Are you comfortable with this ?

I was listening to the news item this morning which said the typical buyer was 35 years old and would spend £100 a month on close. The reporter asserted that they weren't clothes bought by poorer people.

I should have added that I would NOT feel comfortable in spending money with a company who employs its workers in the way described in the news article..... pressed post message too soon

I agree would never buy from Shein, BooHoo or Primark.

I make most of my own clothes and I am selective as to where the garments are made that I do actually buy. I have never bought from Shein and never will. I have seen the clothing that some friends have purchased and not been impressed with the standard and quality.

One lady even wanted me to 'fix' a faulty garment but I pointed out that my time would come at a cost and she would be better off sending it back. She was horrified to learn that she had to pay for the postage to China and she binned the dress in the end.

No, not comfortable. No Temu or Shein for our family.

I tend to purchase cotton clothing, attempting to make sure it is not produced in China. Did fail once this autumn, more careful to labels since.

It’s very disturbing to hear that the production of the cotton used is alleged to involve forced labour by people of the Muslim Uyghur minority.

So no, for that reason alone I don’t feel comfortable about the Shein company, and would never buy from them.

I meant to add, I think it's bad enough that we have our own, below the radar, sweat shops in this country, paying way below the minimum wage.

No I would buy from them and no doubt when they have foreign buyers inspect their factories they show them what they want them to see. I wouldn't trust the Chinese government on anything. I think it's sickening how many of our goods are manufactured there sold by the likes of John Lewis.

What can we do when successive governments overlook the danger of forging even stronger relationships with China, it's pretty obvious they're all about world dominance. A lobbyist who has been working closely with RR is employed by a company that works for Shein and Reeves is allowing them a tax loophole,in that import duty is not charged on low value parcels it sends to customers from overseas, allowing them an unfair advantage. In a nutshell tax avoidance. The Chancellor has said that she wants better economic ties with China in our national interests allegedly! so no doubt we'll be getting even more of their shite goods, if that's at all possible coming our way. I believe she's brought up their questionable human rights records, and \I'm sure they've really listened to her on that

I remember Stacey Dooley featuring in a programme about sweatshops and child labour when she was still a teenager.

It was apparent then and may still true now, that high end and medium price designer brands were using sweatshops and far from caring about human welfare, they never even visited these factories. I hope this has changed but I have a
sneaky feeling that not all big brand labels are as caring as they should be.

My daughter worked in fashion and some of the clothes were made in China. However, visits were made and the firm were adamant about good working practices. One supplier was dropped when they failed to meet the standard of employee care.
The clothes were more expensive but were very well-made. Some years on, many of them are still being worn by DD, her sisters and her friends.
It is possible to buy from China without excessive exploitation of the workforce.

I agree that we need to buy less. As I get older, I probably have enough clothes to last me forever. Another bonus of buying good quality in the first place.
I now prefer to take my DGCs clothes shopping as they are still growing.

But that doesn’t make it right Louella
I didn’t really ask if people bought from them but are you comfortable with it and if not what can we do ?
I buy 75% of my clothes from charity shops I ve not knowingly bought Temu or Shein except a couple of items when they first came out and I had no idea of the background of the workers
they were both very substandard one was full of what looked like tea stains over it the other really looked nothing like the pictures However some of the goods they make look lovely and very unique
I guess we need to buy less
We have a material (rag) bank near me it is constantly overflowing with good clothes that just need washing, the waste is terrible and it all goes off to clutter up other countries landfills

We really do need to think more about this and not just pass it off as someone else’s problem

I bought a dress from Shein once, not knowing anything about them. It was unwearable -- a sleeve caught up in a side seam, very poor stitching (coming apart & "loopy"), weird shape (same width top, middle & bottom), cheap fabric not even good enough for dusters. When I asked for a refund, I was told "certainly, just return the item" -- the address was in China! I vowed never to buy from them again. Later I discovered their employment ethics and will DEFINITELY never buy from them again!

I read a line in a novel recently that said wtte that there isn’t a material thing that we enjoy that hasn’t caused someone else or something else to experience pain and sorrow. Cheap clothes are one of those things. It isn’t just the sweat shops but the mountains of fast-fashion clothes that will be throw away to end up polluting some country far away. We have human waste fouling our seas and rivers to feed the greed of Chinese billionaires while we in turn pollute African beaches with our discarded clothes.

There are already enough clothes in the world to dress the next six generations.

This:

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/sep/24/where-does-the-uks-fast-fashion-end-up-i-found-out-on-a-beach-clean-in-ghana

Extract:

This is how the conversation always goes whenever my 12-year-old daughter, Evie, asks me to buy fast fashion for her. “Please, please, please can I have this,” she’ll say (it’s usually from Shein). Sorry but no, I’ll reply – I’m sure we can find an alternative on Vinted. “One person buying something new won’t make any difference,” she argues. “And besides, it’s so cheap!” There is sulking (her), tutting (me), and dissatisfaction all round.

That’s where adults could start to make a change; parents and grandparents all agree to say no to the pestering.

Don’t be guilt-tripped about job losses. Guangzhou manufactures a huge range of goods. People would be deployed into other industries (although the conditions may be no better). Demand fuels manufacture not the other way around.

Remember what happened at Rani Plaza in 2013? 1134 people died and over 2500 were injured. Why. Because Primark, Maltalan, Zara and the likes were demanding more and more and cheaper and cheaper clothes.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_Plaza_collapse

We have learned nothing in our clamour for new things.

I also look at mainstream garments and their countries of origin and wonder whether the conditions are much better - we have no control over this.

I have never used either, but .......

I wonder what these people would live on if we all boycotted these companies. I am sure they do not like the working conditions (no-one would), but they live where they live and may prioritise being able to feed their families. In the short term, whatever we in the west do is not going to make a difference for them and they need the income. It would not be good to see this cut off.

But so much of what we buy is from China. Look at your smartphone. Car. White goods. Medical equipment. Parts from China are everywhere.

Lots of complaints about how the workers are treated in many factories, not just Shein and Temu.

And in other parts of the world, let's not forget the horrendous conditions cobalt mining. For our clean batteries for electric cars.

“There is also the moral dilemma that is posed by the fact that if people boycotted these goods the workers would loose what little income they earn and they and their families would face extreme hardship.”

There is that Indigo8. Is the same with child labour, often in war zones where older children lose their parents they are left to provide for younger siblings or children abandoned because their parents can’t look after them end up having to work. There is no welfare system to look after them.
Taking away the work will mean they end up on the streets preyed upon by sex traffickers etc.
I don’t know what the answer is. Perhaps if the large companies who use these sweat shops, instead of not using them, could go over there and make sure the employees are paid a living wage and that working conditions are not exploitative. It would mean prices here going up slightly but if this was explained through advertising they might just attract a whole new market.

It’s good to know so many of us won’t buy from them I can’t bear the thought of the hours and conditions, but so many intelligent people I know do and it really upsets me.

Yes there is the dichotomy of knowing these workers would be without a job at all if these factories were closed down so the only way forward as I see it is to fight and petition for better work conditions but I don’t know how achievable letter is

I was on a very limited budget when my children were growing up and most of their clothes came from charity shops or from friends whose children had outgrown them. I found that, as children grow out of their clothes so quickly, the clothes were almost like new after being washed and ironed.

Clothes that were outgrown and still in reasonable condition, were either passed on to friends or taken back where they came from. This was the norm among my friendship group as we preferred our children to wear clothes that had been worn by other peoples' children to those made by other peoples' children.

Having said that, no doubt some of the clothes that found their way into the charity shop had been made in sweatshops in China.

There is also the moral dilemma that is posed by the fact that if people boycotted these goods the workers would loose what little income they earn and they and their families would face extreme hardship.

No, I’d never buy from these rubbish companies. I also try to buy British manufactured items.

In a word ‘no’. If am struggling to pay for good clothes I would go to a good high street charity shop. My grown family often do this or use vinted.
And avoid anything with this label.

I have never bought from them and never will. In fact bothe DH and I try not to buy goods made in China. Not possible always, but we try. I try to be ethical in my clothes buying, as with everything else.

HousePlantQueen

GrannyGravy13

I wouldn’t and never have purchased from Shein or Temu.

I can understand that in some households on a strict budget, they are the only solution to clothing ever growing children.

No, the 'only solution to clothing ever growing children' is not exploitation of someone else's children. The major supermarkets have huge ranges of very reasonably priced children's clothing.

I am not going to argue with you HPQ

There may be supermarkets and the likes of Primark who sell reasonably priced children’s clothes, but where and how do you think they are produced and in what conditions?

They are still a lot more expensive than Shein and Temu, including trainers.

eddiecat78

I would never buy from them and try to buy British as much as possible. On BBC TV news the item was followed by a retail expert who said young people are now turning away from these companies preferring to buy better quality items even if they are second hand. Hopefully our generation will do likewise

My adult children refuse to buy from these companies, preferring to buy a combination of good quality items which will last, charity shops and Vinted.