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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think this is why people buy all brand new clothes for holidays?

545 replies

Kittythepink · 08/08/2020 20:33

We are going on a family holiday to the seaside tomorrow. I am so stressed under mountains of clothes to wash, iron and pack for five people.

AIBU to think this is why so many people go holiday shopping for brand new clothes? Put them straight into the suitcase what a brilliant idea! Wink

Seriously though, does anyone buy all brand new clothes for going away? I used to know someone who bought all brand new underwear and socks for each holiday, so maybe it's a thing?

OP posts:
ekidmxcl · 09/08/2020 13:37

With big family washing, the only thing for it is to be vigilant. Every day the first thing I do is to put the washing machine on. Then it has to stay on until all the washing is done.

iminatent · 09/08/2020 13:58

Why is it easier to pack new knickers? Surely they take up more space still in their plastic packet? And if you pack pants and socks not in packets you can save space by putting them in your shoes (not the shoes you're wearing, obviously Grin).

Squidwitch · 09/08/2020 14:03

If the timing is right, I do buy new clothes, and those clothes become the normal home clothes after. Usually hold off buying anything else new the season before. I have two toddlers, every single top has sun cream or tomato sauce or preschool stains, I want them to look nice on holiday. I usually buy a new bag, it feels exciting and different to normal home. Always new toys for holiday, it's just part of the fun. I'm talking small cars/ bucket and spade, holiday cuddly toy.

CraftyGin · 09/08/2020 14:04

Back in the 70s, we got new clothes twice a year, one of which was for going on holiday. We would go into the city and pick up a few outfits from C&A. They would not then be worn until the holiday. You could tell people were a few days from their holiday because they would be wearing old, scruffy clothes.

Nowadays, kids get clothes all year round, so it’s not such a big occasion.

Take care about buying underwear and not checking. Ahead of my mum’s funeral, I went out to M&S to get black ties for DH and DSs. I carelessly tossed in a five pack of pants for me. When we were in the hotel getting dressed, it turned out the pants were size 28! It was the third thing that went wrong that morning, so the rest of the day was fine.

nanbread · 09/08/2020 14:05

Exactly iminatent - talk about a privileged problem

picklemewalnuts · 09/08/2020 15:02

I do the absolute opposite.
Take old underwear that's ready for the bin- really ready. Wear it and bin it.
Take the children's clothes that are past it. Trousers with holes etc. If it's cold, wear the trousers. If it's hot, cut them off for shorts. Shoes that are wearing through. Leave it all behind.

BluebellsGreenbells · 09/08/2020 15:04

Why is it easier to pack new knickers? Surely they take up more space still in their plastic packet?

It’s not about space saving.

PiratePetespajamas · 09/08/2020 15:05

Holy smokes. Some people on here really DO buy “everything” new for holidays Blush

BatshitCrazyWoman · 09/08/2020 15:27

I don't go on beach holidays any more (I have bikinis if I do go on that sort of holiday again). We tend to do city breaks, so I don't need holiday specific clothes. I'm a good, 'light capsule wardrobe' packer, so tend to pick from existing clothes I have. I might time my new bra purchases so that any underwear I take is newish and that's about it. I only wear matching sets so it wouldn't be as simple as buying a pack of knickers.

My children are grown up, but when they were little I would sometimes have to buy new things if they'd grown out of anything.

I wouldn't take scruffy clothes on holiday as I want to look nice! I'm not a fan of fast fashion so I make my clothes last.

Arealnumber · 09/08/2020 15:48

We're all doomed. Honest to God, in this day and age how can anyone possibly think any of these choices are remotely ok:

  • buying a whole wardrobe of new clothes to go on holiday
  • "throwing old clothes in the bin" before leaving from holiday. We shouldn't be putting any fabric in landfill and should be recycling everything, even if it's just for rags
  • wasting water & electricity on wishing new shop bought clothes
Never mind that our children are all going to be dealing with environmental disaster. You just all carry on with your daft, pointless, wasteful behaviours because "it's just what you've always done".
Strugglingtodomybest · 09/08/2020 15:58

I don't buy new for holidays unless it's something I need, like a new cossie.

I try really hard not to be wasteful, of money or material goods, and buying new just for holidays comes under wasteful imo.

Squidwitch · 09/08/2020 16:15

Honestly so much doom and gloom, buying your kids clothes in may of instead of October isn't going to implode the universe. Maybe the sanctimonious people should look at how they are even reading this? I'm pretty sure they didn't knit their smartphones out of ethically sourced rabbit sinews, and generate the electrify to charge it by making bio fuel out of composting their holy turds.

daisychain01 · 09/08/2020 16:16

[quote Ponoka7]**@Smallsteps88, where do you think second hand clothing comes from? The Charity shops rely on people who want new clothes, or impulse/over buy and are willing to donate them. A lot of them will be the people who buy new for holidays or don't like wearing the same going out-out clothes. Have you also given up meat? That's the best thing you can do for our planet.

@Smallsteps88, a lot of people can't afford clothes that aren't made in Bangladesh etc. The Bangladesh clothing factory collapse showed us that Mango/white Stuff/Wallis etc also use sweat shop labour.

@MinesAPintOfTea, I had a holiday wardrobe suitcase, it meant I could take advantage of last minute deals and not have to try to shop, around work. The shorts I wear on holiday I wouldn't wear in a city, or some of the dresses, floaty kaftans (for over maxi dresses in Muslim countries) or kimonos.

I buy new for holidays. I grab as much as I can during the sales for a October holiday and wear it the next summer. Or buy new for our May holiday and wear it that summer. Or donate it. Sometimes we buy cheap t-shirts for quad biking etc, nothing washes after some quad biking excursions through the desert etc.

I don't know why there's so much derision, we need people spending money. Bangladesh needs people who buy cheaper clothing. Our economies are built and sustained by consumerism.[/quote]
@Ponoka7

I have to take you up on your accusation that White Stuff uses sweat shops, and where you got that information from.

Of all the shops on the High Street, I would say White Stuff is the most ethical and I support them for that reason.

They have updated their Statement on Modern Slavery on their website every year for the past 5 years.

www.whitestuff.com/doinggoodstuff/doinggoodstuff-our-suppliers/doinggoodstuff-our-suppliers-modern-slavery-statement/

picklemewalnuts · 09/08/2020 16:25

@Arealnumber

We're all doomed. Honest to God, in this day and age how can anyone possibly think any of these choices are remotely ok:
  • buying a whole wardrobe of new clothes to go on holiday
  • "throwing old clothes in the bin" before leaving from holiday. We shouldn't be putting any fabric in landfill and should be recycling everything, even if it's just for rags
  • wasting water & electricity on wishing new shop bought clothes
Never mind that our children are all going to be dealing with environmental disaster. You just all carry on with your daft, pointless, wasteful behaviours because "it's just what you've always done".
To be fair, I'm talking about clothes that are already very worn. Certainly not suitable for anything except the rag bag. We have two kinds of clothes in my house- the barely worn and destined for the charity shop and the worn and mended until there's nothing left to mend. I'm not binning clothes that are redeemable! And it's at the end of a U.K. basic camping holiday, so it's all damp and possibly muddy, or an occasional foreign holiday.

Far better to wear things into the ground and eventually bin them, than to buy often and have things barely worn.

Lifeisgenerallyfun · 09/08/2020 16:38

When we were kids we used to shop for holiday clothes, swimsuit, shorts/t shirt and night time going out outfit. But we didn’t get many clothes at other times of the year except the start of winter. I think it was a thing in the 70s/80s

Sgtmajormummy · 09/08/2020 16:38

Just to add fuel to the fire, if you come to Italy in the next three weeks and want to do the empty suitcase trick, most clothes shops are having their Summer Sale with 50-70% off.
Grin
The pearl-clutching attitude that people on this site would throw away barely used clothes is going a bit far IMO.

Smallsteps88 · 09/08/2020 16:50

Leave it all behind.

How thoughtful of you. Hmm

Take your shit home and dispose of it yourself, properly!

carlywurly · 09/08/2020 16:52

Bloody hell. Who could be bothered with that faff? I generally buy a new multi pack of m&s knickers and a couple of bikinis and feel frivolous.

I always buy nice holiday toiletries to take but live by the beach at home, so there is little differentiation between a home and holiday wardrobe. I'm wearing a sun dress and sandals now.

Wankpuffin · 09/08/2020 17:10

When I was growing up I knew a family who would always buy new outfits for everyone for flights.

Really uncomfortable looking, stiff clothes to sit on a plan for 8 hours to look smart. I never understood it.

LovelyIssues · 09/08/2020 17:24

Makes no sense to me lol same amount of washing when you get back. I would only buy something if me or the kids particularly needed it

Squidwitch · 09/08/2020 17:26

I think the new clothes for flights thing is a remnant of the 80s and 90s where if you looked smart, you were likely to get an upgrade. Kinda died out when package hols didn't have different sections on planes. I think for me, and maybe others, going on holiday was the high point of year, UK or abroad, and it was so very different to your everyday existence and your parents wanted to feel that too. Now we all maybe have a different base level of poor, but back in the seventies and eighties if you weren't gonna live it up and be special on your week in hayling island, you certainly weren't back at home with parents working alternate shifts and humping the shopping every Saturday two miles home. The holiday is a goal, a reward, and who wants to spend it shitty holey clothes and broken sandals just so the suitcase is lighter.

BluebellsGreenbells · 09/08/2020 17:29

I don’t wear shorts or dresses in the U.K. so I need to buy some if we go away.
So yes to buying new holiday clothes.

And I’m not a struck follower of fashion, but I can’t see a 10 year old T-shirt cutting it’s on holiday. It nice to wear new things.

Kids always grow and need stuff so why not?
We don’t go very often so it’s a special occasion. Who wants to wear work stuff or gardening gear, Work our tops or slouch pants?

KisstheTeapot14 · 09/08/2020 17:33

Always wash before wearing. You do know clothes are treated with chemicals to help them 'keep' from factory floor to shopping rail?

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/clothes-new-wash-dermatologist-today-show-lice-scabies-formaldehyde-eczema-a8219976.html

userd · 09/08/2020 17:41

that article just says can this & can that & ends with

“You’re more likely to get an infection from touching the door handle walking into the shop then you are from actually putting on the clothes,” it is better to be safe than sorry."

riceuten · 09/08/2020 17:42

I don't understand this either (unless there's something mission critical that needs replacing), but a LOT of people I know - usually those least able to afford it - do this. I rarely take stuff away I don't need.

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