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

So all these clothes travelling around on transport because people buy and pay for postage would not be better for the environment would they?

It can be a false economy though. We bought excellent quality baby/children’s clothes and shoes with our first and they were handed down to all siblings. Exception was undies as when toilet training started they each got to pick their own ‘special undies’. The youngest was 11yo when they got their first brand new singlet vests and socks, even they had been handed down kid after kid.

If someone told me I had to buy second hand I would have given them extremely short shrift.

I went through a phase of buying on Vinted but most of it is worn and faded and , as pps have said, not much cheaper. I mostly buy from Next for my eldest now and they are handed down to the younger dc unless badly stained. Next clothes wash much better imo. Also the styles are much nicer imo. Lots of nice colours instead of drab , boring ones. I'd also like to point out that family members would give branded trainers which looked good until I checked underneath , they were worn away with no grip. So now I only buy new trainers for dc , it's important to look after their growing feet and gait imo.

My son lives in t shirts and joggers and those generally are in poor condition when second hand from tumble drying ( which I don't do ) etc.

I wouldn't wear anything second hand and I wouldn't make my kids do it either. Great if you want to but it's not for everyone.

I was someone who thought DS would be in new stuff all childhood, but tbh Vinted (as long as you’re using bundles, and not buying the first thing you see!) is so much wildly cheaper for the brands I like (Joules/Fat Face/RL/White Company) it’s worth it. Even with the old bundle that shows up reeking of smoke/worn through that needs recycling! New underwear/socks though.

I do agree we need new clothes buying though, I don’t think buying second hand makes you ‘better than’! We say there are plenty of children’s clothes out there but if we all swapped to second hand it wouldn’t last long. I’m content to be happy with my method, and thankful (not judgemental) of those buying new which allows DS to have such a great wardrobe the following year.

I buy probably a good 60 percent of my own clothes from charity shops. Then when I want to buy something new and a bit more expensive I don't feel so bad. My now grown children always had a mix of new and second hand clothes or hand me downs. Back then it was out of necessity, now it is an ethical choice.

Mine have grown up in second hand stuff

I was a skint single mum and I kitted them out from charity shops and car boots for years

I once kitted ds out for £50 for a full year from a car boot (I bought the lot)

Anyway,ex had a friend who was the same as me money wise and had two boys

I asked if she'd like ds's old stuff (nothing cheap or non branded,all immaculate but nothing 'new'-i made that clear)and she said yes

They lived 40 miles from me,and I didn't drive,so I gathered up 3/4 bin bags and managed to get to theirs on a bus (which was fine,my choice)

I got to their flat and knocked-she answered,took one look at me,snatched the bags out of my hands,ripped them open and started flinging clothes around

'I'm not putting that on him,it's cheap crap'
'Uggghhh!'
'That's fucking awful'
'I fucking hate this!'
'It's all tat!'
'This is crap'
'It's fucking tatty' (none of it was)
'It all stinks' (id washed it all)

She tried to give me about half back,I refused and said to take it to the charity shop-there was one around the corner and I offered to give them a hand to get it there

She threw me out and slammed the door in my face-no thank you,just slung me out

I wish I was joking when about 3 months later,I got a message via ex
'Tell her she got owt else,I'll take it'

Not.a.chance (I did say that if she wanted it,she could come get it and was treated to verbal abuse)

I know I over reacted but she was so bloody rude-ive had bags of stuff I didn't like so I just took it to the charity shop

Saying that,baby stuff lasted-i bought a few new bits when I had my last and last I saw of the baby gros was on the 17th baby and the first mum gave me a token gift to say thank you

I don't bother buying new from a shop and have had amazing bargains

I buy new from Asda because it's so much easier than trawling through websites looking for stuff in the right size and quantity. It goes from child #1 to child #2 then I pass it all on to charity for people who need it.

To be honest i think environmentally the biggest factor is overconsumption, people buying masses of clothes when really its unnecessary (same goes for adults). I bought most of DS' clothes second hand and then donated or sold them when he'd grown out of them, but i can see why people like to buy new. Somewhere like Primark or supermarket brands you can get pretty good quality clothes for not much more than it costs on vinted (where the condition is variable) once you pay postage etc as well. Charity shops now are quite pricey, why buy a bobbled faded top for more than a brand new one? The textile industry is a massive problem and I do agree that people shouldn't buy and dispose of clothes as if it's nothing, but again only buying what's actually needed is better whether you go for new or used.

Who are you to dictate what other people should do? Ban new clothing 🤣 um glad to see you picked up the raging flaw there...

Some folk are happy with second hand items, and some are not. Even just on this thread that is obvious.

People know about landfills / waste ad nauseum, there is never a post here about clothing especially for children without a 'child slavery' type comment somewhere in there.

You can reduce your impact on the planet in various ways, so I think it is all about things in moderation. If I want to buy a new white t-shirt every summer, then I will. I might buy a t-shirt yes, but the old one is used for various things after.

You have no idea how other people do things.

I was the kid that grew up in second (third/fourth) hand clothing when everyone else had new. Consequently my children have always had new clothes, maybe not the most amazing brands but brand new and only worn by them.
Ironically I buy most of my clothes off vinted.

I see where you’re coming from and I do get a lot of my children’s clothes on Vinted - I don’t get the snobbery some people have around second hand and it makes me cringe a bit when I see parents spending hundreds of pounds of Nike, New Balance etc. for their 2 year old say who does not care for the label at all. That is something I don’t get. However, disagree that they wear them for 5 mins. My child is still wearing shorts and t shirts from last summer. I’d say I buy 75% second hand as I would rather buy high quality items for the same or lower price second hand that I would pay new for in Primark. Everything seems expensive now in the shops as I’m used to Vinted prices 😆

It's a lot easier buying adult clothes from charity shops than children's ones.
I hardly ever buy clothes online as I can't tell if they'll fit or if the fabric will be itchy etc.
My DC do wear some though - hand me downs from friends or from DS1 to DS2, and school does a second hand uniform sale at the summer fete.

I buy most of my clothes from charity shops.

Most of the clothes we've bought for our baby have been from the charity shop, except a £1.50 dress and a sunhat I recently purchased from Tesco. However, family and friends have bought her some beautiful new clothes which we certainly appreciated. I don't think it matters either way, just do what suits you and your children and your circumstances. There's enough guilt piled on to mums already without making them feel bad for picking up a cute outfit for their kids at the supermarket!

I kind of agree, I've had lots of instances where I've bought something off (for example) Vinted and it's just been shite.

I buy my trainers 2nd hand and some jackets too. I do car boots/FB MP to pass on my son's old clothes or just give them to charity.

But for his clothes I have to buy new and in person from the shop. He's autistic and can only wear certain fabrics/fits. I look like a crazy person when I shop for him, just going around feeling all the clothes and inspecting seems etc 🤣 I've tried ordering online or getting bits from Vinted/FB for him and so often he can't wear them, obviously buying online you can't feel before you buy!

DD has a lot of second hand stuff, due to the plethora of girls who were born at the same time as my DS. For the first year I couldn’t really use much as they were winter babies and she was midsummer but once hitting 12-18 months and 18-24 I’ve barely had to buy anything.

I find it really hard to find boys’ clothes I like. Boden is my favourite but it’s expensive. DS starts school in September and I’ll save money then. But I’m like PP and I just don’t really like second hand clothes.

The problem is more the quantity of clothing bought now though. I’m not advocating a return to a “best” outfit, another outfit and school uniform(!) being enough but I’ve had stuff passed on from friends and the sheer quantity has been overwhelming. I benefitted from a lot of maternity wear passed on, but when I went to get it, there was more clothing than in my entire normal
wardrobe! I was grateful, it saved me money but the amount…

Same with children’s clothes. Mine is in probably about 75% secondhand. Where we used to live someone would pass on bags of clothes annually. Great, yes, saved us a lot of money, but there was so much of it, and she didn’t want to spend time sorting, she just wanted it out of the house, so I’d get ten bin bags full, have to sort into what we could use and then get the rest to a charity shop. Why does any child need ten bin bags of clothing in one size?

Don’t live near them anymore so I use Vinted more now, which at least means I’m picking what I want to get.

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I’m the biggest Vinted fan. Great for things like
nursery clothes because you get 10 tops for £3 and who cares if they get wrecked at nursery (mine just wear these clothes on rotation for nursery so are always covered in paint stains on a nursery day)

and I swear that now I get so much on Vinted I’ve never had so many compliments. I am wearing things that I would have never bought at their original price.

BUT:

• not all clothes are created equal. Unfortunately so many clothes are made cheaply in the first place now that they can’t withstand long wear/lots of washing. you have to be select about what you buy.
• a lot of people can’t invest in higher quality stuff which will last well and so a lot of second hand stuff IS misshapen or discoloured or scuffed, because it wasn’t good quality in the first place, and you don’t want your kids looking unkempt.
• you have to be careful because some people on Vinted etc really take the piss
• I draw the line at (certain) shoes, socks, underwear, swimwear. Because Hygeine.

Already been said but will still say in. You can only get second-hand clothes because people bought new in the first place. If everyone decided right now to stop buying new and buy used the pool of used clothes would be depleted very fast. When demand outstrips supply prices go up and they would not be as cheap as they are now.

I did have some hand-me-downs and find the occasional lovely second hand item for DS1, but he was mainly clothed from new. His things were then passed to DS2 who had the occasional top-up of new.

Where I can, I pass on to people I know, or local charity shop, or more often than not, the clothes had seen better days (and not recently) so I put them in clothing banks.

TBH, it's hard enough finding clothes that fit lanky children in the shops let alone taking a wild guess online.

DS1 is also very sensory, so we have to feel fabrics and seams in store. He can cope with his clothes wearing over the years, but wouldn't accept them as being "new" in that condition.

Half of what I hear about vinted is scamming and mis-describing items. It sounds like an unnecessarily risky faff. The concept is good, but like fb marketplace, the scammers ruin it for everyone else.

I don't buy my own clothes second hand. It's hard enough finding clothes that fit in real shops and I do not blind buy clothes online. To be fair, I don't buy a lot and am still getting a lot of wear out of my own "vintage" stuff because 90s/ 00s clothes were better quality fabrics.

MN children always come home from nursery covered in paint: don’t they wear those coverall sort of aprons?

DS regularly has his dinner on him but I can’t say he’s ever come out with paint on him!

My kids had everything secondhand when little (bar underwear and school shoes). Now they are secondary school age they like to go shopping and pick new clothes. Still have occasional second hand items. It was a very easy way to save money. Just a shame they now like to buy new.

We would have bought new for my first in places like pennys (Primark) then passed on to three more then gone to a charity shop. Fast fashion isn’t wasteful for us all!

I do a mixture of both really. I buy new but my youngest has lots of hand me downs from my eldest and friends kids.

I have purchased second hand cloth nappies and sold these on again once we were done using them.