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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Wear clothes once, then take them back?

252 replies

Massiveroastdinner · 07/11/2021 21:35

Does anyone do this?

I remember doing this a lot as a teen, so I’d have lots of different outfits to go out in, but couldn’t afford. It was either from the catalogue or from shops.

Haven’t done it since, but was reading about how many fashion influencers on Instagram etc do

OP posts:
JFM27 · 09/11/2021 22:23

What interests me is if i wear an outfit its still clean as i am very i use a anti perspirant.it might smell of perfume but not anything else..some of these people must be really grubby if their clothes smell etc i wash everything after i wear it,well not coats and jackets but everything else.

There must be some very grubby people about.

eeek88 · 09/11/2021 23:05

I think it’s disgusting to do this with clothes but I used to do it with books. It was my geeky little teenage rebellion.

Bumblenums1234 · 09/11/2021 23:10

I often forget to take clothes back that I haven't worn.

Only times I have ever returned something that I had worn out were due to issues/damages. I think it's really bad form to return stuff so you have a free outfit. I have never done that

Bumblenums1234 · 09/11/2021 23:12

@JFM27

What interests me is if i wear an outfit its still clean as i am very i use a anti perspirant.it might smell of perfume but not anything else..some of these people must be really grubby if their clothes smell etc i wash everything after i wear it,well not coats and jackets but everything else.

There must be some very grubby people about.

I imagine you can't wash it because of the tag. A night on the town makes clothes smell, even if you are very very clean.
inawe · 09/11/2021 23:19

Vile. A friend of mine caught scabies from what she thinks was an item of clothing that had been returned in this manner.

ufucoffee · 09/11/2021 23:39

@JFM27

What interests me is if i wear an outfit its still clean as i am very i use a anti perspirant.it might smell of perfume but not anything else..some of these people must be really grubby if their clothes smell etc i wash everything after i wear it,well not coats and jackets but everything else.

There must be some very grubby people about.

Why would you think smelling of perfume makes it ok? I wouldn't want to buy clothes smelling of someone else's perfume.
LaVieEstBelle159 · 10/11/2021 00:49

I sold a brand new coat from Next, still with tags on eBay. Had a complaint from the customer saying that it didn't turn up in time so she wanted to return it. It absolutely stank and had obviously been worn. I tried to raise a complaint with eBay but they held in her favour, despite my coat being really smelly now!!

Dibbydoos · 10/11/2021 03:25

I think it's horrible behaviour and I can honestly say I've never done this, but I know adults in good jobs who have.
It's minging!

Dorisspider · 10/11/2021 09:37

Awful. I had a friend who would do things like this.
Unfortunately it soon turned out she was doing worse. Like saying an expensive carpet had not been delivered when it was left in a tiny private communal hallway, possibly getting the driver into serious trouble.
After I was told this, she asked me if I thought she was awful.
I said yes.
She kept this rug and demanded a refund.
Turned out she got a refund and a new rug as the company got confused. She sold the spare rug.
Story did not end there. Her partner spilled coke on it and she returned it said it was faulty.
Just horrible people around. No morals.

Yorkshirelass04 · 10/11/2021 09:53

All of this does make me wonder whether a scheme to rent clothes for one night only would be the way forward? I know there are some companies eg Baukjen doing this.

If people are that desperate to wear new all the time but don't want to keep the item, then that's the alternative.

flapjackfairy · 10/11/2021 09:54

I've never done it but my mother let slip that my.sister in law bought an off the peg wedding dress and returned it after the wedding for a full refund. I couldnt believe it . Shock

mam0918 · 10/11/2021 09:56

@JFM27

What interests me is if i wear an outfit its still clean as i am very i use a anti perspirant.it might smell of perfume but not anything else..some of these people must be really grubby if their clothes smell etc i wash everything after i wear it,well not coats and jackets but everything else.

There must be some very grubby people about.

it doesn't matter what you spray yourself in (spraying stuff actually makes it worse as now you added strong chemical smells and stains too) unless you are prince Andrew you still sweat and the sweat smells and stains when it goes stale which it will do in a plastic bag being posted.
mam0918 · 10/11/2021 09:58

@Yorkshirelass04

All of this does make me wonder whether a scheme to rent clothes for one night only would be the way forward? I know there are some companies eg Baukjen doing this.

If people are that desperate to wear new all the time but don't want to keep the item, then that's the alternative.

Renting clothes costs money (sometimes a lot), these scruffy people are cheap and see it as a way of getting freebies though because they get a full refund.
mam0918 · 10/11/2021 10:01

@eeek88

I think it’s disgusting to do this with clothes but I used to do it with books. It was my geeky little teenage rebellion.
You do know libraries exist right? They're even free
NorthbyNorthwest22 · 10/11/2021 10:32

Without reading through the other replies i know the consensus is going to be what an absolute scruff

Mirw · 10/11/2021 11:49

Why would you do that? Strange thing to do. Influencer, what are they? Narcissists who need to get a real job, instead of encouraging young people to do idiotic and weird things.

Harmonypuss · 10/11/2021 12:37

About 30yrs ago my dad was the manager of an indoor market in a slightly upper-class area of the West Midlands and I popped in to see him one Monday lunchtime. Whilst I was sipping my coffee one of his stallholders popped his head in to have a moan about people buying clothes on a Saturday and returning them on Monday. I said something about him not having changing facilities for people to try items on but dad said that wasn't the problem, it was people buying items to wear out on Saturday night then bringing them back smelling off cigarette smoke on Monday and repeating the CFery again the following weekend.
I was gobsmacked that people in this affluent area would do such a thing, dad said this is how those with money keep the money!

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 15/11/2021 09:06

@Youdoyoutoday

Pretty gross - though falling about screaming and thinking the carpet is about to be ruined is a bit OTT
Sweetandsaltycaroline · 15/11/2021 10:27

I've never done it but my mother let slip that my.sister in law bought an off the peg wedding dress and returned it after the wedding for a full refund. I couldnt believe it

My wedding dress ended up with quite a bit of mud on the bottom of it - I'd have never have gotten away with taking it back- not that I would have considered it!!

notacooldad · 15/11/2021 10:36

Wearing once and returning is just skank.
Someone I used to admire did this with an interview outfit some years ago and it turned me right off her. I could never look at her in the same light again.

She said it was because the interview clothes weren't her typical style and she wouldn't wear them again.

Dorisspider · 15/12/2021 08:12

Even if you think you are 'clean' I ask you these questions.. would you want someone else's dead skin cells next to your body?
Have you heard of forensics?
I had a friend who insisted she never sweated. Her clothes reeked of B.O. because she washed hesrelf and not the clothes...
I find with people who insist they don't smell they shed skin like no tomorrow.

qualitygirl · 15/12/2021 08:22

@Dorisspider I hear what you are saying but you do know that on a daily basis you probably swallow, have land on you, thousands of skin cells that are not yours 🤣🤣 they are all around you a typical person sheds at a rate of 30,000 to 40,000 dead skin from the surface of the skin every MINUTE. There's no getting away from it.

Dorisspider · 15/12/2021 08:28

qualitygirl
I dont actually want to PAY for the privilege of extra dead skin though.

Practicebeingpatient · 15/12/2021 08:29

I was out with a friend recently and noticed the shop tag sticking out of her top. So being a good mate I discreetly pulled it off. She was furious as she had been planning on returning it the next day.

This wasn't a high end designer item. It was from Primark and cost £10. About the same price as a glass of the wine we were drinking. And she isn't a struggling student. She's a mature, professional woman who is rightly proud of owning her home outright. We go back a long way and I'll always be her friend but TBH I lost a lot of respect for her that night. If she will compromise her morals for £10, what would she do for £1000?

qualitygirl · 15/12/2021 08:34

But @Dorisspider you do...every time you pick up a piece of clothing in a store and put it on...whether it has been worn or not by another person. It will have thousands of skin cells on it! The pen on the desk in the office, the shampoo that you buy in the supermarket , the lid of the take away coffee cup that you buy...you pay for the privilege every move you make.