Does anyone object to second hand clothing for their children?

[colditz]

Are you perfectly happy for your kids to wear second hand clothes, or does it all have to be brand new - with tags? If so why?

And if not, what do you feel about those who insist upon it?

I have noticed that with the growing popularity of people selling on ebay the charity shops are suffering and have less good stuff on offer, I guess people would rather sell old clothes than give them away to charity shops? Maybe it's just where I live though.

I used to buy 'vintage ' from camden market for myself, and some of the jumpers were a bit yuk to be frank, and I used to think, what if they had been owned by someone who didn't wash etc etc so it passes on to my children's clothes.
Not really rational I guess, and I buy second hand now for myself from ebay
Also I don't think I would buy second hand things, so fine if given so usually given by someone you know

nutcracker, my kids wiould spend all the time in their undies whatever clothes they havelol

When dd was born we had a stack of second-hand clothes, saved us a fortune in newborn stuff. We don't have anyone to pass things down to us now because dd has shot up so fast and she's taller than her much older friends, but I'm quite happy to use charity shops or have second-hand things - I don't buy them if they're not in good nick though.

We pass on most of dd's old clothes because they don't actually get the chance to get worn out - she grows like a weed, and her clothes only last a few months before we need bigger ones. They're worn for such a short time that it would be criminal for someone else not to get some wear out of them.

I have no problem with anyone who prefers their clothes brand-new; horses for courses and other such cliches.

Another thing I love about secondhand stuff is the fact you can get hold of things that you can't find in the shops (because it's either not "in" that particular year or not in your price range). So, dd1, who hates pink and flowery stuff, gets a lot of things passed on to her from a good MN friend whose daughter had a similar obsession a couple of years ago! And ds - I prefer to put him in dungarees as they fit better over his totsbots nappies - but can't find them in the shops in his size (he has just gone into 12-18months stuff). Again MN came up trumps and I bought and was given enough pairs to see him through to the next size

No I certainly don't object. Dd gets given a lot of new stuff but has also worn second hand. I buy from charity/vintage shops for myself too and you can get great stuff.

About 10% of my kids' stuff was bought by us (have only just conceded that DS's feet are too bizarre to settle for used shoes.) I don't care who it comes from as long as I like it. I've never found an item of kidswear that I actually like in a charity shop but otherwise I'd have no problem with it.
Now there's a niche: charity shops dedicated to kids' clothes, toys and baby equipment. Not the same as Nearly New Shops because those are always full of horrid French kidswear and stupidly priced.

I'm not keen on second hand clothes as my childhood involved lots of second hand stuff and I associate it with being poor

I will be reusing clothes from DS for our second child

my kids wear lots of second hand stuff, both inherited from friends & bought by me. and lots of bargain stuff from tk maxx too. i really like handing their clothes onto others too.

Its funny I had this conversation with a girl from work and she was horrified that I had a bag of clothes given to me by a friend for my son... some of the clothes were from quicksilver, Next, Reebok, puma, etc and they were all clothes that he really liked... saved me a fortune.. I pass on my daughters clothes for her daughter and my sons clothes get passed on to a friend for her sons...
I only wish I had a friend to give me clothes

My kids wear loads of second hand clothes - either hand me downs or bought on ebay etc.

I suppose that for as long as they don't know the difference, I will continue, as it seems all round a winner - recycling, saving money, not wasting 'resources', and usually the mums selling on ebay are making a bit of cash as well. Not to mention people who genuinely want to pass things on knowing they will get used till they are actually worn.

However, I think if the girls started to be conscious of it when they get older and objected, I would be happy to buy new clothes. I have always been into vintage clothes etc and would be disappointed if they weren't, but I would go along with their wishes.

love second hand - a good friend passes ion the majority of her daughter's clothes to my DD, and then I pass them on to another friend. DS has less second hand, more because we do not have an obvious sourse, but I do buy him some second hand bits at sales. I then pass everything that is in a fit state on to a couple of friends, and love seeing the clothes being worn again.

i actually do love getting clothes from friends and also passing our on. makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I think my kids most secondhand item of clithing is a hat that was passed through 5 of my friend's nieces/nephews in oz, then through her dd1, then to another friend, then to her dd2, then to my ds, then I lent it to another friend's dd for the winter, and now my dd has it.

i think it might have been bought at a jumble sale. it is a really lovely, well made, hat. clearly.

any advance on that?

I bought loads of secondhand stuff for DS1 as we were very hard up when he was little. I always said that even if I had a bit more money I would still buy second-hand because new kids clothes were a waste of money. However now that I have a little more at my disposal I find that I tend to buy new as finding good second-hand stuff is time consuming and now that I work (albeit from home a few hours a week) I don't have the same time/freedom to trail round charity shops or spend hours looking for bargains on e-Bay.

However I have twice been given a bag of clothes and both times been less than impressed . First time was by my MIL who was saving children's clothes to send abroad to an eastern block country and she gave us a 'loan' of some of the baby clothes. They were disgusting, some still had dried sick on them, most had holes. Second time the clothes were passed to me through someone else and at first sight seemed good but they reeked of cigarette smoke and I couldn't totally get rid of the smell.

I do however give bags of clothes to a friend who I don't see very often but I don't really know what she thinks of the things. I try to sift through them and get rid of anything I wouldn't put on my own children and tell her to charity shop what she doesn't want.

Sorry that's a bit of an epic.

I have had fantastic second hand clothes for the children, both hand-me-downs from friends and family as well as ace charity shop buys sourced by my mother.
I pass on clothes as and when to friends (though plan to have another so currently have girls 0-3 and boys 0-18months in the loft) and to charity when I have surplus.
A lot of the time, the charity shop finds of my mother are excellent quality and in are lovely, mostly because they are older and are more traditionally styled. No barbie, no logos on the bottoms. Just good quality clothes.
One wash and they're perfect.
Still buy lots of new clothes but don't feel that second hand clothes are inferior.

Agree with MrsSpoon though - you have to sort the wheat from the chaff in charity shops. Hence my mother's role - she is an expert in her field.

Also I find with boys the volume of decent clothes in charity shops drop dramatically after they reach a certain age. Not sure if mothers don't buy so much for boys (afterall there is a limit to how many pairs of jeans/different coloured cords etc one boy can wear) or that boys are harder on their clothes but I have found that beyond about age 5 most of the decent kids clothes in charity shops are for girls.

My children wear almost entirely second hand clothes - not school uniform so much but only because it is less easily available. I like the quality to be decent, and I won't dress them in anything so I still pick and choose styles, logos, etc, but fortunately, there is such a large amount of second hand clothing about, I am able to do this.

What do I feel about people who insist on new clothes? Nothing, really. If I had the money to buy all new, I would probably do so, so good luck to them for having the money to do it. Though I must say, there are so many second hand bargains to be had, I would feel very extravagent buying all new stuff. Also, using second hand clothes is good for the planet (recycling and all that! )

Would never sell second hand clothes on ebay though - the ethos passed down by my grandfather, to my mother and now to me is that you give what you don't need to charity rather than selling it.
I stretch the point for things like buggies or baby swings, but can't quite bring myself to sell on clothes. And anything we've had passed on (like a fab but bulky pram) is given away rather than sold.

when my kids have outgrown their clothes, i sort them out for charity shops, but always call my sisters to see if their dd's need anything that might be in the bag.

actually i do feel uneasy about all new clothes, because of the environmental/sweatshop stuff.

but then my kids are GAP poster kids 80% of the time -its all secondhand but their stuff just seems to last and last...

The only objection I have to second hand clothing (and I see this is saying the opposite to some posters, but maybe my dd is older and so this argument is more relevant) is that I find it hard not to dress my dd especially in fashionable clothing. I want her to wear the things that her classmates wear, but she is always a few seasons behind in her styles. Also, sometimes I nearly get to the point of weeping that she has no complete outfits, just separates that mostly do not coordinate that well. But apart from that, secondhand clothes get my vote every time.

I remember when I first had ds a friend offerred me some hand me downs from her ds and I politeley declined, I was horrified at the thought of him wearing 2nd hand clothes. God knows why.

Now he has clotehs from ebay, charity shops and hand me downs from his big cousin. And if I buy new, it is always in teh sale.

I don't mind second hand or hand me downs at all, in fact I've spent very little on clothes for dd since she was born 3 years ago because so much stuff has been donated.