To ask you to think before you personalise clothing and other gifts you buy?

[AloysiusBear]

We all need to consume less, and reuse & pass on more.

This year so many retailers have cottoned on that personalising items reduces our ability to pass them on to other children.

Don't do it! That Christmas jumper can be passed on to your niece, nephew, younger child, neighbours child, but Annabel isn't going to want it if its got Ethan embroidered or printed on very obviously.

Overtly gendered and personalised items are retailer strategies to reduce our ability to re-use and push us to buy more.

Lets all try not to.

GOOD MESSAGE

Thanks OP X

It's tacky anyway.

Yes! I don’t mind for things like blankets but my sons was bought a dressing gown with his name on when he was small. It’s embroidered in the same colour so I didn’t spot it til several months in. And he was a baby so didn’t really wear a dressing gown.

So I have a very sweet baby size dressing gown, barely worn, that I can’t really pass on. Frustrating.

Plus it's naff AF

@SBAM do you have any local facebook groups or the next door app? There's often personalised things on there with "free to a good home if anyone has a little <insert name>" and unless your child has a really unusual name they'll usually get snapped up. The worst stuff to personalise are the sports kit / club kit type items as that has a really limited "market" to pass onto.

Stuff like the baby dressing gown you could pass on. If it's taken you several months to spot the customisation, then it can't be that obvious. And I'm sure 6 month old Jack won't care he's wearing a dressing gown that says George on it!

Great message, couldn't agree more.

Ps pf course we can technically still re-use these items but its a whole lot simpler if we don't print names all over stuff.

School do it too - insist names or initials are put on sports tops etc so that they can't be passed on easily. Its a good idea to campaign against this sort of policy as its terrifically wasteful, not to mention a nightmare for parents relying on second hand.

I agree with you in the main, but schools do it to try to prevent items getting lost. Sew on a name tag rather than writing the name on, then you can unpick and sew on a different name when you pass it down.

Absolutely agree.

If it's embroidered on you can probably unpick it??

I worked at an international school where many parents had more money than sense. My daughter attended and has an unusual name. I had so many bags with her name on that has been given at parties when we left. We did donate them but I am sure no one who has them now has her name.

Had that exact thought yesterday op, so true

Sew/iron a cute badge over it

I completely agree. I hand all my kids things down so nothing is personalised. The only thing they have personalised is lunch bags with their first name embroidered on. I don't mind this so much as so far my oldest has used hers for two years in nursery and is now using it in school. It should still have plenty of life left in it. She will use it until it is worn out and cannot be used anymore.

I need to order my oldest new dance uniform but they want her name on it which means I won't be able to pass it on to her sister which is annoying, especially when spending so much on it.

My oldest is in reception now and I spent ages in the summer labelling all her clothing and after finishing it I realised how much easier it would've been if I had labels made with her and her siblings names on so I only need to label once before passing it on to the next one

Very much agree about school sports kits. I was mug who adhered to get initials professionally embroidered in yr7. Sensible parents ignored it. Such a waste - there was no way of unpicking it. £30 barely worn tracksuit tops that couldn’t be passed on.

Personalising gifts is a really bad idea. You're already gambling that the recipient will like what you've chosen - don't make it more difficult to pass on if you misjudged that!

There's a place for personalised items - things that are easily lost, or where you might what to identify a group at a distance - but in general, it's just consumerist nonsense.

Part of my job is dance wear, just to add that although initials and names are usually pressed on for clubs, its easily removed and can be repressed with another initial or name and reused. I do this almost daily. Obviously not embroidery but vinyl is easily removed so definitely worth knowing if you've got children in clubs.

Many schools are also edging towards zero waste, meaning lots have clothes banks to offer free uniform to all, but wanting the student's name stamped in the label is sensible and easily cut or scribbled out for a new name once it's passed on.

Can't say I know of many personalised items that can't be passed on even if embroidered, unless you're Elon Musk you could probably find someone with the same name via a second hand service.

On the other hand my children don't have their names plastered on anything bar their water bottles for safety reasons.

Not completely true. My 17 year old is at college. His school insist you HAVE to buy their leisure top, which MUST be personalised with their initials on the front (you order it to come with the initials). This leisure top is only used IF your child partakes in any of their sport competitions (mine doesn't) or if they go on a leisure trip (mine hasn't in the year he's been there). Realistically I've paid £30 for a shirt that will NEVER be worn and cannot be sold or passed on because I'm unlikely to find another student with the same initials and same size as my son.

This is ridiculous and an unnecessary expense imo. To clarify, it's a standard state school, not a paid for/private college - they just try to act as if they are.....

One idea for name tapes if you have children with different initials is ti have the initials each end so they read M Surname N. You can then reuse the name tapes just folding the appropriate end over.
That sounds like Viz doesn't it?

Agree! And also any clothing that has just one days use really bugs me too. I'm thinking of those PJs/tops that say "when I wake up I'll be 2" with their name on it. Literally worn one night for a photo ☹️

says you 🤷🏽‍♀️

I can think of one personalised gift that any of my kids have received over the years that I genuinely thought how thoughtful and kind it was, and that he absolutely loved - he got given a Fortnite bedding set with his name personalised on the pillow case. He received that 4 or 5 years ago now, and still uses it daily (I have to make sure I turn his bedding round in a day) and I have no doubt he will want to keep it for his keepsakes box if te ever outgrows Fortnite (he's always asking me to put favourite clothes in there etc).

The worst personalised gift we ever got was a t-shirt that my dad got made...... sone name is Alex and he got Alec printed instead! But he still wore it and we just laughed about it over the years.

Absolutely agree with you, OP! Don't get me wrong, I love working on personalized items but by "personalized" I mean stuff related to one's interests and the item itself should be useful, i.e. a knitted scarf with my DH's favorite team logo is what I would call personalized. The name plastered all over the item sounds absurd to me.
Also the consumption is crazy these days and it shows through the smallest details, such as greeting cards that can be easily replaced by digital smartshow 3d video cards. Of course there are people who enjoy getting actual cards for sentimental reasons, but for those who do not you can go with other options safely.

I think little kids absolutely love recieving an actual card through the door tbh. A video sent to their parent isn't the same.