Are clothes simply too cheap?

[80sMum]

I was just reading this article about the clothing industry and am shocked by the statistics. Most of us are buying and discarding clothes without a thought for the environmental impact, it seems.

Not so very long ago, we used to darn socks; put patches over threadbare elbows; add a strip of fabric to the hems of skirts and trousers when children grew too tall for them; make new clothes out of old ones etc.

Clothes used to be
a) much more expensive, relative to income
b) much higher quality
c) easier to mend, alter and repair

Everyone used to have far fewer clothes and kept them for several years. We need to try to return to that.

I think it will be very difficult to persuade people to buy fewer clothes, unless the government introduces measures to incentivise it. Some possibilities are a tax on clothes (similar to that on motor fuel, cigarettes and alcohol) and/or a tax on manufacturing of clothes. Both of these would increase the cost of buying clothes and might reduce consumption. Neither would be popular!

Yes.
Our economy and our society is set up to encourage spending and consumption above everything else-- way way above. It seems completely clear to me that this is killing the planet and making people miserable.

Most of us don't have the time or skills to major repairs to clothes. Also you would be sneered at if you went to work with patches on your clothes

When they say discarding I hope they mean giving to charity shops or if damaged put in a textile recycling bin. No one would throw clothes in the bin after being worn a few times. Surely

No one would throw clothes in the bin after being worn a few times. Surely

I think that's what many people do, unfortunately. They might think twice if the cheapest new T-shirt would cost £100 though!

Your right on all points. How we change back though is a hard one.

I think it will happen and is to some extent already, wages aren't rising cost of living is going up and we will see the cost of goods go up in time to. Will that be fast enough to stop climate change. No I don't think so, but the world ahead of us is going to look very different from our current one.

We will ether weather the storm or not a lot of great civilisations success was their downfall. We're just doing it on a more global scale. I'm sad that people in general are to selfish to change in order to help save our planet. Or just want to bury their heads in the sand.

It also doesn't help that a lot of clothes are cheap and nasty whatever you pay for them. I'm guessing repairing or altering an item of well made clothing is a lot easier than something made of crap fabric that gets holes in it after a single wash.

I'd like to see moderately well made clothing for moderate prices that can survive being washed and worn for long enough to either get a good wear or be fit for second hand.

Absolutely - clothes, in general, are far too cheap and poorly made from awful materials.

Good quality clothing does exist, but it won't be found at Primark and won't be cheap. Cheap clothing is a false economy as the quality piece of clothing might have a higher sticker price (sometimes much higher), but will last far longer.

I agree, Mominatrix. I would much rather pay more for decent quality clothes and have fewer of them.

It's very disappointing how clothes have declined in quality. I remember when M&S clothes, for example, used to all be made here in the UK - and, of course, were much more expensive than they are nowadays. I think the decision was made to manufacture abroad because competition was fierce and people were deserting M&S in favour of the cheap, throwaway sort of fashion that is so prevalent today.

It's going to be very difficult to change the mindset of younger people, who have grown up with the concept of ultra cheap, discardable clothes, but somehow we'll have to do it.

Stacey Dooley did a bbc documentary on this, worth a watch. It made me think twice and I haven’t been in new look or primark since

I think most of us aren't prepared to pay the true cost of clothing. A woollen jumper knitted in the UK costs £150+, quality jeans are similar. Big ticket items like coats and shoes should be a few hundred.

Historically only the rich bought new clothes, then handed them down to servants and they were slowly repurposed. Even in my childhood in the 1970s I had lots of homemade clothes. Mum was an HE teacher who specialised in sewing and needlework so had above average skills in this area, and my great aunt was an incredible knitter so we had a constant supply of jumpers. Clothes were passed down from my cousins to me to my brothers. All my mother's dusters and dishrags were repurposed clothing. And we were a comfortably off family. To reduce the environmental impact it's not just people buying fewer clothes, it requires most people to never buy new clothes.

I don't have huge numbers of clothes. I fix things, I will happily patch childrens clothes, or mine if it's possible without looking awful. I have primark clothing that is 15 years old, that I have fixed and fixed and will fiix again this summer.

If a tshirt was £100 I'd have to go naked. Taxing clothes seems a good idea, but it will just hit the poor. I can't afford to pay more for good quality, and I make my poor quality clothes last a very long time. Tbis would just make the rich continue as normal, mid earners think twice and people like me wear a bed sheet sewn interestingly.

Much of my childrens clothing did belong to their cousins or come from the charity shop. So does mine. My dusters are already the most worn out clothing. I mend buttons, holes, zips, hems, seams, general rips. I still need to wear clothes. Me doing all that to clothes that cost more that I can afford makes no difference, I mend everything anyway... I don't have a benevolent mistress to pass down her old dresses.

I'm lucky in that we have good charity shops locally with reasonable prices. At least when something is second hand you know it can survive being washed more than once.

Shoes are another one, I remember my first pair of M&S boots lasting several years over a decade ago but recently it got to the point where they were falling to bits after 3 months or so. I hear the same thing about school shoes.

Yes. Most clothes are cheap and nasty. We need to get back to a time of having fewer better quality clothes that we wear for a long time. We need to promote personal style (wearing what flatters you and suits your lifestyle) over fashion.

Let’s start by abolishing school uniform. Children grow fast and it is far more ecologically aware to buy them fewer items.

Taxing clothes is not the way forward. We need better regulations to ensure quality and ethical behaviour right along the supply chain. We need to encourage everyone to be aware of the importance of taking care of their clothes.

I think we might end up having to return to the situation as it was in the recent past (as described by CountFosco) where the less well off among us would use mostly 2nd hand or home made clothes, as new ones become more expensive.

When I was a child, I had hardly any new clothes. I remember being wildly excited when I was 11 and got a new pair of bri-nylon slacks for Christmas (anyone remember those?!). They were my main Christmas present from my parents. When I needed a new winter coat when I was 14, it had to be a combined Christmas and birthday present - and was bought from a market stall.

My mother used to buy old hand-knitted jumpers from jumble sales, unpick them and re-knit the yarn into a "new" jumper. We were pretty hard up as a family, but by no means unusual.

I can't imagine, and am not suggesting, that people return to the deprivations of the 1960s that prevailed in my childhood, but it is a fact that clothes are so cheap now that many people discard them without a second thought - and somehow that has to be stopped.

I first moved to the UK 15 years ago to start uni and remember being quite surprised about the fast fashion culture and how cheap clothes and shoes were at Primark and similar shops. There were some cheap shops in the country I moved from (another EU country) but not really the same culture of buying something cheap just to wear to go out in. I bought quite a lot in my first years here partly because it was so exciting to be able to buy a pair of shoes for a fiver or a handful of new tops for a tenner (Primark was even cheaper back then!).

That said I have always had a lot of clothes - my mum loved buying me nice things from when I was a baby and never stopped really - but I'm definitely of the generation where it was usual to buy good quality and then pass them on after as they lasted so well. My grandmother used to knit and we also fixed things when they got worn, zips needed changing, shoes mended etc.

It's really hard to give up on buying when so much is available... It's still my goal to one day only buy the best quality, ethically made and wear them for a long time. I have one friend/colleague who does this and I always really admire her, she will buy expensive but made of good quality natural fibres and wears the same things on a rotation for a long time. She also has an amazing ability to buy clothes that really suit her and she looks great in them.

I wish this sort of thing was taught in textiles. I remember as a kid in the 90s my mum used to by us slightly big dresses and take up the hem so it would "let down next year", don't know if that was considered old fashioned.

To be fair most people I know have hand me downs and pass childrens clothes on. The second hand market would obviously be better if clothes were well made.

here the less well off among us would use mostly 2nd hand or home made clothes, as new ones become more expensive.

Yeah fuck the "less well off". Why should they be able to afford nice things or shock horror new things?

Let’s start by abolishing school uniform. Children grow fast and it is far more ecologically aware to buy them fewer items

How do you figure? (Genuine question, btw)

Uniform seems the more ecologically sound option, as you’d likely need to purchase more street clothes/gym clothes to get them through the school week ....

I think there is a place for a sensible school uniform with practical hard-wearing items and that doesn't constantly change so things can be passed between siblings or second hand

I have had DC in a school with uniform and DC in a school without and I can assure you that it is far cheaper not to have uniform! A few good quality clothes that suit the individual child is the way to go.

far cheaper not to have uniform

Cost I could see, but ecological impact would be less, I’d have thought?

Ecologically, you need to have as few clothes as possible, with an ecologically sound supply chain.

I don't find that more expensive clothes always last better. I got a Pringle merino sweater at Christmas, which has pilled much worse than my Benetton or Uniqlo ones. Conversely I have a pair of really flattering work trousers from Tesco that are going strong in their tenth year.