To think the Save the Children Christmas Jumper fundraiser is wrong-headed

[HumanBurrito]

Heard an ad for this on the radio. Great cause, no questioning that. But I find it a bit wrong-headed to base a campaign around Xmas jumpers. This sort of fast fashion novelty wear is clearly an environmental disaster and many people will be buying them from chain store suppliers that use unregulated third-world (child) labour to make jumpers from petrochemical-based fabrics and dyes that cause dreadful pollution, not to mention the environmental cost of shipping them halfway round the world. Surely this is just compounding the problem they are trying to solve? At the very least STC should be encouraging people to shop sustainably (I can't see anything about that on the campaign website, happy to be proved wrong if it is on there).

I think it's an example of something being what you make it. I've worn the same jumper every year since they started it. Pre Covid we had an office competion and most of the jumpers were either worn before or made from plain jumpers with tinsel/baubles etc on, or people taking an unusual slant such as one of the guys who came in a Val Doonican jumper.

So people don't have to buy into the fast fashion consumerism.

I’ve worked at 2 schools which do it, and both do a xmas jumper sale/swap the week before to encourage second hand/reuse and possibly raise a bit of extra money from the sale too.

We have a Christmas jumper day at work and we've all worn the same jumpers for at least the last five years 😆

I think most people wear them for serial years and to several events and swap them around a bit amongst friends and family. Or get then from charity shops or schools do jumper swaps etc.

People that do buy them do so from the same shops they would buy a non Christmas jumper in. So is my supermarket jumper better than my supermarket Christmas jumper.

But I do agree the website shoukd encourage sustainability and give ideas.

Thing is people are going to jumper anyway so might as well make it for charity

Our local Save The Children shop starts selling a selection of second hand jumpers weeks in advance.

Sure, some people rewear and local organisers take it on themselves to promote sustainable use. But millions of new jumpers are still sold. The point is, why is STC not promoting sustainability as a central plank of the campaign?

Snap!

Of course people don't have to buy new and there are lots of options for re-wear, diy ones, swap or second hand. However, especially with kids where they grow out if them each year, a huge amount of parents have literally no imagination to think outside popping to Tesco or Primark, or buying on Amazon. It's the same with fancy dress. Apart from a small percentage who create their own costume from existing items, the vast majority order identical brand new outfits online.

As OP suggests, I think the message about not buying new should be part of the campaign.

I buy my kids Christmas jumpers second hand and without fail sell them on Vinted. They sell well. So I'm guessing I'm not alone. I can't belive anyone is buying and binning them yearly

Because they are not a sustainability charity. They are there to make money for their own purposes. Not contribute to a generic omnicause.

Tens of millions of tons of fast fashion goes to landfill every year. Of course Xmas jumpers are a tiny % of that but they still play into the idea that clothes have a short lifespan and we need separate clothes for every special occasion.

But they are fundraising by promoting something that actively makes life worse for countless children 😕

OK. Don't support them then.

On their website they suggest buying one from a charity shop, swapping with a friend or decorating an old jumper.

But there is no more reason for a Christmas jumper to be fast fashion as anything else ? I mean Christmas outfits , Christmas Eve PJs, wide legged jeans ... whatever

Seasonal clothing and homeware are often cited on here as an example of fast fashion consumerism but most people I know get the Christmas jumpers/bedding/whatever out every year and don’t buy new. My local charity shop had children’s Christmas jumpers in the window after Halloween and they were gone in days. Most people I know have used children’s jumpers on multiple kids and advertise them on FB later for very little. In the same way that GCSE exam guides are put online.

Good to know, thanks. Should be mich more promiment though!

Buying Xmas bedding etc is still buying new stuff though. It is still all adding to the total volume of eventual landfill.

No more than similar seasonal stuff though. It just struck me as ironic to encourage people to wear sweatshop wear to help improve the lot of ompoverished children.

Save the Children isn't there to 'improve the lot' of children. It is there to stop children dying in famines, wars and disasters.

I agree with you OP. I decline to participate.

Famines, wars and disasters are already largely driven by climate change, in which fast fashion consumerism (especially its disproportionate water consumption) and pollution play a significant part.

I just told my line manager I would happily donate £10.00 not to wear a Christmas jumper.

I see the problem re. fast fashion.

I'd like to find a great Christmas jumper and wear it every year, once a year. My mum did that, and now my niece wears it.