George - is it me?

[marshlander]

Just sitting here sewing and watching tv - ads come on including an ad for clothing at azder. I know you'll be amazed to hear they offer a 100 DAY guarantee Am I supposed to be impressed? I wouldn't think that's something to boast about. is it me?

[Green Aura]

I don't know ! I would definitely want my clothes to last longer than 100 days but do other manufacturers give any sort of guarantee? I've never noticed except possibly on waterproofs and things like that.

By the way, you started this thread twice so I've deleted the other one - they both looked the same.

[marshlander]

Don't know how i did that!

[citizentwiglet]

I must admit to having a few items you refer to......shame on me, I know, but I was f&cking cold. And skint. Incidentally, their school uniforms only offer a 90 day guarantee (and half of that is holiday and INSET days..)

And yes, they might start to fall apart within 100 days (or look decidedly shabby, even by my standards), but they only cost a fraction of the price of some other retail establishments on the 'fashion' end; who get them from the same supplier, pay the same wages and condone the same conditions, yet charge far more. Whatever people say about George, Florence and Fred, Primark etc - the same factories are being used by shops that I could never afford to buy from, but other people do because of they get a nice 'Ware%ouse' or 'O%sis' or designer label. I'd rather pay £2.00 for a t-shirt than £30.00 for one made in the same place but with a different label.

I'm not a fashion-junkie, far from it. And I don't by cheap things that have heavy detailing such as embroidery as these are often farmed out to small villages.I buy plain t-shirts or jumpers, usually - I know that's not great, but at the moment it's what I can afford, and that's only once or twice a year, when I can't get them second-hand.

But I do wonder (borrowing MKG's devil's advocate hand for a moment), if these workers weren't producing clothing, what WOULD they be doing? The 6 year old girl in a remote village sewing buttons for Primark? What's her alternative? Often it is being shipped into a town and forced in prostitution. The problem with what we perceive to be 'sweat-shops' is often our westernised ideals, our sometimes misplaced philanthropy. There can be queues of people outside these places looking for work - why? Why is that there only viable choice? If we all decided not to buy these things, then I think the situation would get far worse. These people would have NO work - and if they are queuing up to work in a sweat-shop, then the alternative must be horrific, when you think about it.

[marshlander]

If the clothes would last til they were outgrown, that would be something to promote. Quite agree that for uniform basics the chains are a practicle and afordable solution.

[citizentwiglet]

Fair play to some of the supermarkets though - kids' clothes are mostly pretty good in my experience. E has worn and worn most of his clothes hundreds of times (he's not a fast grower, LOL, he's 4 next month and still in age 2 trousers..), they've been passed down to his brother who has also had plenty of wear out of them, and some of those that have now been outgrown are being worn by another wee boy we've passed them on to.

Certainly the biggest problem I have with toddler clothes is food stains, rather than them falling apart; and you know how toddlers play rough, I'm amazed they've lasted as well as they have (the clothes, not the kids!).

So yes, they do have quite a few 'supermarket' clothes but on the whole I've been lucky in that I've not had to replace them very often, they've lasted well and been worn and worn - and then passed on. They do have some more 'fancy' stuff, but that's all second-hand from Freecycle and one of my neighbours who has 2 grandsons who seem to have a new outfit every week, and if she wants to pop round with 3 sacks of clothes, who am I to argue??