SHEIN clothing

Until recently Chestnut, we had textile recycling banks around us that took all textiles including bedding, curtains etc etc, that I understood were reused in carpet underlay, packing insulation etc etc.

When clothes in landfill dustbins were dumped in waste pits and left to rot, bins did not seem to be an acceptable place to put worn out clothing.

In the last year or so, textile banks have gone, to be replaced by clothes banks - and that is the cause of my dilemma. In fact after what I have read and hear I am beginning to worry about stuff I put in clothing banks and give to charity, as they seem very quickly to consign them to rag merchants, who are the ones, I assume, are the source of all the waste clothes found in poor countries.

Recently I was able to give a bag of DH's clothes, that he has outgrown, but are otherwise in good condition, to a local homeless charity, who were desperate for men's clothing.

In future more clothes etc will go in the blackbin because they will be icinerated and used for power production

But surely you would always put worn out clothes in the general rubbish. I have never done anything else, because you can't use them. I only use charity shops and clothes banks for clothes that can be used.

Oddly enough, as a result of this thread, I am realising that the best way of disposing of worn out or less than perfect clothes is to put them in the rubbish bin.

Where I live, most of the contents of the black bins goes to a large incinerator, which uses the heat generated from burning the rubbish(and clothes) to generate electricity for up to 60,000 homes.

A far more ecological way of disposing of it than having it exported and then dumped to pollute other country's environment, and poison their seas.

This is worrying. I never sent clothes to Oxfam as I had heard about them years ago. I tend to use local charities. I saw that programme with Simon Reeves what an eye opener.

Last month I watched Simon Reeves in South America.
He was in Iquique Chile - an industrial town in the desert.
He visits a place where 60,000 tonnes of clothes are dumped each year. Some were new still with tags on. There was even a barely worn tweed jacket from Bloomingdales.
This was the remains of clothes traders bought in bales to re-sell.

What is then done with the items that are ragged? is it recycled? Turned into packaging materials, carpet felt etc, is it incinerated and used to produce power.

Why is it all exported elsewhere? Our council has a huge incinerator for burning and incinerating landfill rubbish and using it to generate electricity.

Chestnut
That’s not the case in our shop. It’s shameful the amount we have to rag, purely because we can’t keep the amount that is donated.
I have a friend who’s a manager in a very well know charity shop. They get so many donations that all clothes/bedding/shoes/bags are ragged at the end of the day because they know what’s coming tomorrow.
At this time of year ( change of season) we all have to be ruthless.

The clothes that end up on the beaches in Africa are not necessarily the surplus that they can't deal with. I think they're the clothes which are such rubbish they can't be used. The same clothes that get rag-bagged in the charity shops. They are useless.

I volunteer in a small charity shop. There is only me sorting clothes. On average I bag ( rag) 200 kilos a week.

Oxfam have been selling clothes to traders in various African countries to sell on and there is a large and thriving second hand clothing market in Africa.

When it was suggested that that it should be stopped and that Oxfam should just give the clothes to those who needed them, it was pointed out that secondhand clothing market provided employment for a lot of people and that many people preferred buying clothes secondhand to being given them free as getting clothes free smacked of abject poverty and they had to take what they were given.

If they now have more clothes than they can deal with, isn't that an indictment of our own wasteful and excessive clothes buying habits that have led to the rise of companies like Shein.

Chestnut
I know for a fact that that situation has been going for at least 20 years. One of the first charities to start sending ( selling) clothes to Africa was Oxfam.
That was no surprise to me as I was warned about Oxfam 40 years ago by a lovely caring priest

Apparently all our discarded fast clothes end up in Africa lying on the beaches. They are supposed to be recycled but are just too cheap and no use for anything.

There is a undercover investigation called Inside the Shein Machine going out on Channel 4 Tues 8th Nov at 11.20pm. It will be on catchup if that's too late. It's for the current affairs strand Untold.

I nearly bought from them but their reviews were awful.

MerylStreep

I was trying to think how long ago it was when FB banned me when I was part of a campaign against these Chinese companies. Well actually, it’s one man who owns them all.
It must be 4 years. What’s happened since, they’ve grown.

Good for you for trying.
But those of us who felt that way, have been swimming against the tide.

I bought a dress from Shein and it was really thin and cheap looking. Never ever buying from them again now I know they exploit their staff.

I was trying to think how long ago it was when FB banned me when I was part of a campaign against these Chinese companies. Well actually, it’s one man who owns them all.
It must be 4 years. What’s happened since, they’ve grown.

I wouldn't ever buy any Shein clothing. Poor quality hence the price and everything is so small.

The problem with China is that their goods are very hard to avoid, as they're the biggest manufacturer in the world

How many of us have iPhones, iPads, or other Apple products - I can't find a definitive answer but it seems about 40% of their devices are made in China.

I have an iPhone and just flipped over my HP laptop to see that that too is made in China.

There are cases in china of business keeping employees on site 24/7.
Using covid restrictions as the reasoning
If people break out of the temporary compound Covid officers round them up
They still work, covid or not.

This has been mentioned before and I believe someone's response was they didn't care as their clothes were cheap!

I understand that, as you would expect, the quality of the clothes is also very poor and they steal designs from other designers and pay no royalties.

DH and I are making a conscious effort to avoid buying goods made in China. Sometimes it is not clear untilafter you have bought the item, sometimes their is no alternative, but I hope we are making a small dent in China's exports - and the more people who do the same will bit by bit, affect their foreign income.

Meanwhile chancellor Scholz makes a trade visit to China !!!

Esspee

I wish this was more widely known. Not just for this company but all who exploit their workers.

Thank you for that information, MawtheMerrier.

I have always avoided them for the reasons you posted Maw.
It is so easy to be seduced by their adverts.

So….?