to keep my mouth shut about Primark?

[Timeforanap]

Okay, so, I love a bargain and so do most of my friends and family. I used to shop in Primark/Peacocks etc alot, but gradually became more uncomfortable about it as I learnt/thought more about the ethics of it. I know nothing has been properly proved, but it seems REALLY unlikely to me that a lined, embellished £6 adult's skirt (for example) could have been produced whilst paying the person (child?) who made it a living wage.

Anyway, the point is, I don't want to be preachy about it or make others feel uncomfortable, so if I complement a friend on something she or one of her DC is wearing, and she says "Thanks! This was my amazing bargain, it was only £X.XX from Primark!" AIBU not to say how I feel? I don't want to be a hypocrite or a bad friend.

Monsoon are at it as well, but they charge £100+ for their frocks. Maybe screwing the rich and the poor is their thing.

Do you buy chinese goods, OP?
Do you holiday in countries with bad human rights records (eg. Turkey, Dubai etc),
Do you eat veggies picked by a migrant worker on less than min wage?
Do you use a bank which sacked it's UK call centre staff to save money?
So much in life is an ethical minefield - it's impossible to have a clear conscience about everything.
Your mates may be skint + not find 2nd hand clothes to fit (like me).
So don't criticise them, just continue to follow your own values.

"There are recent "ethical league tables" for high street shops and Primark has been rated relatively badly. The line I've seen on posters in their shop windows is that they're "progressively tackling the problem". It's true that the field is pretty poor amongst high street stores but Primark has been singled out so often and so markedly as particularly poor. " That's really interesting, togarama , I'll def have a look at those.

I guess the consensus of opinion here seems to be "keep your mouth shut" OP, so I'll just carry on doing that as I do not want to upset my friends. Just kind of think "surely they wouldn't do X if they really thought about it", but I can see that that would come across as over earnest.

BTW, ROFL at the idea of wearing lentil and yoghurt clothes. Have had lentils for tea the last couple of nights though, they're delicious!

SevenAgainstThebes I like that, that friends pick up each others' values without things having to be spelt out. You are right, of course. So I don't need to worry about not saying anything, my choices will speak for themselves. That is both comforting and challenging! Thank you.

Hi Timeforanap,

I think that speaking up will not change your friend's shopping habits, and will very likley cause ructions.

Why would mentioning your concerns to your friends cause ructions? Are they very silly people? (I'm sure you weren't intending to berate them for shopping at Primark.)

I think that it's daft to believe that you can mention it to your friends only if you can take the moral high ground on every ethical living point you can think of. Can't friends think about issues and discuss them without being perfect? No need to become a vegetarian or send your car to the scrappy just because you decide that this shop is less ethical than that one. Different people are concerned about different issues. Some people choose an issue and do 'their bit'. Others think that if they can't do everything they might as well do nothing.

You can ask your friends what they know and what they think. They might know more than you. I see that someone has provided a useful link, so you can report back to your friends if they're interested, or just use it to make your own decisions.

I mentioned this issue to my sister several years ago because she was telling me about the fantastic bargains that she got there and I had been reading about the issue in the press. I think it might have affected her shopping, although her daughters (a school pupil and a student) continued to use it because it was what they could afford. Having said that, in my young day, many decades ago, we would just have afforded fewer things. That's unfair, actually; in those days we would probably have been blithely unaware of unethical behaviour on the part of corporations and I don't remember being confronted with a choice between what could be afforded and what was ethical when I was young and 'poor'.

RRocks

Timeforanap Wed 15-Dec-10 22:19:57
"Well, no, I don't buy all of our clothes from People Tree SurPurbly. But Next claim to be doing their best to be ethical, and M&S have a good reputation."

Unless you're a Palestinian and your land has been illegally stolen for factories in which M&S garments are produced.

Re the Primark thing, I agree with the earlier poster and think places like Gap just have bigger margins.

Primark's ethos is stack em high, sell em cheap, the quality is variable, they don't advertise and their shops/service is pretty basic.

Most other high street clothing traders sell at a higher price, the quality is variable, they spend huge amounts on advertising & promotion & have lovely shops/decoration etc.

I bet the difference paid to the people who actually make the clothes for Primark compared to other high streets shops is negligible.

YABU. Having a reputation for being ethical and being ethical are 2 different things. A documentary I watched not long ago actually showed children in sweatshops making M&S clothes. The problem is that companies talk the talk about being ethical but rarely actually send people out to check that the manufacturing is being done ethically.
I doubt that the actual cost of making most garments is anything near what is charged for them - even in Primark. The cost of living is a lot lower in some countries - that is not to say exploitation doesn't go on because it certainly does but you would have to be VERY clued up on the subject before pointing the finger at other people for their shopping habits.

saintknickerless believe it or mot, I wasn't actually planning to go around "pointing the finger" at my friends. However, as RRocks wrote,friends should be able to talk about issues which concern them. Not in a heavy way, in an "I'm interested in you and what you think" kind of way.

believe it or not, not mot!

I think discussing unethical conditions in sweatshops with a friend is fine but when it is in direct reference to what a friend says she has just bought it is finger pointing. I would just make sure you're very clued-up on the facts before you say something that is bound to offend.

YABU - all the high street retailers are at it, just the others mark up more and make more profits.

Also some people can't afford other shops. Don't shop there but don't judge others.