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.

People who dont like the wastefullness of Primark are not the people buying new iphones every year

Most of my tech (and all of the phones in my house) are second hand repurposed.
I am expected to have a smart phone for work (access to schedules/calender app & emails). I dont have a tablet.

the charity point is just stupid. Sorry but it is. Hardly the same at all.

No it isn't you are relying on the cheap throw away fashion and pushing the onus on others to keep buying so you can buy from a charity shop.

And primark paperbags are not as environmentally friendly as some of you are making out. Increased energy costs for manufacture and transport and not designed for reuse, lots of research on it.

Spring hen - I don't get your point. I don't like the wastefulness of Primark and I'm not buying new apple phones every year.

Justanother - if you didn't have Primark you would still have charity shops selling clothes. Saying that I very rarely see charity shops with Primark clothes in them so I'm not sure Primark is propping up the charity shops either.

How do you find out if a stores clothes are made ethically or not. Pricing has nothing to do with it. High end and low end are often made in the same factories.
How do you balance the budget and buy ethically ?

thereareworsethingsicoulddo

I find the ETI a great help and it’s one of the reasons I choose to shop with Primark.

It’s not hard to try and make more ethical purchases if you read the labels rather than make assumptions due to the brand. I’ve seen threads on here where people berate an ops handbag choice and for a while a certain Uk manufactured handbag was the darling of the S&B board as a ethical choice. It was made in one of our factories. Equally I’ve also seen folk ask for recommendation for a childs product, a poster recommended one available in a high st store for a very good price but the op didn’t want to purchase a cheap foreign one. They’d linked to one produced in our factory in the UK where we follow the actual living wage, not the bollocks govt one, everyone starts on that regardless of age or experience, and has a contract. Just because it’s affordable it does not mean it’s not produced ethically.

If you want tips; I pay a £1 for half a dozen eggs, less than supermarket value ones as they are from a local chicken keeper. I’ve met the chickens that lay them.

I'm not under any delusion that Primark are much worse than any other high street clothes shop.

Their clothes are certainly shit, though. Get my cheap stuff from Uniqlo.

My dd refused to go there from the age of about 8 When my kids were 8 they did what they were told.

People who dont like the wastefullness of Primark are not the people buying new iphones every year

I certainly never suggested they were, but the tech cycle has now slowed down.

Most of my tech (and all of the phones in my house) are second hand repurposed.

Most, but disregarding that you still benefited from those who want to be early adopters etc so you can buy a recon laptop/phone.

That doesn't absolve you of the wastefulness of society at large, nor the ethics involved in building such devices. But I expect its different for you because of no doubt reasons that you do not give anyone else the benefit of... it becomes a circular hypocrital argument

I'm going there today to buy tights.
The reason being they are cheper. I've tried other brands but they are no better yet more expensive.
I do agree that a lot of there stuff is cheap and poor quality.

If you're buying secondhand surely that's better than going out and buying brand new or are you suggesting it's all the same so we might as well all buy brand new?

I grew up on a council estate in the 1980s and both my parents were unemployed. I was lucky enough to wear hand me downs that were first worn by my elder male cousins and then my big brother. I looked like a dick and I felt like a complete dork.

In saying that growing up poor is a completely separate feeling to raising children when you are skint. I have no idea what that feels like as the last time I truly had no money was when I was a student.

I think Primark is the McDonalds of clothing retail - it's ethical standards are probably better than most, but it gets more scrutiny tbecause it is successful.

Primark ARE worse than most for marketing things that are just for this season. Their kids clothes, bedding, even underpands are covered in the movie release characters of the moment (M&S have started doing this too) the idea being that in a few months it'll be a new "in" character they'll all want.

Their adult clothes are very seasonal and "now". Their winter stuff all has Christmassy shite on them so looks silly if you wear it on a chilly summers evening.

Peacocks is MUCH better in both adults and kids for basics you can wear all year round that wont date as much as Primark. Their ethics are worse than Primark BUT you dont need to keep buying and replacing.

Eg If I want a warm cardie I want one I can wear any season, dress up or down, and keep wearing until it dies basically. If I go to primark itll have this seasons cut out, a seasonal pattern or some novely harrypotter/disney shite on it so I couldnt dress it up or down.

Peacocks at least will do me ONE plain cardie thatll do me all year and go okay with most outfits.

So I buy from Peacocks knowing it scores worse than Primark on ethics, but also knowing that I will be buying less & less often

H&M used to be good for plain basics that washed well & lasted for years. Not any more.

Its difficult in that paying more doesnt get you better ethics these days. Even Rigby&Peller have started using crappy fabrics that dont last now!

" My dd refused to go there from the age of about 8 /When my kids were 8 they did what they were told. "

Good for you, Peach, do you want a medal?

I was quite proud of my daughter for having some of her own ethics at that age.

She had a touch of Lisa Simpson about her.

Yes I don't quite get the argument that buying second hand is just as bad. It doesn't absolve you entirely from fuelling the market for this stuff but it does stop it going to landfill and more resources being used to make the same thing again.

And maybe it does encourage people to consider longevity a benefit as they will be able to resell if it's not wildly dated or worn out.

DullAndOld, no I don't want a medal and I don't think 8 year old refusing to do what they are told deserve one either. Presumably if she refused to go there it was somewhere you had taken her or wanted to take her? If not it was a bit of an empty gesture anyway.

Some parents shop there because it is what they can afford. Evidently you can afford to indulge a stroppy 8 year old. Do you want a medal?

Of course but I was also a child and saw my mum struggle clothing kids and it wasn't Primark she went to

Are you very young?

When my older kid were young there was no primark. I had to go to jumble sales.
That isn't the jolly fun lots of affluent people would have you believe..

Im not a fan of fast fashion. I also worry about workers' conditions and rights.

But I also think that many/most of the high street brands exploit the people who make the clothes.

I try to buy responsibly where I can - People Tree, Thought, Nomads etc - but they don't always have what I need. Plus they can be really expensive and if I'm spending that kind of money the clothes need to great quality, non-trendy style (so I can wear them forever).

So if you feel strongly about Primarni, avoid it. But remember than they're no worse than a lot of other places.

no not really peach.

I had enough money at the time to choose ..ooh Primark/charity shop/SPorts direct..
Anyway she wasn't' stroppy' she just said 'mum I don't want to go to Primark with what I have heard about them'.
Fair enough.

But she wasn't refusing to do as she was told was she? She'd seen a programme and on the standards of how people were treated by their factories and was affected by it. Why would you see her taking a stand as a negative thing? It's precisely that sort of attitude that makes me despair. Completely selfish.

How do you find out if a stores clothes are made ethically or not. Pricing has nothing to do with it. High end and low end are often made in the same factories.
How do you balance the budget and buy ethically

There are lots of mid priced ethical brands about, its not hard to find them

But mid range had been out of my reach at times so when I have had to go CHEAPcheap Ive gone for lasting/adaptable:
Plain non character clothes for the kids so they dont go "Im not wearing that I dont like thomas any more" etc
Layerables/classics/capsule pieces that you can wear until worn out. Nothing trendy that'll look "last year"

Host a clothes swap! A whole new recycled wardrobe for free

Annoyingly Charity shops in some areas really outprice the people who need them, but if you go to cheaper areas the charity shops prices come down

My dd refused to go there from the age of about 8
Genuinely good for her that she has awareness but she doesn't have to pay for her own clothes does she?
Presumably she knew she would be clothed regardless?

But she wasn't refusing to do as she was told was she? Well her mother said she refused to go so I think that does mean she was refusing to go.