To think no one should be buying new clothes for young kids?

[Roxietrees]

With apps like vinted etc there really is no reason for parents to be buying new clothes for, say, under 8s. They wear them for about 5 minutes before they outgrow them, and there is SO much choice on vinted, even if you care about specific brands and style, you can get anything you want super cheap and in great condition. New clothes for kids is SO wasteful, and fast fashion, especially is massively contributing to the destruction of the planet. Not to mention forced child labour. AIBU to think new clothes for children under a certain age should be banned? (as if that’ll ever happen though). If more specifically children’s second-hand clothing shops started popping up I think it’d really help

Hand me downs or second hand clothing is not intrinsically scruffy though?

And how soon would shops stop seeing any if no one was buying any?

My MIL was a cleaner/baby-sitter to several well-off families and so my DH had loads of high quality clothes, toys, sports gear etc all second hand. It never did him any harm at all. I wasn't so lucky cos my mum worked in a sweet factory and she wouldn't bring me sweets, but I recall hand-me-downs from my older cousin, including bikes!

One DD (age 41) buys loads from charity shops but she lives in an up-market area where folks discard stuff after one wearing and don't care what it sells for.

Where we live has only one charity shop so choice is limited.

Sorry, but I do buy from Primark etc cos I believe the workers would likely have no jobs at all if I didn't.

Baggy knees, tired and stained clothes… that’s all I remember. And is clearly shown in my childhood photos.

This is so bizarre to me. Yes fast fashion is bad for the environment, so my personal way of trying to minimise my contribution to that is by buying only what I need. I see fast fashion as buying something of poor quality to wear once, and buying hundreds of items in a year. I like to buy very few quality pieces and wear them as many years as I can before replacing.

I buy my daughter quality new clothing, just 100% cotton things that look well made. So for example I buy her bobux shoes but she only has 2 pairs and for those in Australia her clothes are mainly from Purebaby or the Myer Sprout brand.

I’ve only ever bought new clothes for my toddler, never occurred to me to buy second hand either from op shops or online.

I would struggle I’m not going to lie. If I knew the person i would do hand me downs but a stranger I struggle with. Two things stick in my head:

• my mum washed a tshirt my sister got dog poo on and gave it to me. It was smeared all over the back so not a little bit
• A friend advertises her clothes as pet and smoke free house….because she smokes outside and never in the house.

Whilst I agree that we should look at initiatives that encourage people to buy fewer clothes, I don't think banning the purchase of new clothes is the answer. I have two DS and used to buy things like shorts new for DS1, he'd wear them for two years, then I'd pass them to DS2 for two years before selling them on. I think that's a pretty good use of their life even though I bought them new.

For young children, the notion of "play clothes" is a good idea. As in, these are second hand, less well presented things for playing in /nursery and then they need fewer "new" things to wear outside of that.

people make their own choices and have their own priorities though. I don’t have a lot of money, I have little clothing for myself but I ensure my son always has nice clothes.

buying secondhand is stressful, I do one large Asda order each time my son goes up a size and then other clothes here and there from next etc. I’m not going to be spending hours looking on vinted or going to charity shops just when I can buy what I need in one place.

Asda I have brought T-shirts for my son for £3, it’s likely less what people on vinted charge when you have to pay delivery costs to each seller right? Also, my son is small, he is 5 and still is wearing clothing that he wore at 3- so not every kid grows out of clothes every few months .

I think siblings, cousins etc is fine as you know if the household smokes, washes in non bio etc. But buying in ebay / vinfed etc you don't know where it's from.

As for grandparents, maybe I'm lucky! We got mostly Ted Baker, Monsoon and John Lewis! 😂

Ah my DDs favourite brands for her boys. What's the deal with washing in non bio? Not something we've ever done.

Some people react to biological washing powder. Babies have more sensitive skin, so more susceptible.

Not everyone has the time or lifestyle to use Vinted.

What an odd statement. All the clothes are in one app. You choose what you want, and someone sends it to you.

My daughter's both get really bad eczema so need non bio or their skin flares up really badly. So I guess I'd have to hot wash the garments a few times first if they could be hot washed.

I live in a place that doesn't really have charity shops (I am aware of one Red Cross shop but that's it) and there is also no Vinted here. I do buy some things from a website for second hand kid's clothes and from flea markets. I've also received a few hand-me-down items from a friend. My partner's sister buys things on Vinted for my daughter because it does exist where she lives. So my daughter has a mixture of second hand and new, although mostly new. When she was a baby a lot of the new things were gifts. She's three now and currently needs leggings. I've looked on the second hand website and found nothing in her size. There's a flea market coming up so I'll have a look there but if I don't find anything it will have to be new. Most of her books are second hand. Toys and games are a mixture. I try my best but nobody can be perfect!

I'm now pregnant with number 2. We've kept almost everything my daughter has grown out of (unless it was completely wrecked) and will use as much as possible for this baby, although at least for the baby stage will need at least some additional stuff as my daughter was born in December and this one is due in September so we won't be needing the newborn/age 2 months winter clothes! Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some things at a flea market but if I end up needing to buy a few new things I won't feel guilty! As my daughter gets older I seem to be able to save less of her outgrown clothes. She's disabled so she often still crawls to get around with predictable consequences for her clothes. (She has a wheelchair but if she's in the sand pit for instance she'll often crawl out of it onto the concrete in search of stones, or at indoor play areas she'll come out of the wheelchair and crawl between toys/equipment.) Add to that paint/glue/glitter glue, etc. from nursery, tomato sauce/avocado/soup... I'm sure you get the idea!

I bought most of my habit clothes second hand. So many websites and so cheap. But I also bought new. Not all children’s clothing is made in sweatshops and my kids got a good few months wear (and sometimes years - DD’s dresses became tops).
I also remember wearing my sister’s hand me downs- how I longed for new clothes of my own! .
So a ban, no. But people could be more open to second hand things, particularly for babies.

Love vinted. Intended to buy new for the 1st and hand down so my youngest basically goes shopping by getting the big box from under my bed and having a rummage.

Biggest at age 18 buys mostly from vinted. Next one age 16 is a charity shop lover.

I've just got youngest a new waterproof and down jacket off vinted for an absolute bargain.

It's just having a mix isn't it. If we all reduced our use of new stuff and increased recycling and mending just a little bit then it would have a big impact.

If you want to buy second hand that’s up
to you, but my children will never wear second hand stuff because I work full time and I simply do not have time to search through second hand sites looking for stuff, nor to list my own second hand items or post them. Plus I don’t like second hand stuff, it usually looks faded, bobbled, stretched out and smells funny. I’m happy to pass on anything I have still in good condition to friends and anything else goes to charity and probably ends up in their ‘rags’ bin.

So only applicable if your family react not for all the rest of us. Won't being washed in non bio a few times after get rid of any traces of bio powder then?

Well it wouldn't apply to anyone on here as if they have time to be on MN then they have time to be on Vinted. Must take a look myself actually , never used is by DD and DS are big fans

I like having the choice between buying new or second hand so I’d like to stick with that.

Spending time on MN doesn't require anyone to be at home to receive parcels from MN. Or have to figure out how to complain if their parcel doesn't arrive.

Or return it if it doesn't fit or is soiled - parcel it up, take it to the post office, get a tracking number, wait for it to be received. Wait to see when/if the person received it than wait to see if they issue a refund. Wait for the refund to be put back into the bank.

Complain if that refund doesn't happen. You have to complain to the sender first the if they don't respond, wait a number of days till you can complain to Vinted..wait for them to process the complaint.

Browsing on MN doesn't require any of that effort.

Like, well done i suppose.

I buy everything new, and then it either gets handed down to the younger siblings or charity.

So in a way im really helping you😀

I’ve bought things like coats for my daughter on vinted. If anything, I buy more for myself there than her .

No different to ordering anything else online lol. And parcels can be delivered to a locker no matter where you order it from. I'd say the great majority of people have ordered stuff online at some point. Hardly unusual