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?

I did the exercise one night. The same items were on Amazon and temu at almost the same price.

They were the cheapest I found. Crafting bits for my daughter for Christmas.

@ThatsCute i am sorry I don’t have the money to buy higher end products. Life is hard right now.

With the grandchildren I'll only use British stores like Smyth's for toys. I wouldn't risk kids health.

For adults it's up to them to choose. Never used Shein, it's a weird confusing website I thought.

Temu I found the perfect bamboo three tier trolley for my bits. I'm disabled so can store everything and charge tablet and phone right next to my sofa.

So not actually things you need then.

Not things I personally need, no. Presents for my family.,

I do anyway on account of them full of absolute shite manufactured using slave labour. I extend that to other websites flogging cheap shite like Boohoo too.

Other people can do as they wish really.

It’s remarkable that it is possible for less than £20 to get an item delivered to your door at the press of a few keys.

Someone had to design the item, source the materials (which also had to be manufactured from raw materials that someone mined / grew), make, check, track, ship and deliver to your door.

If some of the items have dangerous chemicals for you in them, the people making the items are being exposed every day. The cancer, lung problems, allergies.

If you really can’t afford to go anywhere else for basic goods than Temu, your income is too low. Fight for better pay if you work, or work more hours, or push for better benefits if you can’t. But don’t punch down on the poor being exploited overseas.

It doesn’t work like that.
I worked for a supplier for years and basically if there’s no ‘brand’ in the UK/Europe, no one is auditing the factories or products.
So, no one is checking what they’re selling.

Something tells me you have the budget to shop elsewhere. Not everyone has that choice. Morals are easier when you have money in your bank account. Stop deluding yourself that more ‘acceptable’ places to shop have much better ethics. They are often all too similar. I often find this sort of post rather superior, patronising and slightly racist and completely lacking in understanding of what it is like to have a very limited budget and trying to get by in life.

Don't buy their clothes
but the other stuff they sell, you can buy the exact thing on Amazon so they are getting it from the same factories.

Wow.
I think most of us on low incomes are well aware we need more money.
I can just imagine the backlash on mumsnet if people started to push for more benefits!
And some people cannot work. I worked up until 5 years ago when I became unwell.

Proud to say I’ve never bought from either and never will. My wardrobe is mostly second hand and I don’t need or want cheap tat.

I’m a teacher and get no budget for anything. Without Temu my class would not have the things they need to learn. Until other things improve (ie funding for schools) I don’t see what the alternative is when I’m paying for resources out of my own pocket on a weekly basis.

And are leaving our UK high streets empty.

Gone are the days, in of social time shopping. A right of passage as a young teen, Saturday shopping with my friends. A day out with my mum.

Empty shops and cheap rubbish a click away.

What happens when the UK has no shops….Shein, Temu, Amazon and the likes will be able to increase their prices.

Swashbuckles · Today 18:21

Can you find me a brand that sells similar clothes whose morals are squeaky clean? Preferably who i dont have to travel to the other end of the country to visit?

for clothes - Palava - ethical brand .

What sort of things are you buying?
It's actually concerning that a teacher would overlook health and safety to buy things of unknown provenance.

Really? Concerning that a teacher uses their own money to buy display borders, maths and English resources so that the class actually have something to learn with? What would you suggest the alternative is?

Probably manufactured in the same factories as B&M, The Range, Wilkos, Home Bargains etc anyway.

never used them, never will

School budgets gave long been an issue. No TEMU until recently. What did teachers do before?

You are taking a risk using products that have a higher incidents of being unsafe.

What kind of things do you buy?

Temu and Shein, very likely products made by slaves. If you object to stuff being made by slaves (I would have thought everyone would but it seems a lot on this thread don't care), then don't buy from them.

Other websites that might use slaves? That gets trickier, but at least avoiding Temu and Shein is a start.

Not everyone likes clothes shopping, I detest it. 99% of the time I order and try on at home in my own time

Well yeah. Teachers should care about ethics and safety. I'd rather a more bare classroom.

i at least had some budget 5-10 years ago. That has now gone but the expectations in school are
that classes still need the resources.

Yeah cos providing my pupils with pencils and pens and things to write on is proof I don’t care about ethics. Ok
i