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

This, it far cheaper for me to buy new from Asda. Money's tough at he moment so for me this is my only option.

First post nails it!

Have you had a small child? Not everything mine wears can be sold because she destroys it with stains, tears, stretches etc.

I sell what I can, I buy things like Christmas jumpers second hand etc. But everything she needs would be a problem to obtain in good enough quality to last.

I also, when I CBA to list on Vinted for the few quid you get back, will donate bags to people who need it and a few quid would be a lot to.

More people should buy second hand, totally agree, but there won't be enough to get what every child of every age needs if new clothes were banned.

Surely if you think that then the theory goes for anyone, there’s plenty of second hand clothes for adults.
why just young children? Are you staying because they are young they don’t deserve new clothes but because you are an adult you do?

I do agree to a point. I used to buy all my eldest's clothes from EBay (Vinted isn't available where I live) to be eco friendly. However, now I have two children I'm short on time and I don't have time to be trawling through listings to find things I like. I have also found that many items I've bought have come down faded, and often they are cheaper to buy new as people ask for far too much for things on eBay (unless you buy as a bundle). The quality of the clothes are worse the older the children get eg newborn stuff is usually like new but once you get to one year old they are trashed! I try to only buy what they need and really look after things so they can be handed down.

95% of my wardrobe is second hand. About half my kids is. I have always been this way.

I still think YABU on banning people from buying new kids clothes. It can be hard to find exact sizes or things you need and personally I rarely buy second hand online as it’s hard to work out sizing / see quality of clothing. I used to buy on eBay but I had stuff turn up stained so now I only buy things I can see in person.

the real issues are cheaply made clothes which aren’t designed to last and the expectation that people (women in particular) will have new outfits all the time. A lot of clothes I wouldn’t buy second hand as I know they’ll shrink, not wash properly, fall apart at the seams, be of a cheap material that will make me sweat. the charity shops can’t shift it so it ends up in landfill.

I would personally ban temu/shein and other ultra fast fashion sellers.

This. I am able to pass some things down from DD1 to DD2 but lots of it isn't suitable to be worn again. I have messy kids!!

It could be argued that no-one should be buying new clothes for anyone. New anything in fact. There's so much "stuff" in the world, that I am sure we could redistribute it for years and years before we need to manufacture anything new. Obviously, this old be detrimental to manufacturing economies and retail.

You really think new clothes are all made by child slaves??

My kids are long since grown and personally I love a good charity shop purchase BUT clothing manufacture has lifted a lot of people in developing countries out of poverty and continues to do so.

I have two DS in primary. I pass clothes between them. After 3 years of wear they really are falling apart as sleeves etc start fraying and shirt collars covered in suncream.

When mine were babies and toddlers ( they are now 19 and 16) everyone just passed grown out of clothes to friends and family for free. I was often given a lovely big bag of clothes for the kids. I also bought new and passed them on to others when I was having a clear out.

Now everyone sells it all on Facebook or vinted.

Primark doesn’t use children for labour

my kids are grown up now and I bought new, though I clearly remember them wearing their clothes out quite often, before they were outgrown. I didn't buy loads of clothes though, they wore the ones they had a lot.

What does it have to do with apps? Two of my DC were born before Eternal September and the others not long after. Friends/families circulated children’s clothes like a glorified lending library and of course you know where they came from. I rarely bought anything new. Looking at my DC generation they still do much the same.

However if you want to address fast fashion and the associated landfill/faux recycling its teen and adult clothes you should be targeting. The quantity of materials from adult and teen clothes, scarcely used and going to the dump, is much greater.

Tbf, Vinted IS amazing- I’m losing weight and therefore only in clothes sizes a short period of time, like kids, but in reverse 😆

Vinted is an obsession a brilliant idea and it’s like I’m renting clothes. I buy the size, wear it, stalk the next size down, list mine, buy the replacement. I also try things I’d never buy full price, funkier jeans or a nice top, because if I don’t like them, I’ll just list them and they’ll sell.

for kids it would be absolutely worth doing.

buying new and full price now to me feels like a waste of money 😆 but people of course will still keep buying new, and that’s fine too. If there was something I really wanted/needed, I’d go to the shops. 😊

Really?

I agree with more second hand stores just for kids. I’m in Canada and we have one, but it isn’t a charity store and prices are so unpredictable. For sweat pants or leggings or t shirts you pay more than new and most things are the same as sale prices. So how we look for clothes for the kids is
1: hand me downs or charity shop in the next city
2: second hand store
3: new clothes

I wish we had more used clothing stores. The online platforms here don’t have enough kids stuff/good prices because shipping is so expensive. Toys I also think more people should shop second hand (we do a lot of second hand but might get new for a birthday if there is a special request).

I also think that every child/person should get a few nice new pieces of clothes or shoes.

My kids have had a lot of second hand clothes over the years, even underwear- I don't understand the obsession with this, it's washed!! We've been given big bags by friends, bought bundles on Facebook, bought from charity shops, from school uniform stalls etc. But sometimes you want/need something that doesn't happen to come along second hand. Eg a zip up hoody, we might get a bag with sweatshirts and knitted jumpers but they would still need a zip up hoody so would buy a new one. Or you need a particular thing urgently and can't wait for one to turn up in a charity shop. It's a lot quicker to pop in a shop you know will sell what you need than trail round charity shops looking for a thing they might not have , especially in the right size.

Many children's clothes can't be passed on as they are so badly made.
Hopefully the resurrection of learning to sew and knit means things will be made to last and can be repaired although some clothes are so bad there is no wriggle room for repair.
My niece is currently wearing a dress I made for my daughter (currently the third wearer) and it will then go to her sister.

I buy most stuff from vinted, but sometimes, by the time I've factored in the cost of postage and rhe fact it could end up coming and not be in good condition, it's cheaper to go to primary, where I know its going to be in good condition, I can get it there and then and I have a recipe to take it back if there's something wrong or doesn't fit.

My son reve tly had a growth spurt and had no shorts. By the time I've found nice, good condition shorts on vinted (which was my first place to look), and paid for the postage, it would have cost me over £20 for three pairs...plus I'd have to wait at least five days for them to turn up.

I went to primark the same day and bought three pairs for £12.

But a brand new t-shirt looks far better than one which has been washed a few times. It never looks quite as good once it’s been washed, especially white ones. So for a party or something special I would always put children in brand new stuff.

Whilst the OP is right about the ethical and environmental impact, the act of shopping and spending in itself can’t be ignored. It feels good buying new clothes, it feels nice to wear brand new stuff.

Clearly OP has never used Vinted or they would understand that it is £1.50 PLUS £2.40 postage PLUS buyers fee which would equal about £5 so not just an extra quid.

Also £2.40 minus £1.50 is 90p not £1.10.

Vinted in Ireland is not the same as in the UK. There’s much, much less to choose from.
Ordering from the UK is really expensive because of postage and tax (thanks to brexit) so eBay etc are no use unless you want to pay at least double what you would to buy new.
Charity shops never seem to have anything decent anymore (probably because people would now rather sell clothes or put them in clothes bins) and everything is overpriced.
I used to buy most of my clothes (accessories and lots of other things) secondhand but it has gotten too expensive.
I can’t buy anything off Etsy anymore either because of the tax.
So I tend to buy new.

I always bought my DD dresses from charity shops - new underwear and socks, new shoes and coats. I very rarely buy myself new clothes now - they’re all from Vinted or eBay.

I buy 70% vinted 15% clothes swap and 15% new. 🤷 I bought her a couple of outfits for her birthday. They should last her the whole year and will be donated when she grows out of them. I bought her a couple of new outfits as a newborn because I wanted to.