunno, i was brought up to re-use whatever i could and make do and mend and all that and i just find it hard to get my head around this attitude of "well it's too much hassle, just buy more"

basic economics.unmarked shirt £2 or marked shirt+cost stain remover which may exceed £2

brains is to go for sure bet £2 shirt, see if it has any resale value too.though given cheap clobber floods market at minimum cost,any resale be minimum

I am brilliant at getting stains out, its one of my few talents

I could make my children's clothes. The fabric would cost way, way more than the ready made items though.

Wool is very expensive too. A nice cardi for a 7 year old could cost twenty quid to make.

Plus the fabric industry is no better than the garment one.

I know it sounds like I am making excuses. I do care. I make an effort. But I am on a low income and its likely to get a lot lower.

It is very hard to know if it is worth spending an extra few quid. I dont know if I am getting something ethical or just wasting my money. Some stuff is obvious but that tends to be the stuff that is way out of my range anyway.

I dont smoke or drink btw, so am not buying clothes made by small children so I can buy fags

I buy stuff from ebay when I can pick it up locally - just got 9 pairs of trousers and 26 tops/shirts for £7 for DS, I've no problem buying second hand.

However, when it comes to uniform, it's just not that easy to track down stuff in the local area in the right size/colour scheme, so yes, I buy the cheap stuff, from M&S (when it's in stock ) or Asda/whoever.

I've just ordered a winter coat from Tesco, £7. I can't find anything on ebay cheaper than that and I really don't have the time or energy to trawl around the local charity shops right now.

I'd be more than happy for Asda/whoever to add an extra £1 to each item and for that to go directly to the workers in these sweat shops, but seeing as Adsa/whoever don't actually pay their wages, I'm not sure how easy that is to achieve.

why do the financially stretched have to justify their shopping decisions.as i see it manage your money best you can.not everyone has luxury of ethical food or clothing,and nor should they be berated for it either

Indie37 - I've dumped most it at the local clothes bins so no doubt they've been made into rags by now, have three girls Navy skirts aged 7 and 3 cardigans aged 6 you're more than wlecome too, have you got any grey to swap ?

Discussing all issues on Wake Up To Money now. :)