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).

I do tend to buy cheap things but I don’t dispose of them unless they are truly unwearable. I have some sandals that really should go in the bin but they aren’t quite totally wrecked so I have held onto them! I donate clothes to the charity shop that are in good condition but as I wear everything until it isn’t, that isn’t that often!
I do have too many clothes I think but I now don’t buy one off type things like a top that won’t match with all my other clothes I try to buy things that match with lots of things.

Social media has so much to blame. I've heard young women at work saying they won't wear the same outfit twice on social media. There is so much shit produced by cheap websites like boohoo, PLT etc

I'm sure I saw a headline on BBC news the other day saying that the government is going to disregard a report that made a number of recommendations to tackle this...

Social media has so much to blame. I've heard young women at work saying they won't wear the same outfit twice on social media.

Not a fan of social media, but surely this is a parental failure. How on earth could you raise such a dimwit?

I bought a mustard yellow top for £6 in primark recently. It goes with almost all my work trousers and jeans, cheap isn’t always bad and it is practical. I will wear it until it’s beyond repair. I will sew things up, I treat stains etc

My DC both like to wear white cropped T-shirt’s. Problem is they aren’t careful with them and most of them have stains on I struggle to get out and then they won’t wear them anymore and want new ones. I do find this frustrating.

We buy cheap, throwaway clothing for our hols every year.

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

That's for people to tackle the industry at large though, it hasn't just come about since Primark. The constant need for new seasons etc etc.

Sorry ended too soon - one thing we all do is step down clothes to become PJ’s. We don’t buy PJ’s much at all, nightwear is old clothes. DC wear old shorts that are too short for wearing outside. A T-shirt that has lost its shape or has faded will also become a PJ top. All like this because it’s usually clothes that are really comfy and you don’t want to part with

@Ringdonna
My Dsis does this too. She has actual mountains of clothing from previous holidays and the next holiday will just buy all new ones. She won’t use them again as says stained by sun tan lotion or just not looking its best. Every holiday they all have a new wardrobe for 2 weeks

We're going on holiday next year. I have bought a new swimsuit and a new pair of sandals. Everything else I have already.

Funnily, one of my holiday staples is a pair of linen trousers which I got from Primark about 6 years ago and are still going strong.

Why on earth would you want a whole new wardrobe for each holiday?

Next week. Not next year. Although when we do go away next year I won't be buying all new stuff then either.

Totally agree, one of the joys of a sun holiday is getting to wear things that never see the light of day here in the frozen North (not today tho ☀️)
Some of my holiday gear is ancient and I live it!

*love

I think it’s because there’s no incentive to buy better quality. About 8 years ago I purchased some long sleeve tops (just basic t shirt style) and they have lasted so well. I got them from fat face. I got some more last year as they are a staple in my wardrobe. Well the new ones haven’t lasted at all. I may as well of just gone to primark.

If there was better quality clothing around people would buy less. I would rather spend £30 on a t shirt that will last than £2.50. It would mean I wouldn’t be buying every few months.

Second hand clothes are no longer cheap. I don’t blame the charity shops as they have overheads to pay for but what’s the incentive? Why pay a few quid cheaper or sometimes more money when you could buy it brand new?

Agree with the OP about it being a disaster for the environment.

A start would be for the government to look and take seriously the 18 recommendations of the Environmental Audit Committee published recently. Another would be to reform business taxation so it does not favour online businesses.

I've never spent money on clothes and they are all fine. they certainly don't need to be disposed of rapidly.

It's so lucrative. Zara can make 10 items the same and only have to sell one to be in profit, 2 to be in big profit. They don't care about the other 8 so they often go to landfill unsold.
The environmental impact is shocking, and the human impact.
Its really put me off shopping.

I’ve only skim read the thread, so not sure if it’s been mentioned but The True Cost on Netflix is a good documentary about fast fashion, highly recommend.

I've got a jumper from Primark that's about 15 years old and still going, other than a few bobbles this £4 jumper has been a star in my wardrobe. So I agree with above posters saying cheap isn't always bad.

Fortunately my dd has learnt from me that we aren't a disposable fashion family. We treat stains, we use a needle and thread to repair and we use charity shops wherever possible.

We also take all our unwearable/sellable clothes to a charity shop who collects them and gets money back as rags.

In the last few weeks, I have bought a cream lace long sleeved top (originally from H&M) a navy jacket (New Look), a grey top (per una) and a crimson t-shirt (M&S) from local charity shops for £1 each. We have lots of charity shops where I live and I love looking for a bargain. My late MiL was queen of the car boot sales and bought shedloads of stuff for my DCs, we never knew what she was going to produce next . I also take lots to the charity shop (unless it's really manky, in which case I will just throw it away)

I'm a manager of a national charity shop chain and I was a volunteer for over 30 years before I landed my paid job. This thread is a very interesting read for me, especially regarding pricing of items, etc.

Just this week I had a lovely donator (I am always amazed at the generosity of donators) who handed me 3 large Ikea bags (the huge blue ones) full of high end label clothing. Joules, Boden and the like. Some of the items were brand new with tags still attached. I got one of my fabulous volunteers to hang and tag them all, another volunteer steamed them, and they were put on the rail to be priced. I was very busy, so I asked a volunteer to price them for me. This volunteer is very fashion aware so I thought she'd be comfortable doing it.

She then put them in the shop, and as I was so busy, I didn't check the pricing standard. Big mistake.

The next day, the donator that had donated them, popped in and promptly searched the shop for 'her' donated items. Gathered them all up and gave them to me with a very stern " If you are going to sell my donations this cheap then I will not be donating here again!!"

I checked the pricing...…..most of the lovely items, even the BNWT items, had been priced for less than £3.00. The volunteer that had priced them admitted to not recognising the 'brands' so assumed they were 'off the street market'.

So even donators want their items to get decent prices for their chosen charity. That donator starts as a volunteer on Monday :)

Please keep donating, if you can. Even 'rags' most charities will be paid for.

And a huge thank you to those that do, and especially to the fantastic volunteers.

NannyKasey

If you put your 'manky' items in a separate bag and tell the manager that they are 'rags' then they will probably be accepted and put straight in with the other rags.

My charity gets paid for rags - every penny counts.

May be worth asking?

Oh we LOVE people who mark things as rags. We send off all textile rags to be recycled.

But recycling is the third step in the process after reduce and reuse....

Cersei61

Will do

I've tailed off buying clothes over time as I still have a lot of oldies going... but when I do replace an item with something similar, the quality is fading over time, even within a brand like M&S. I'm not driven by high/ fast fashion, so no awkward cold shoulders here. I will always buy in shops (unless sports wear from smaller companies like Tikiboo, which are pretty easy to judge fit on) and make sure I get a good fit before buying.

I saw something recently that online returns often never make it back to resale and are often dumped. So if you've picked a few styles in a range of sizes because fit is so inconsistent, and returned the majority of it, that could end up being disposed of!

I also don't tend to buy because I can't find what I want. So while shops are churning out their fashionable AW1920 range, I'm realising that it's August and I need to update my holiday wardrobe and all that's left is some hideous post-sales dregs.

Most of my stuff is worn and at the bobbly end by the time I get to the charity shop end of the cycle. The worst stuff, I tend to put in the big recycling bins in car parks rather than direct to the shop.

Its difficult isn't it DD is a student working part time for £6 an hour,of course she wants cheap fashion