Comments on: The Cost of Cheap Clothing, or Why I Choose to Buy Used

By: Bangladeshi Garment Factory Collapses — The Price of Your Cute Clothing

Bangladeshi Garment Factory Collapses — The Price of Your Cute Clothing — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:05:33 +0000

[...] HERE to read my blog post about the 2012 Bangladeshi Tazreen factory fire that killed 112 [...]

By: Mike Ratherson

Mike Ratherson — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 06:14:08 +0000

Right now I am wearing an “American Rag” short sleeved collar shirt Made in Bangledesh, “Levi’s” jeans Made in Cambodia, and “Puma” sneakers Made in China. My work uniform: pants, shirt, and jacket are all Made in China. I checked all the tags on all my clothes. Not 1 item is made in the U.S. Shocking but unavoidable unless you buy from secondhand stores buying clothes made in the 80′s or 90′s.

By: Rachel Gillespie

Rachel Gillespie — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 05:00:43 +0000

Thanks, Katy! This is the sort of thing I try to cover in my blog as to why we try to purchase used or ethically made goods. If we can’t get what we need from either category we try to buy as good quality as possible so we don’t need to replace it in a hurry.

By: Vicki

Vicki — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 21:49:14 +0000

YES! I have a long list of reasons why I don’t buy new clothes except necessities. This human cost is my top reasons, yet it is so hard for other people to understand. I will share your words with my family and friends – sometimes it helps to hear it from someone else. And hopefully I’ll be getting hand made and hand me downs for Hanukah!

By: Ellie

Ellie — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 01:17:17 +0000

I think your point is very well taken.

Buying used doesn’t really solve problems, in the grand scale of things – and yes, that can be frustrating. I know what you mean.

However, I do think that it’s good to avoid being an active part of the problem as much as possible. When you buy most of your stuff used, you’re sort of living off the “waste” of the system, so you aren’t encouraging bad practices as directly. We all need to buy some stuff – and by choosing to either buy used or buy stuff that comes from better labor practices, at least you’re opting out of making a direct contribution to the worst of the problem – which may be all any of us can do.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:43:29 +0000

John, I think your point about profit maximization is exactly right. And exactly the problem. To be successful in the long run, companies should be concerned with sustainable growth, shouldn’t they? (And I think you labeling this situation as ‘complicated’ in your first comment and ‘simple’ in your second comment just goes to show how tough this is to figure out.)

By: Ellie

Ellie — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 21:33:07 +0000

“I don’t read it for social commentary or to be told what to support.”

Well, you don’t have to read it at all if you don’t want to, do you?

By: Ellie

Ellie — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 21:29:42 +0000

My sister in law has some kind of allergy to anything second hand. We usually just give her and her husband some wine.

Other options would be homemade food, a houseplant (you can probably sneak it into a second-hand pot without them noticing), a magazine subscription, tickets to something, or a restaurant gift certificate – depending on what they like and how much you want to spend, of course.

By: John

John — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:22:47 +0000

Katy,
Profit maximization is the goal of every company (much like your goal is to maximize your lack of buying new). Profit is NOT a bad word. The market, aka the people who buy, are the ones that decide what is produced. Period. In any free market there is going to be pressure on price, which we all agree is good. For example, if there was only one thrift store the prices would be higher for used goods. I find the idea that profit is bad interesting. You want to keep all your money, which is in effect making a profit on what you DON’T pay for something but you don’t see that as bad. We should not vilify the companies but look to the people who buy the product as the source. They demand it and the company will supply it. Really, it is simple economics.

By: Carla

Carla — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:20:56 +0000

There is a better alternative from buying new and used and that is: exchange!
Yep, clothing exchanges are fantastic.
You bring your clothes that you don’t want anymore and so do a few others of your friends and you pick and take home what you want and decide what to do with the rest: donate to a thrift store, a homeless shelter, a women’s shelter or who knows. There are many ways to run an clothing exchange or swap (it doesn’t have to be a one-for-one but it can be) and you can do that with your friends or with a larger group (your church? neighbours? etc.) There are lots of swap groups through meetup.com so you can check if there is one in your city. Or just invite your friends over.