- Location
- London
Where is it please?
I used to use a lot of army surplus stuff in my vespa days.
For Londoners, the wondrous Laurence corner is much missed
https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/laurence-corner-army-surplus
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Buying preloved clothes, shoes etc
- Thread starter Accy cyclist
- Start date
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I used to use a lot of army surplus stuff in my vespa days.
For Londoners, the wondrous Laurence corner is much missed
https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/laurence-corner-army-surplus
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Never buy used clothing.
DRM
Guru
- Location
- West Yorks
Yes they do, I’ve been into a warehouse run on behalf of a charity that sifts through the donations and sends the utter rubbish for recycling, better items for general sale, and high value stuff goes to be priced accordingly
Skid row taylors 
GeekDadZoid
Über Member
It was the Barnardo's on Piccadilly Approach in Manchester. Not sure there will be much left now as it was a month ago roughly.
Oldhippy
Cynical idealist
It is in Herne Bay and I do believe there is still one in Westcliff on sea as well.
When we next see a photo of @Fab Foodie dressed like an Action Man we'll know why now.
numbnuts
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gone over the hill and far away
I've got an Army camouflage jacket that I use to use for shooting
Kingfisher101
Über Member
I've given loads away to charity shops but I don't buy clothes from them as I want new and can afford them. The cost of new clothes is fairly cheap if you don't want top of the range labels etc. I also don't like the smell of fustiness/mold etc they all seem to have.
winjim
Smash the cistern
I have tended to buy clothes mostly in sales or outlets with the occasional second hand item and then wear the absolute shoot out of them until they literally fall apart. I think I probably now have a broad enough wardrobe that I can start making fewer and better purchases in terms of more locally and ethically produced, better quality but therefore more expensive items.
I think clothing, like food, is one area where we really need to be more prepared to pay for the actual cost of production. There was a twitter post doing the rounds recently reminding people that every single item of clothing you own is handmade. You can't get a robot to make a shirt, it's too complicated, it simply isn't possible to automate. We need the price of our clothes to reflect the labour involved in making it, if a shirt costs a tenner then how much is the person sewing it being paid? And that's not even considering the cost of raw materials. We need to consume better and start paying more.
A lot of our kids' stuff is second hand but that tends to be traded between friends or online communities rather than through shops. There's an absolutely wild Scandi clothing subculture out there...
I think clothing, like food, is one area where we really need to be more prepared to pay for the actual cost of production. There was a twitter post doing the rounds recently reminding people that every single item of clothing you own is handmade. You can't get a robot to make a shirt, it's too complicated, it simply isn't possible to automate. We need the price of our clothes to reflect the labour involved in making it, if a shirt costs a tenner then how much is the person sewing it being paid? And that's not even considering the cost of raw materials. We need to consume better and start paying more.
A lot of our kids' stuff is second hand but that tends to be traded between friends or online communities rather than through shops. There's an absolutely wild Scandi clothing subculture out there...
This area was once famous for it's textile industry although most of it was gone by the 1980s.
A colleague began his working career in one of the few remaining shirt factories in the 1990s and he said at that time, the material required to make a single adult shirt cost between 3 and 5 quid depending on the quality. He says that today, he looks at the cheap shirts on sale and can't work out how they can buy the materials, make the shirt, send it halfway around the world and market it for so little and for everyone at each stage to make money out of it.
GeekDadZoid
Über Member
Well the labour at the factory is negligible as they pay poverty wages, material & shipping are presumably bought to a price so may fluctuate as the market does, plus no sustainability or ethics to worry about, UK logistics and shop staff again paid at minimum wage keep the UK end as low as possible. Then you just need to convince people to replace their wardrobe every 6 months or less because of fashion and you can make a healthy profit. Bonus points if you can avoid paying tax.
On of the reasons I started to buy from charity shops was because I was fed up of buying crap clothes that didn't last.
KnittyNorah
Über Member
- Location
- The Frozen North (of England)
If anyone really, truly thinks that they are paying a reasonable price for new imported clothes, please consider whether or not you have factored in the price of the Rana Plaza collapse ... as well as many other 'lesser' incidents before and since.
Chief Broom
Veteran
I often browse in my local charity shop but buy most of my clothes on ebay [cept undies 
] I really dont like shopping and havent been to a city for years which for me is Inverness. Of course occasionally i buy something naff online but usually its good quality at bargain prices and have never had a delivery not turn up.
] I really dont like shopping and havent been to a city for years which for me is Inverness. Of course occasionally i buy something naff online but usually its good quality at bargain prices and have never had a delivery not turn up.
