Buy British, buy local....

I live in a small market town and don't drive so almost everything is bought locally. I always use independent shops and local businesses if I can. It doesn't have to cost more than Amazon or Asda, I buy less, ignore luxuries and we have good charity shops.
Actually, almost nothing is manufactured in Britain any more. All I know of is Orchard Toys.
I also boycott anything produced with cruelty, like angora and merino wool. Can others give more examples of what ethical consumers might avoid?

We lived in the country ps and I shopped at our local Carrefour/Casino in our nearest town, not touristy at all but our visitors would on occasion want to visit a supermarket where they could buy Heinz beans type of thing.

I am aware and agree, of course, with your sentence that prices are indeed determined by what people are willing to pay.

Like Apricot I'm fortunate to live in a market town. We've been Tesco'd but the people who use it are mainly those who'd have driven 10 miles to the nearest big supermarket anyway. The rest of us still support local businesses and, although Tesco is doing moderately well, talk of it expanding has died down.
Clothes shopping is a big problem as it's so difficult to find out what has and hasn't been ethically sourced. Primark now claims to pay it's workers well so price isn't an indication.

Primark may claim to pay its workers well but what about their suppliers in places like Bangladesh?

I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

Marks and Sparks?

M&S do not guarantee all items are manufactured ethically. I think most clothing is mass produced by low paid workers in various conditions. I caught a programme about spoilt English kids being taken to see life in Philippines. it showed how they made 'distressed jeans' that one of the children liked. The kids were upset when they saw how little the women earned and that they were separated from their chidren. The women were grateful for their jobs but their need made them exploitable.

Turkey and India appear to be countries where M&S have clothes manufactured as well as China.

How do they make "distressed" jeans then?

Apricot I wasn't aware of the terrible cruelty involved in producing angora and merino wool until you posted and I googled it. Thank you, I will avoid angora completely and only buy merino wool produced in New Zealand where I believe it is farmed ethically?

Ok Penstemmon, I'll do my best with your January to Easter suggestion. We are lucky to have a good local butcher, the lamb is from their herds which graze locally and everything else sourced as locally as possible. They also sell local honey, cheese etc and we've been customers for a long time. I buy British fruit and veg where possible. Clothes/bedding/towels and so on are a problem, because so little is produced in Britain. Hopefully, M& S will link the dots between falling clothes sales, and their attempt to pile it high and sell it cheap. Most M&S customers don't want Primark, or they'd go there. I don't buy stuff where I know that animals have suffered in its making, whether it's clothes or food.
What do people feel about buying for example, flowers, green beans etc from Africa? I don't want to contribute to unnecessary air miles, or the exploitation of others. But, without these growing areas of work, what happens to the people in Africa who are now depending on the income.

Iam there was a program some time ago about those French beans grown on Africa. Yes it did provide wages for some but used water, good land and resources. Most of the locals didn't seem to benefit much, just big business.
It seemed (to me) obscene that we were using their land so we could eat beans out of season. We decided then to eat local fresh veg in season and I can grow enough climbing French beans in a 6 foot run to freeze and last round. The same for broad beans. We look forward now to the strawberry season and they taste so much better. We leave the African stuff to those go getting types living in cities who don't have seasons! (Present company excepted!)

I was really upset when I read in Compassion in World Farming about the Angora rabbits. I can't wear wool but rabbit fur was fine so I was initially pleased when the cost of Angora came down. Silly me.

It looks like I shall have to go up market for clothes. Hopefully John Lewis is fairly ethical? Theoretically good stuff should last longer and work out cheaper in the long run - but I'm never sure on that one.

Too many clothes anyway.

Just came across this website:

www.ethicalconsumer.org/shoppingethically/topethicaltips/top5ethicalhighstreetshops.aspx

I rarely buy cut flowers (far too expensive) I rely on my garden and the surrounding countryside to provide seasonal flowers and foliage. Many moons ago I was a florist so making something simple look interesting and attractive comes naturally to me.

I do avoid buying fruit from South Africa. I also avoid buying Spanish produce on account of the deplorable way they butcher Galgos (Spanish greyhounds) after the hunting season is over. Likewise I feel very strongly about the (who knows how many ) thousands of Irish greyhounds who are bred for racing, the ones that don't make the grade are often cruelly treated (ears lopped off) abandoned and left to die. Therefore Irish goods are a definite NO NO.

I hadn't known about Angora and Merino wool I don't buy it often but will check it out before I do again. I did mention in a previous post about wool that is spun from the fleece of British breeds.

I suspect lots of the labels in JL manufacture abroad nfk - because the profit margin will be so much higher for the companies. If you make things in the UK and pay a fair wage then the garments will be very expensive and won't compete apart from at the top end of the market.
There is very little garment manufacturing in the UK. The only way to check is one garment at a time.
But do we really need to be buying so many clothes? (post-declutter-perspective - apart from things that actually fall apart e.g. thin cotton nighties, most clothes last a long time)
I need a new pair of trainers (they wear out...) and the chances of finding any made in the UK are zero. Really rankles that the darn things are so expensive (over £100 often) when we know perfectly well that the people who make them are probably paid about 50p to make them.

That's reassuring nightowl, and plenty of choice of decent places to shop. I suppose what has got me thinking about Penstemmons challenge, is that in my teens and twenties I was keen not to contribute to conspicuous consumption. I bought 2nd hand furniture, but it was so easy in the 60's and 70's to pick up lovely pieces of furniture for next to nothing. The Pauper's cook book was on every shelf it seemed, and we'd all been brought up in the shadow of 2 world wars, so we knew how to make do and mend.
I remember a line from a Jack Kerouac book, I think it was Big Sur, in which a character made a table from a tree he'd chopped down, and hoped it would last for 1000 years.
Nfkdumpling - I agree with your comments about beans from Africa. I only have a small garden, but can grow enough beans for us to eat and freeze, easily. I haven't bought the beans from Africa, but do feel a need to support people who are struggling so much in that huge continent.
Penstemmon, your post seems especially relevant at this time of excessive consumerism, and I'll continue to think about it

Another useful website:

I suspect its difficult and expensive but it is still possible to buy a lot of british stuff

www.stillmadeinbritain.co.uk/clothing/izzy-lane.html

Thank you Nightowl. That site looks really useful.

Jess I agree wholeheartedly about having too many clothes. I did manage to keep my last years resolution not to buy anything new for a year (I counted from November as that was the last time I'd bought anything) as I had so many clothes. I didn't want to give any away as I liked them and why should I get rid of stuff just so I could buy more. Anyway I did it! Saved a lot as well, as it meant I didn't go near shops, didn't buy coffee and cakes or any other little temptations. It's given me a new outlook on clothes shopping. The trouble is I really do need some replacements now.

The Pauper's Cookbook got me through a few years of poverty and it has influenced me to this day. Buy a big chicken and have roast on day one, cold on day two, sandwiches on day four and then use the carcase to make soup...

Well done nfk I know that was harder than it sounds. I bought a glittery waistcoat from Zara to wear to two weddings but wore it over items from the cupboard. I think that was it.

Well done Nfk