Lost Stock

[drspouse]

Just ordering myself a box from this outfit:

loststock.co/

No idea when it will arrive but I thought it looked good, ordered one for DH too (in "dark" and "plain", he's a boring sod).

I suspect way more stuff is going to end up in landfill than it would have otherwise. Charity shops are inundated with clothes after lockdown and they don't want anything else. Thousands of people have bought ugly cheap clothes that they wouldn't have otherwise bought. It's all going to end up in the bin

Clymene, sadly I agree. Nice idea but most people wouldn’t wear things that a stranger had bought them without seeing them, most will be given to charity or thrown away I would think

Yeah agree about landfill. I'm not sure which of the clothes would be suitable, but perhaps there would have been a better way to do it, where perhaps you paid to support a family, but also the clothes that you 'saved' went to another charity, here or abroad who could distribute to those who will make use of them. Admittedly not the clothes people have recieved, but surely there's some lost stock, maybe even shoes that would have benefitted both.

As predicted, mine aren't what I was expecting. Ordered the plain & dark option. I got 3 vest tops two white and one light grey (sticker over the label said they were intended for Matalan) and a light green printed linen smock dress. No label but the style wouldn't be out of place in Bôn Marche.

Going to keep the vests for lounging round the house but I think I probably could have picked the same tops up in Asda for a 2 for £8 deal. Linen dress is going straight to the charity shop.

Feel like I was duped. The way its marketed also makes me feel like you're a bad person for moaning about the clothes you did receive.

Oh well. Glad I didn't bother ordering any of the mens or kids boxes.

I got similar bootsuit - wonder if I can dye the dress a different colour??

I do wonder where they fall on returns, apparently you only get half of your money back or thereabouts, but isn't it the law that you can return items for x amount of time? They say it covers postage, but you pay for postage seperately, I get the logistics element costs money, but surely they have to adhere to trade law still?

Ostensibly, this is a great - and fun - way to support the garment workers in need but - and I’m just thinking aloud here because I’d never heard of Lost Stock until reading this - I’m wondering how much of the money raised is reaching them. From the pie chart a pp posted only 37% is actually going to the NGO involved and a good % of that will probably likewise go in admin costs etc. Of course any amount of support is better than none and I’m probably being churlish in saying this, but I imagine this is more of a commercial operation than a philanthropic one.

@Notarealmum didn’t see the pie chart but I stuck a list in my post above Lost stock list the postage as 12% of the cost (I think it was about £3/4) and their take about 9% - too early to do the maths 😂

I think we’ve had so much information about this up here in Scotland with it being a local company that I feel a bit more comfortable with the breakdown reasoning, unfortunately things do have to be paid for shipping, transactions etc

From my understanding it’s also about keeping that supply chain part of it going to have jobs to go back to by ensuring 37% goes directly towards helping the workers but the 30% keeps the actual factory from going under by paying for the stock that wasn’t paid for in the first place.

Between all the info bandy around and my eco warrior sister I must admit I’ve learned a lot through this. There are a lot of people going on clothing bans and I might join them

Those who don't like their boxes, can you not swap?

suspect way more stuff is going to end up in landfill than it would have otherwise. Charity shops are inundated with clothes after lockdown and they don't want anything else.

I volunteer in a charity shop and that's not the case with us at least. We are inundated with bric a brac, books, toys and games. Not so much clothes.

but I imagine this is more of a commercial operation than a philanthropic one.

I think it's a bit of both. The people behind it also run Mallzee which I'd never heard of but appears to be an app allowing you to browse through different retailers all in the same place.

Ah, thanks, poptypingchef, that puts it more into perspective. And any commercial operation that involves a humanitarian element is admirable, of course.

Try Lookiero. They listen to your preferences and you can return anything you don't like.

@Notarealmum I think it’s hard in general, I do think they are trying really hard to stop
the landfill and support the chain. Of course they can take them back but then what. I think the girl who started the swap group is amazing and for the most part it seems to be working, I was a bit skeptical how well it would work but people who are making the effort to swap seem delighted. Both me and my sister were secretly covering each other’s items so I’m glad it’s worked for us😂😂😂

[quote poptypingchef]@Notarealmum I think it’s hard in general, I do think they are trying really hard to stop
the landfill and support the chain. Of course they can take them back but then what. I think the girl who started the swap group is amazing and for the most part it seems to be working, I was a bit skeptical how well it would work but people who are making the effort to swap seem delighted. Both me and my sister were secretly covering each other’s items so I’m glad it’s worked for us😂😂😂[/quote]
Well, if it’s fun and it helps people, what’s not to like, eh? I think I was just being an old cynic 😊

I received mine yesterday. I got one vest style top (way shorter than anything I'd dare wear!), two similar shapes sleeveless, v neck tops (both of which are fine, one colour preferable to the other, will be fine under a blazer or denim jacket) and a lovely linen shift dress (really like this, will be great for next year's holiday).

So, I'm happy enough with 3 of the 4 pieces I received. I'm not quite sure how they'd add up to £70 in the shops but, no matter. I'm pleased to know that a family will be helped with my donation.

@SockYarn

suspect way more stuff is going to end up in landfill than it would have otherwise. Charity shops are inundated with clothes after lockdown and they don't want anything else.

I volunteer in a charity shop and that's not the case with us at least. We are inundated with bric a brac, books, toys and games. Not so much clothes.

Good to know! I shall take a couple of bags down.

The issue I have is that they said the value of the clothes was 'at least £70 RRP' which simply isn't true. None of them are high end high street - they are cheap fast fashion which isn't what I thought I was getting.

I think they've removed the £70 claim from their website now. I do think the idea is a noble one and they've obviously worked hard, but saying you will get clothes likely to be from Gap and Topshop etc which will have an RRP of at least £70 and we will match to your preferences, and then delivering items way below that, from cheap brands (nothing wrong with them, but it's not what was expected), which match no preferences is a bit of a crock. I understand it's for a good cause, and I'm guessing that is what they are relying on to escape criticism. Some of the stuff is now for sale on Matalan, so they must have fulfilled at least some of the order with their factories to have recieved that, and it hasn't been saved from landfill if it appears they're happy enough to sell it.

No sign of mine and I ordered on 23rd May. It'll be winter by the time they arrive! Bit disappointed if it's Matalan and bad quality. I wanted to be pushed out of my comfort zone after maternity leave, so hopefully there'll be something nice in there. If it arrives!

For people who feel they have been had/conned someone has set up a Facebook group called Lost stock we've lost faith.

I'd actually forgotten I'd ordered this. Just checked, it was 30th May but haven't heard anything for a while. Doesn't sound too promising, shall go back to having forgotten about it!

Ordered mine on 30/5 too @MissFitton. Nothing other than the holding emails. Not too bothered to have missed anything I've seen so far so will have to see what the parcels bring

I’m now rather dreading to see what my lost stock delivery will contain. I do think the lost stock team have done the project with good intentions though and money has been raised to help these workers which can’t be a bad thing. I hadn’t expected to get Matalan items that were also to be found in store though, but ‘shrug’ I’m not too bothered.

I ordered two boxes the day after - the 31st. We;re in Scotland and in another couple of weeks summer will be well and truly over. I'm not so fussed about the fact that the clothes aren't exactly as expected, the whole idea was to buy surplus and they couldn't guarantee anything. Fine.

But they promised 6 to 8 weeks. I've now been waiting over 10 weeks and no news - delivery time is going to be DOUBLE what I signed up for.

I spent birthday money on this so I can afford for it to be rubbish... Still waiting and hope its not! Trying to avoid the pictures of what people have had already in case mine is worse

I did wonder if some 'cheap' shops have ended up buying stock which was cancelled by more expensive shops. So e.g. what is now Matalan would have been M&S.