Aibu to really dislike Primark?

[Nomoet]

Tbh i tend to steer away from these discussions with my friends as I'm very much in the minority and well if people want to do what they want to do and you're not going to change their mind then what's the point?

But I was having a chat with a friend this evening about Primark who loves it and it's made me feel so uncomfortable. I think the main reason I dislike it so much is because it's ultra cheap fashion and I just don't buy that you can get stuff made that cheaply without huge compromises on standards of how people are treated in factories - whether it's child labour or working hours and working conditions or pay.

And what makes me feel cross is how many people buy willy nilly stuff from there all the time just because they can just because it's cheap when really they could go without it or get it from somewhere else and it wouldn't hurt them or certainly not as much as the person making their clothes is being hurt by these practises.

FYI I’m 100% in favour of boycotting Hollister until they switch the lights on and get rid of the god awful smell in there

I have a strong sense of smell. It gets painfully acute when I am pregnant. It never went back to normal after DC5. I think menopause is making it worse.
I was in a large Primark on Friday and I can tell you for a fact that it didn't smell.

It wasn't hell on earth either. It was a normal, boring shop with clothes made of a mix of synthetic and natural fibres.
I didn't buy anything

I bought a frock from warehouse. Lovely cut but undisputedly synthetic. rrp was about £40. It was in the sale with an additional 20% on the day so cost me £12.50.
No way is it worth £40. They were taking the piss with that price.

Maybe you have to have the right gene to smell them like you do cyanide

FYI I’m 100% in favour of boycotting Hollister until they switch the lights on

So glad it's not just me!!!

Hollister is much brighter than it used to be !

Maybe you have to have the right gene to smell them like you do cyanide
I have the Shoe Zone and the Lush gene for sure.

My local Shoezone has sorted out their issue lately. I was in there this week and I was really surprised by the lack of smell.

Can't believe this thread has become about how Primark apparently smells??

This is boarding on peak mumsnet

Not just Primark though. It’s brilliant.

I only buy Oekotex certified clothes, which means no harmful chemicals are used in the manufacturing process, and factories are regularly inspected. I buy from ethical brands, often secondhand from eBay or in sales.

Cheap clothes are a false economy. I avoid Primark, Asda, Sainsbury's etc. The clothes are cheaply cut and the material has that nasty synthetic feel. They lose shape and fade quickly.

We all have a duty to boycott companies who don't provide safe working conditions and fair pay. Many are exploiting workers and employing children.

I have clothes from just about every shop you can think of (did I mention I had a problem?)
A few years back I would have agreed that certain shops had better quality.
now the quality is variable in almost every shop. They just don't stick to one supplier anymore. They are like supermarkets, shopping around season, to season, buying from whoever offers them the best deal.

You used to be able to grade a garment depending on what store they came from. Starting with What she Wants (remember them?) and working your way up through Dorothy Perkins, Top Shop, next, Wallis, Ghost, Hobbs and so on.

You can't do that now. You can tell if something comes from the very top tier of not quite on the high street shops but anything below that is going to be a lottery.

I remember when shops starting using hideous synthetics. I couldn't believe that people were willing to pay Top Shop prices for frocks made out of lining fabric.

I had a natural dread of crimplene having been forced into static attracting clothes throughout the 70s. I was astounded that adults were buying this stuff again.

Perhaps the smell is an affectation to convey one doesn’t care for primark

I'm 100% happy to own the fact that I don't care for Primark, because its stores smell of burnt plastic. Sorry, I didn't realise you hadn't grasped this.

It's other posters, however, who have suggested the smell is the clientele and informed me that people below a certain income smell of plastic. I didn't know this. It's very interesting.

What do people on megabucks smell like, then? Seriously, I want to know. I'm learning so much today from Mumsnet.

Btw I have noticed a smell is a number of shops, not just Primark. It's the same smell that used to waft out of the parcels that my DM used to order from her catalogue (Marshall Ward?) and is definitely caused by dye.

And a PP with experience in the industry has explained that Primark tends to pile its stick high and doesn't use air freshener, presumably because it's a budget store and it's a way of keeping costs down. This makes perfect sense. I still won't shop there because I don't like the smell, but now I know what it is. I really didn't understand before where it came from since, as has been said, Primark doesn't have exclusive suppliers.

But a number of posters have been saying that it must be the people who shop there. They can believe it if they like, but I don't understand why they think I believe it. Or why, having devised the theory themselves, they're blaming me for it.

I love Primark. Don't Get me wrong there is a lot of weird stuff there but for basics, pjs, accessories etc i think they are great.
I do however agree with the disposable fashion aspect of it all, I've definitely bought stuff there just because, only worn them a few times and then binned it or donated it. It's awful, but the blame for that is on consumers not Primark.
This year I decided I needed to change, so I'm on a shopping ban. I've not bought any new clothes in 2018, and I plan to keep it that way, instead I'm sewing my own clothes or making do with what I have (which is a fair bit after years of buting myself something new almost every week).
I realise it's not an option for everyone, and it certainly isn't cheaper. And if you want to ditch highstreet for ethical reasons sourcing ethically made fabric is Even more of a murky endeavor. But I love wearing clothes that fit me perfectly, in the perfect print or colour instead of just making do with what's on offer in the shops.

To reiterate (for those who may not have been concentrating while reading my post about the distinctive smell in Primark) dyes are responsible. Not people. Dyes.

🙄

Aye sure thing...

It's no good, RoseWhite. I know it's a very synthetic odour, and I know people from all walks of life shop at Primark. But the oracles on this thread have spoken, and have declared the burnt plastic smell to be emitted by impoverished people.

None of them has explained how they came to this conclusion. And none of them has explained why, having devised the theory themselves, it's someone else's fault. Still, they have spoken. In fact, I see one of them has just said "Aye sure thing". And well, if that's not an irrefutable explanation, I don't know what is. I stand....puzzled.

So many people here spout shit they don't know anything about. I have been to quite a handful of garment factories in the far east as well as companies that produce trainers like Nike and Adidas because of my line of work. No, cheap brands are certainly not made the same as more high end brands. Yes Nike/Adidas had its issues especially in the 90s but brands like Levi's are quite tight in their factory auditing. They ensure workers' safety, no child labour, etc. They do invest more in ensuring they outsource to more ethical companies. They also care more about quality, the quality assurance is a lot tighter, even a slight different shade of hue in the end garment that we probably won't spot would mean they wont' buy the product. With Primark, it's about how fast they can produce the garments, and less about the quality itself. Personally I don't like shopping at Primary because having been to companies that produce these garments, I just think they are craply made with crap material. There is 'cotton' and there's cotton. I can most probably tell Primark's clothing vs Next vs M&S from the material and stitching in a blind test. I'd rather buy less often but high quality clothing. There is no need to be a fashion slave really. My personal opinion, last time I checked, I am entitled to it.

Some people don’t care. Some people literally have no other choice. Some people care, but not enough to make significant changes in their lives.

Part of the reason Primark is so cheap is the bulk buy and the fact they don't advertise.

Ethics aside, I just don’t think the quality is there. I hadn’t bought clothes from them for years after a series of items ended up either shrinking in the wash or having one or two holes after a couple of wears. However DS loves Harry Potter and I’d seen some PJs in there so figured it’d make a great gift. He wore them twice before the legs gained a gaping hole. They were £9 as well which I don’t consider to be hugely cheap.

You are right to start a discussion about it. As Primark generates such a large profit, it should always do more to improve it's working conditions and workers rights for those behind the clothes. Most of us (myself included) choose to stay ignorant to it, not research it and push it to the back of our mind but if we are going to shop there, we're financially supporting the company and we should make sure they're not exploiting the people working as hard as they can to produce the items.

At the very least, even asking this question has led one person (me), to look into it more. If I don't like what I find, I'll make the effort to shop elsewhere.

I believe I wrote the post about the smell of poor people in Primark.
It was a joke.
The very idea that Primark has a special smell is utterly ridiculous as is the idea that poor people do and are therefore stinking out a shop.
No, poor people don't smell of whatever smell it is some of you imagine you can smell in primark.
If they don't wash they might smell as might a rich person.

to the pp who talked about Levis and their quality etc. iI have far too many pairs of Levis . The quality is HUGELY variable. In store the same pair of trousers can come out at very different sizing as can the shade of dye even in the exactly same pair if jeans.
Sure levis are better quality than Primark, but no way are they worth the money they charge and no way is the quality as good as it was years ago.