where was it made?

I stopped using Woolovers when they declined my cashback for no apparent reason on Topcashback. Shocked to find out they are made in China. They also send out their catalogues ridiculously frequently, far more than necessary, especially as this is in addition to the daily emails. I have just sent them a message to ask them to stop sending the catalogues, will see how that goes.

The vast majority of laptops and mobile phones are made in China.

I hope you told them why, bookwormbabe. They need to understand where they’re going wrong.

Germanshepherdsmum

Thanks karmalady, I’ll look out for those.

I'd always steered clear of viscose, thinking it was another oil derived fibre. But I discovered that it wasn't last year and bought a few viscose T shirts. They are everything that the blog describes (and I haven't noted any of the 'cons' it lists). Buy with confidence, GSM

Yes, I thought that too Maizie. How wrong I was!?

No, viscose is not oil-derived but please don't be fooled into thinking that it is a greener fabric which does no harm to people or the environment.

Viscose is made from wood pulp (often from unsustainable sources) treated with carbon disulfide and then dissolved in sodium hydroxide.

Carbon disulfide is extremely toxic and commonly used in fumigants and insecticides. It has been linked to high levels of coronary heart disease, birth defects, skin conditions, and cancer, not just in textile workers, but also in those who live near viscose factories.

Sodium hydroxide is commonly known as caustic soda.

China is the largest producer and many well-known UK brands have been linked to its highly-polluting factories.

I think we'll just have to wear our birthday suits; everything else is unacceptable in one way or another...

I give up. I shall revert to picking strands of wool from the hedgerows to spin and knit in my unlit, unheated hovel and going naked in summer.

Germanshepherdsmum

I hope you told them why, bookwormbabe. They need to understand where they’re going wrong.

I told Woolovers why I was dissatisfied but they threw it back at me and made it all my fault.

Dreadful company, even if the shoddy goods weren't made in China, I'd be boycotting them anyway.

MaizieD

I think we'll just have to wear our birthday suits; everything else is unacceptable in one way or another...

My birthday suit would be unacceptable in many ways ???

I only ever bought one jumper from them, I realised too late that it really doesn’t suit me but I wear things until they fall to bits (or are too small then they go to the charity shop). Unfortunately this wretched jumper, bought years ago, refuses to fall apart, shrink, fade, bobble, snag, anything. It’s still plenty good enough for the charity bag. How things change.

www.harmlessworld.com/post/wood-pulp-fabrics-the-facts

Rather than complain about MrOops Bamboo taking over the bottom garden area I shall find out how to make it into lovely soft socks, similar to the ones I bought a couple of years ago. Might take me some time though.

Apparently we are washing our clothes much too often, if we shower each day (apart from undies) our clothes don’t need to be washed each time, just hang them up to air and put them back in the wardrobe. Jeans should rarely be washed. Only wash clothes when they get dirt on them.
I’ve taken onboard the Jeans washing tip but I’m struggling with not throwing my t shirts into the wash each day.

Apart from underwear and socks which of course are washed after one wearing, I only wash things if they have got dirty or sweaty. Why would you wash things just because you’ve worn them once? Not only using too much water, electricity and detergent but clothes will wear out much more quickly.

At one time all Marks & Spencer clothes were made in Britain and they were proud enough to announce that on the labels.

we can only do what we can wrt being eco and I will always use linen, viscose cotton and wool. I cannot be doing with anyone deciding to preach to me. I am one of those who washed a poly bag endlessly to use and re-use, make my own tiger nut milk, which I store in glass bottles. I am sick to death of woke, how dare they lecture me.

I like Lenzing ecovero viscose which is easily available

www.ecovero.com/sustainability

what I don`t like are poly fibres getting into the oceanic eco systems but my use of poly is very limited to my lycra which is what I wear when cycling.

Is your comment about preaching and wokeness aimed at me, karmalady? You are shooting the messenger. Is it wrong to care about the damage we do to the environment and people in our endless desire for things. Out of sight, out of mind.

Lenzing is a Austrian company which started production in September 1939 directed by Nazi SS Brigadier Walther Schieber using forced labour from concentration camps including Mauthausen. I don’t care what their alleged green credentials are now. Their origins and Schieber's actions are abhorrent. You might like to read about Schieber here:

historycollection.com/10-nazi-war-criminals-who-escaped-justice-because-they-were-useful-to-the-us/4/

Here's an extract:

As a chemist, Schieber conducted some bizarre and needlessly cruel experiments on prisoners. In one such experiment in Mauthausen concentration camp in 1943, he wanted to find out about the impact of food shortage on slave laborers. So he picked 150 slave laborers, and instead of their usual watery broth, Scheiber gave them an artificial paste which he had personally designed, made up of used clothing. Not surprisingly, the experiment reached the obvious conclusion, that people can’t survive if you feed them used clothes. Of the 150 subjects, 116 died before the experiment ended.

Schieber was also the Armaments Ministry’s official liaison with IG Farben – the chemical conglomerate that produced the poisonous toxins used in the Holocaust. He oversaw the chemical giant’s production of tabun and sarin gasses, working closely with the company’s chief chemist, Otto Ambrose. While working with IG Farben, Schieber was linked to thousands of deaths from numerous chemical experiments on live subjects, upon whom the deadly chemicals were tested.

Anyway, the opening post was to do with eshewing products made in China and most viscose is.

I’ve often bought clothing for my husband from Joseph Turner which advertises itself as being a Yorkshire company, which it probably is. I googled where their clothes are made. They’re very transparent about where yarn etc is produced and where clothing is made. I was disappointed to see that China features, especially in knitwear. I have always found their clothes to be good quality but I fear I won’t be buying any more of their jumpers. Full marks for openness though.

I second that GSM about being open.

Over 1,000,000 Uyghurs have been detained and many many more subjected to intense surveillance and all sorts of restrictions in china

The main reason most UK clothing is manufactured abroad is price.
Most consumers want cheap clothing, look at the growth of cheap clothing stores and sites, and firms like M&S sadly would have gone out of business if they’d continued supporting British manufacturers.
I hope the tide is turning as more people become aware (not woke) and start to shop ethically, but I fear if your disposable income isn’t great you have little choice.

OakDryad I fully understand how you feel about the origins of Lenzing. But isn't this, at the same time an extreme example of , what can best be described as 'corporate wokery'? Damning a company now because of abhorrent things that happened in its history, now nearly 80 years ago.

This is not to underplay the truly dreadful things that happened and the company's part in the Holocaust, but nobody working for the company now would even have been born then, nor, in many cases, their fathers either.

I'm reading this with interest. I'd never heard of Lenzing and this thread is a bit of an education hearing about yet another SS atrocity. I've had several viscose items over the years!

snag tights, fit all sizes, very many lovely colours. Made in italy and company is in scotland. Lovely tights, I have 3 pairs in bright happy colours

Snag tights are fabulous! Great fit and the only tights I have not ripped trying to pull up the crotch. They may be an intially more expensive purchase, but as they don't need replacing after each wear like all the previous expensive ones I have bought from M&S, Wolsey, John Lewis etc., they work out far cheaper.

What about Bamboo? Had a lovely skirt from M&S in the nineties but don’t see it around much now