Work expect us to look like models

[Coldpop]

I've started a job in a clothing store where staff wear their own clothes.. or so I thought. No. We have to wear the clothes that work sell and we only get 70% discount. We have to have everything from work, top bottoms and shoes. We also have to wear stuff from the current season, so every 3 months we are expected to buy more tops bottoms shoes as we can no longer wear what isn't being sold in store. I'm on a 18 hour contract, barely over minimum wage. I can't afford this! I'm a mum with a mortgage. Clothes in my family have to last us till they need replacing. I also think it's very wasteful to have to constantly buy clothing. At the least to be able to buy the cheapest stuff from work it will cost me about £80- 100 every 3 months. It's not exactly a cheap store. There's posters up all over the staff room telling us to inspire customers with our outfit choices, that we have to be stylish at all times!. Im used to dressing smart for work.. but Im going to feel mugged every 3 months that I have to part with my wages to be an advert for my employer. I've just started, I've had no wages but I've been asked to sort my outfit choices as soon as possible. Don't know what to do. Is this the norm in retail now?

It’s disgusting that they get away with this, I don’t know how it’s legal.

I loved it when I was a student as cheap new outfits, but it does seem wildly outdated now. I don't see the issue with a uniform or whatever and then selling different outfit choices via mannequins etc so they can still be sold afterwards reduced. I can see why they don't want people wearing clothes from other shops or stuff they don't sell anymore but it shouldn't be up to employees to fund this.

I would look for another job, if this one is loosing you too much money.
The idea is to make money, right?

Used to have a job in a restaurant where you were split into teams and if your team were short on the till the end of the night, ( eg. A mistake or somebody pocketing it, I do not know) we’d have to pay it out of our own pocket.
But no extra cash if the till was up ??

I left very soon, realising that 1 + 1 = 2 - A job should serve it’s purpose, and make money.

If you do love the job, selling your clothes on Vinted sounds like a plan. Maybe you can even make a bit on the side, buying the clothes and re-selling them ?
Dont know if that’s allowed, as this is supp to be helpful, I dont want to get you into trouble..

I worked for a high street store and we had 50% discount and were expected to wear the clothes they sold. We were never told we had to update every 3 months!

Just speak to your manager and agree to wear their clothes but buying a whole new wardrobe isn't feasible for you.

My son used to work for a fashion brand that just made womenswear. He got an allowance of £1k for clothes that they allowed him to transfer to me. He was however taxed on it. Which I reimbursed. If you were given ordinary clothes, not a uniform you would pay tax and NI on the value, so over 30% It costs you less to pay 25% of the value .

I'd try this.

£80 every three months updating your wardrobe isn't excessive

It would be for a lot of people.

OP, this is quite common in fashion retail, but they should have certainly made it crystal clear to you before they offered you the job.

I’m expected to dress professionally at work, DH has had to wear a suit before, and neither were paid for by work.

@PasTrop Of course - but just being expected to 'dress professionally' or 'wear a suit' is very different from being expected to dress entirely head-to-toe in clothes from a single retailer and to upgrade each item on a three-monthly basis. I know the OP's situation is pretty standard in fashion retail, but it is much more equivalent to a uniform than a dress code. 'Smart-casual' or 'business attire' is a dress code. 'Choose your clothes from a specific range of agreed items and wear them only for three months' is more akin to a uniform really.

This is totally normal.

I've worked at Gap and River Island and this was always the case. GAP we got 50% off 6 items a month and everything we wore had to be current stock. Their standard jeans and plain basic t shirts were pretty consistently in stock so that was easy and I normally bought one or two things each season to wear with them to jazz up outfits. We also got 30% off everything else including sale.

River Island we had to wear River Island jeans and were given a uniform t-shirt to wear. Jeans we got 75% off and had to be replaced seasonally.

I think it's reasonable to want you to wear their current season clothes but not reasonable to expect you to buy them.

I'd literally buy 2 tops and 2 bottoms and rotate them through the week. It's not ideal but I don't think there is much you can do beyond speaking to management and explaining the situation.

It was also the "norm" that women couldn't vote. Maybe we should go back to those days ?

If I were OP, I’d buy a single black dress and wear that EVERY SINGLE SHIFT with my own accessories. One dress per season would be fine on the budget, and easy to sell afterwards if it’s generic-looking and a neutral colour.

Having said that, I didn’t know this is what happens in retail and I think it’s pretty awful. You should at least have the option to borrow the clothes from the shop at no cost.

This does explain the poor plus sized girl who served me in River Island the other day (not a store known for selling plus sized clothes) squeezed into a top that clearly didn’t fit and didn’t suit her at all. So obviously not good brand advertising!
I guess your choices though OP are suck it up, perhaps buying black jeans or trousers that are sold year round, one or two in-season tops, and footwear you would wear anyway, or look elsewhere. It should have been made abundantly clear at interview though, not sprung on you later.

Wearing the brands clothes is very normal and should be expected, but that doesn't mean you should pay for it.

When I worked in clothing retail, we got £350 worth of free uniform per year (full time - you got less if you worked part-time) and then a 50% staff discount off anything full-price. Or, we could buy in sales and get a staff discount on top - I think it was about 15% off sale price.

However, we weren't expected to wear current season and shoes could be from anywhere so long as they were appropriate for the job (no heels or open toes).

Do you not get any kind of uniform allowance? I would speak to your manager as it would be highly unusual (and possibly even illegal) for you to get nothing at all.

I would buy at the discount and get the rest 'new with tags' on Ebay to cover my costs, if you can manage the initial outlay.

Sounds like you work somewhere like Holister (does that shop still exist?) …they all looked like models there.

I worked in primark years ago and it was actually the opposite, if we bought anything from the shop we were supposed to declare it (not sure where or to who lol) so that they didn’t think we’d knicked it haha. Our uniform there was just black trousers and white shirt though so there was no expensive fashion upgrades.

It's not unusual and a lot of workers see it as a bonus. For you, obviously it's a major negative, so you're not a good fit for that job.

The simplest solution is to work elsewhere, and while you're looking for another job find the cheapest possible way to apparently comply with their requirements in the meantime (and then Vinted your purchases immediately on departure).

There is however an interesting argument to be had about whether it takes you below minimum wage. Worth doing some sums and approaching your manager.

@SerendipityJane dont be dramatic. Buying clothes for work is pretty normal. I work at a law firm, paralegals are on a very low wage. They're expected to have a few suits and smart shoes to wear and a dinner suit/tux for networking events and awards. It's a big outlay. They would need winter suits and summer suits.

Not clothes but this was the same when I worked in shoe retail many years ago, although we got 90% off one pair every 6 months to wear for work, and 33% off anything else we wanted for personal use.

Right, but I doubt he was on minimum wage, was he?

I'm surprised so many posters are unaware of this. Just a thought because I wonder generally how much awareness there is of problematic work rules.

I've been puzzled by the retail thing for as long as I've been adult. Also puzzled why unions aren't a bigger thing - presumably due to oversupply of workers, which no longer applies. They do still have some power.

I think it depends on the employer, when I was at Primark years ago you were provided with the standard work top and had to wear your own non-branded jeans and trainers. The hiring manager actually told me that a lot of the girls wore River Island trainers so I was recommened to go there, a store with a completely different price point!

This is just so fucking appalling and the fact that so many on here see no problem with it is so representative of why we are so fucked as a nation. Just because it has always been done does not make it right.

It is bloody outrageous to expect someone on barely above minimum wage and probably on a zero-hour contract to spend £20-30 a month out of their crap pay so that they can market their employer's clothes. Dressing cleanly and smartly for work on your own money is one thing, but paying for and changing your uniform (and if it has to be bought from one place it is fundamentally a uniform) every 3 months on your pay is bloody ridiculous.

I agree. I love the fact that people say it's the norm as if exploiting your low paid staff and making them pay out for fast fashion is ok!

I actually like Monsoon clothes, so I would be happy to buy them (though I look on ebay for them). Presumably if you are doing 18 hours a week you can buy fewer clothes though and just have a couple of outfits you wear each shift for three months, and then change them? I agree with the OP above - get a couple of pairs of trousers you can wear all the time, and alternate the tops.

Yeah but to be fair, most people don't need to change their work wardrobe to a completely new one every 3 months.

I have been in low-paid jobs where I needed to look smart but never had to stop wearing the old stuff and replace with all new so frequently, or ever tbh. Many items I wore for years.

£80 to £100 is £400 at full retail price.

£80 to £100 every 3 months AFTER staff discount is £1600 a year at full retail price. And on 18 hours a week that doubles to £3200 fte.

I could not spend that much on clothes in a year.

Assuming 18 hours a week is 3 shifts I'd be looking at one pair of trousers and max 3 generic style-neutral tops that can be worn for a whole year. At Next prices that's (generously) £120, so £30 a year after discount. Unless it is written into your contract they cannot force you to buy new season clothes.

OP I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Few employers expect staff to wear a 'proper' uniform these days, so you would still have to buy clothes to wear to work,wherever you work.