To ask you to swerve Shein & Temu

[DoNoTakeNo]

This Christmas?
I know it’s mainly a cost thing but if it’s achievable, can people possibly manage with less stuff?

You didnt go down the market then. You absolutely would get loads of stuff for cheap prices and it was almost one wear stuff. And changed all the time. Top shop, Jane Norman, Miss Selfridge, C+A, tons more. Every time you turned around a new little boutique had set up and the stuff was rubbish but very attractive.

Personally I try to buy good quality products that last as presents rather than spend money on things that will just go in the bin a few days later.

This probably means I buy less things overall, but they are more used, loved and when outgrown can be given to a charity shop and resold. (Potentially sold on vinted / eBay)

You can easily bulk up Christmas presents with books etc… when they are on promotion if you are looking to increase the volume of gifts!

I was a teen in the 80s. Nobody was buying a new outfit for every night out. We were shopping in Top Shop, Miss Selfridge, Clockhouse at C&A, Chelsea Girl. You could not buy clothes in the supermarket. Clothes were EXPENSIVE compared to a hourly wage of £3 as a saturday girl. A new pair of jeans would be a whole week's wages around £25 at the cheapest. if cost of clothing had kept pace, a pair of jeans would still be 8 x minimum wage for a 16 year old, around £50 at the least. And they're not. So today's teens feel comparatively well off, and rather than saving up and buying one top for £20, they are going to these shite merchants and buying 10 tops at £2 each.

I think it started in the late 90s, I remember I always used to shop in Topshop and Miss Selfridge and would get maybe one item a month with my allowance. Then a shop called Mark One popped up and we couldn't believe how cheap the clothes were, you could get tops for a few pounds. The quality was absolutely terrible though.

Not every night out no. But it was fast fashion and I wouldnt have paid 25 quid for jeans. I had quite a lot of jobs, Thursday late night evenings, Saturday job, baby sitting, car washing and dog walking. Then when Sunday opening came along, I did that, for double pay of course as it was then

I was loaded as a teenager. But it was still fast fashion, the new thing all the time. I was forever buying earrings that went god knows where. Also all of us would always be in Body Shop and despite the apparent ethics, it was aimed at teens with a bit of cash to buy all those tiny items that always go lost, ran out, needed replacing. The reusable containers that you always forgot to bring out with you so just got the replacement item instead. Lip glosses aplenty. Magazines in those days would always come with a free makeup bag or lippy or mascara or stuff like that. The amount of stuff we had was huge. Not to mention the cans of hairspray we got through

I don’t need to be asked. I’m swerving

Yes Mark One, that was another one. Ive lost count of all the names. I mean you couldnt even move stuff along the rails they were that stuffed with basically throwaway stuff. We were heavily influenced by whatever the in popstars were at the time, the films coming out etc.

At some point during teens/young adult we went from going out and buying something nice, ie one thing, to going out and coming home with hauls. I don't know if thats just me personally.

Slave labour, environmental impact of products into landfill and initial production, not properly tested, it’s mostly tat - any other reasons you want?

Well I certainly remember this for myself on the Saturdays I wasnt working, off or something, or in the holidays, we would 'go shopping' thats what you did and came home with so many bags on the bus your fingers being cut by the weight of all the bags.

Markets on Sundays were the classic though.

Yeah…

No kids stuff. Just have a look at the package before giving and make it clear nothing unsafe will be given…then let people do what they like. You can’t really control that now?

But for adults, why not. Stuff probably don’t last as much but no one likes to keep stuff forever nowadays so. Win/win?

Congratulations for your support of this, all for some cheap tat. www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/country-studies/china/

Secondary age children still chew and fidget with pencils, so do some adults, and teenagers still shouldn’t be handling toxic painted products all day long. I’m hoping that even if you don’t back down in this discussion you will actually be reconsidering if what you’re doing is safe.

15 Companies that STILL Use Child Labor

Have the Temu fans seen the AIBU on 11yo daughter putting gel / UV nails on with a friend?
Scary & dangerous stuff.

Are you saying the pencils that poster is buying have lead in the paint on them?

Where are you getting that information. Has she given you some pencils and you've had them analysed?

Is there a moratorium on parents giving their children stationery from Temu or Amazon or The Range or whatever shop you think has lead in the paint of their pencils?

Given the numbers of people using food banks who cannot work due to long term illness or disabilities, there’s a case to be made that people in certain circumstances do need more help.

The Trussell Trust have been campaigning about it https://www.trussell.org.uk/support-us/guarantee-our-essentials

Forget what mumsnetters say. The people who matter are those who can make a difference - like your MP or country councillors. Stories of your lived experience can be powerful.

Nope sorry. I'll test whatever I buy. If you're careful I've found most are good. Just have to bare in mind they're not tested to within an inch of its life like the UK. No alternative to common sense....You get weird toys made in the UK that are clearly aimed at toddlers but have the label 'not for under 3s' so it would pass but it doesn't make sense.

Nobody is analyzing the pencils. That is the problem.
Pencils from The Range will be safe and regulated. Pencils from Temu might not be.

Oh my word @thenovice those are such big names, child slavery really hiding in plain sight.
Chocolate, baby milk, agribusiness, fast food, vehicles, tech, tobacco - child labour is in so many places, it’s horrific.
We have a duty to avoid this if we possibly can.
(Just waiting for the “I’ll give my kids a cheap burger with a happy little plastic toy if I want to & sod the kids that contribute their energy and safety” crew)

How will you test them though? Are you a scientist with a home lab? Can you detect carcinogens? Or whether a product is suitably flame retardant? Or made with hormone disrupting chemicals?

Maybe rather than saving the world one slinky at a time, you could employ the 100,000 people who's jobs you are wanting to jeopardise, or go over there and open an ethical factory. I really want to see your business plan, assuming that it doesn't just involve feeling self satisfied about not spending £7.99 at Temu.

Could it be made here? We have very little in the way of a manufacturing industry, nor the courses to teach such skills. Besides that, uk made doesn’t equate to quality. Paying 5x as much for a polyester or nylon jumper just because it’s uk made doesn’t solve the fast fashion problem…it’s all fast fashion just with a higher price tag. Also, there’s no definitive list of uk retailers ranking hazardous chemicals in products, make of that what you will.

I can't stand either so no problem. It gives me the rage when I see a cute jumper in a charity shop and it turns out it's S*e as I call it. I think a lot of the goods are dodgy anyways. Both companies are shady AF.

Crafts, home made and small businesses are struggling as temu and shein copy their items and sell at a fraction of the cost