Disposable fashion

[DonkeyHohtay]

Just saw a piece on the BBC news about the amount of clothing ending up in landfill. Apparently we're all buying 4 times as much clothing as we did 20 years ago, wearing it just a couple of times, and binning it.

AIBU to think this is a bit of an environmental disaster? And what can we do about it??

(Disclaimer - i'm in my mid 40s and don't really follow fashion. I have a skirt in my wardrobe which I bought in 1997. I wear things until they fall to bits, and get a lot of high-quality second hand. I just don't "get" the wear it once and bin it mentality).

Charity shops are used as a bit of a dumping ground / conscience salve for all our fast fashion. A lot of stuff doesn't even make it on to charity shop floors as it's too poor quality. I'd like it if they got all the Primark (and similar) crap that they can't sell and dump it back on their doorsteps.

Hate the disposable fashion hype. This clothing is bad for the environment and so many other thngs it also looks so nasty and cheap.

I din think the charity shops should be criticised in this scenario. Putting £3.50 on a top when you've got targets to meet probably seems reasonable (even if it was only £2.99 new) Tere will be guides for pricing different brands...but you can't check every single item against it's retail price.

But surely those guidelines - and common sense - would dictate that the average Primark t-shirt is, say, £4 new, so therefore no one is going to pay £3.75 for it used?

I avoid Primark and supermarket clothes (aside from sainsburys which are actually pretty good) for this very reason. I bought a T-shirt from Primark once and it tore the first time I wore it, had to be thrown away.

People are unwilling to pay more for less items. They just want to have an excess of clothes even though they’re shite quality. I don’t personally understand it and would much rather buy fewer items but have a higher quality.

Agreed OP - it is a huge problem. And as many people have pointed out, it seems we’re stuck in a situation where ethical consumption is difficult and expensive, and there’s not a whole lot of incentive to buy secondhand when the quality is so low.

The onus shouldn’t be entirely on consumers to solve problems created by governments and big corporations. We can’t, and it’s no wonder people feel powerless about it.

Personally, I’m doing the year-long boycott of new clothing organised by extinction rebellion- makes no difference as I am on a tight budget so only shop in barnardos anyway! And attending protests where I can (with toddler in tow) to ask for system change. It’s not much and I don’t know what the effect will be but it’s making me feel more hopeful about the future.

Fast fashion is one of my biggest bugbears. My first memory of it is about 30 years ago when Asda introduced the George range.

I agree it’s ridiculous. I know people who will buy a cheap outfit on BooHoo or PLT for one night out and then it goes in the bin. Can’t be seen wearing the same outfit twice on Instagram... They openly admit that’s the reason too.

Social media ‘Influencers’ make things worse in this respect. I follow one ex reality TV star who appears VERY environmentally conscious, is a vegan, has an adopt don’t shop mentality etc but is very stylish and promotes lots of outfits and brands on her page. This only encourages followers to go out and buy lots of things they don’t need.

I find that plenty of ‘influencers’ like this only promote the ‘in vogue’ face of reducing your footprint (e.g being a vegan) but ignore things like the impact of their disposable fashion habits and constant plane travel.

Agree with PPs about clothing quality being crap though. I’d happily spend a bit more on items that will last me years but finding those items is becoming ridiculously difficult. I recently bought a whole selection of work clothes from brands that I thought would last me years and half of it is already starting to fall apart. It’s very disappointing.

The problem is also exacerbated by more synthetic fibres being used than ever before, which take much longer to decompose than natural fibres.

I have a friend who is very proud of her collection of 100 Primark t shirts in incrementally different shades. She replaces them as soon as they begin to look a bit faded or tatty. She won’t consider buying better quality clothes that last longer (they are comfortably well off) because “where is the fun in that?”. This is a woman who claims to “love the Mother” (Earth).

But surely those guidelines - and common sense - would dictate that the average Primark t-shirt is, say, £4 new, so therefore no one is going to pay £3.75 for it used?

Indeed... basically this stuff is too cheap for charity shops to make a decent amount on.

A lot of stuff doesn't even make it on to charity shop floors as it's too poor quality

This is so true. I know that what I go in to do my shift tomorrow there will be loads of fast fashion. Although Primark's the biggest one, they're not alone - H&M, supermarkets, Boohoo, Missguided, Asos - just as bad.

Charities are there to raise money for their cause. Pricing is a minefield and an art, not a science. But the starting point for us is that if we're given something brand, new never worn, still with the tags on, the starting point is a third of original selling price. Which is fine if it's a £30 dress from House of Fraser. When it's a vest top at £1.80 from Primark, not so fine. By the time someone's sorted it, hung it, steamed it, priced it, put it on the shop floor, given it a week number.... it's just not worth our hassle. And it's not going to cover our basic running costs, let alone contribute to the charity. And that's for new! A second hand Primark vest top is worth nothing. Pennies. Also disagree that if it was cheap people will buy more - people don't go into a charity shop clothes shopping thinking they have a tenner to spend. They go in thinking that they need a top for their holiday. If they find one for a quid, they're not going to spend the other £9 on other stuff.

Fast fashion also really affects what people are prepared to pay for decent quality second hand. (Or perhaps more accurately, stuff which cost more in the first place). A Boden summer dress, for example. Costs £75 new, would be £25 if it were BNWT (although tbh i'd probably stick £19.99 on it), second hand obviously less so we price it at something like £9 in immaculate condition. Then you get people coming in saying "NINE POUNDS??? In a charity shop??? That's ridiculous! I could get three from Primark for that price!" And the cycle continues.

I think getting people to see charity shops as a viable option is important.

Where we live the charity shops are all clean, smell nice and are well laid out as it would be in a regular shop.

However I've been to a couple of other towns/cities recently and the charity shops I went for a mooch in were dirty and smelt awful. So I can see why many will be put off from using them.

I buy key basics from stores and wear them for years but I top up from charity shops mainly because ours are full of quality items although they've started to up their prices that I'm happy to purchase.

Maybe it depends where you are, but plenty of people browse them around here; me and my friends do without specific clothes in mind and we are fortunate enough to be able to afford new, so it's a choice. One of the local ones uses insta to put photos of outfits on, which obviously takes a bit of time, but on a phone no more than a minute or so, and it seems a lot busier now. They also did a handbag auction which was sponsored by a local business to hire out a local venue, and they made nearly £2k from donated bags! Agreed that this took a lot of planning, but the planner is hoping to go into a career in events planning, and so utilising those skills and putting the event on benefited her CV as well as the charity. I guess it's about perhaps attracting a wider variety of volunteers to appeal to different markets, not saying that those that do now aren't valuable obviously- but especially as people are becoming more conscious about the environment I think there is an untapped 'market' there. As well as things being overpriced, some things are underpriced, I volunteered in Oxfam whilst at uni and they weren't overly receptive to knowledge of prices. A new Radley bag with tags was on for a tenner, could easily have fetched triple that I reckon.

I think that in the modern day, there isn't any item of clothing that could be classed as timeless or a staple.
Some of the fashions nowadays are so ridiculous that they can't be worn outside of their 'time period' - once the fad is over, the clothing is over too.

So a neon yellow minidress with a PVC jacket over the top looks 'great' when everyone else is wearing one - but looks god awful after that timeframe and is unlikely to come back into fashion again.
Whereas a classic LBD can be worn at any time, no matter what is classed as fashion.

Social media and reality TV have a lot to answer for with regards to the above. You only have to appear on Love Island to be handed clothing lines - which every girl who watches Love Island will in turn purchase.

Terrible really.

We need to lose the stigma of buying second hand. I have expensive tastes, hankering after clothes I can't afford to buy new. So I buy on ebay. I also have a tailor who alters clothes for the perfect fit and makes repairs very cheaply. I educate myself on labels by reading lots of fashion blogs and Vogue, which does take time. If it doesn't quite fit, it goes back up on ebay. If I make decisions quickly and put clothes back on ebay almost as soon as they come in, rather than putting them in the wardrobe and hoping I will lose weight, I make my money back. I am hoping my approach is rubbing off on my two daughters but they get huge peer pressure from their friends, such as not wearing the same thing twice to parties or having themed parties where the clothes are bought cheaply and thrown out the next day. We need to make fast fashion a pariah but good luck with that!

Some of the fashions nowadays are so ridiculous that they can't be worn outside of their 'time period' - once the fad is over, the clothing is over too.

Agree - we are awash with donations of cold shoulder tops. Height of fashion in 2016/17. Nobody will be seen dead in them in summer 2019.

Apart from one pair of gloves this year in january (as I lost my pair) I've stopped buy clothes for almost 2 years now this coming october.

The real eye opening moment for me was when I came home to find my cupboard rail had broken. I baged everything I didn't really love and kept items I did + that were needed ie gym clothes.

A huge part of it for me was that I never had nice clothes growing up and I went wild buying stuff to make myself feel better after i left home.

If I do buy anything I would always go for quality over quantity. As it's worth paying a bit for something you use everyday like shoes or a coat.

I loathe fast fashion for the impact on the environment and for the way they exploit workers. The majority of my clothes come from charity shops.

Grim. My SIL's friend has a 19 year old beautiful-but-not-yet-successful model daughter who lives in West London. She and her friends buy stuff at Primark, wear it out on Saturday night and bin it on Sunday. I thought it was an urban legend.

If I really like something I will keep it so long that by the time I’m ready to part with it it ‘s not really fit even for the charity shop.

Problem is though, that without fast fashion, charity shops would also suffer.

The second hand market would be a fraction of its current state if people where buying more ethical/lasting clothes. People scouting charity shops for non primark-esq clothes are relying on others treating fashion as throwaway

Knocking Primark et Al is minimising the entire fashion industry.

Problem is though, that without fast fashion, charity shops would also suffer.

I guess we'll just have to life with it.

I'd be very very happy to contribute to a charity that seeks to offset the corresponding loss, doubt I'm alone.

I think plenty of people donate brands other than cheap ones, I do if I know I won't wear something again, and if it no longer fits

If I really like something I will keep it so long that by the time I’m ready to part with it it ‘s not really fit even for the charity shop.

Nothing wrong with that - that's how it should be. We've all got distracted by talking about charity shops but in the ideal world we just wouldn't be buying clothes, wearing them a couple of times and throwing them away - whether in the bin or taking them to charity.

yes it's a huge problem

the trouble is, now the economy is so dependent on it, there will be no government action taken. It needs consumers to stop consuming frankly.