the lovely thing with second hand is that the money isnt going to china. I have no issues buying used stuff that was originally made there when it’s from other people (probably wouldnt if it was some sort of business sourcing cheap used stuff there, but never seen such a place).
I think also when a person gets used to not impulse buying or looking longer for something, the quality of products bought tend to go up. Especially for tools and machinery, I enjoy the expensive ones because they are [usually] of higher quality and I can use them for a much longer time. I have some machines that are used hours nearly daily with fairly hard work going over 15 years that work as good as the first day. Worth every nt. actually worth about 5x more compared to the cheap ones that some other shops use haha.
It’s one thing to be negligent when it comes to ensuring employee safety or polluting the environment, but a totally different thing when the said company is engaging in exploiting race based slave labor that’s also a part of the CCP’s genocide in East Turkestan. I’ll boycott any clothing brands that did not immediately stop the use of Xinjiang cotton and Uyghur forced labors from their concentration camps. That includes several Japanese brands such as Uniqulo and Muji. The founder of Uniqulo Tadashi Yanai refuse to guarantee that the company will not use Xinjiang cotton, saying he will not be forced to pick sides in the US-China trade war.
The best way to stay away from the chance of buying products made with with the blood and tears of the Uyghur people, I will not buy any clothes items made in China.
H&M is probably one of the best place to shop at now. The company came out strong and clear about not using cotton from East Turkestan, and suffered a giant CCP backlash, and was forced to pull all of their factories out of China. Their products are still cheap and affordable and none is made in China.
It was all over then news in 2021. I don’t know if their stores are reopened in China, but I certainly can’t find one single item labeled as made in China at their stores.
Well I’m definitely going back to check it out. I know I saw in the news about them taking a stand against Xinjiang which was great but I didn’t think they’d actually be kicked out entirely (though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised)
If you don’t want to support China, H&M is no longer supporting China and had no problem “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people” (aka standing up for basic human rights). For this, I can give them two thumbs up.
That being said, they’re still a fast fashion brand, fueling the idea that wearing clothing 2-5 times before dumping it in the trash is normal. This is unsustainable. I’ve managed to get tops from there to last a number of years with ~once weekly wear (and washing on gentle every few wears), but their shorts and pants basically can’t be washed if you l expect them to do anything but shrink up to nothing.
Sadly, if you want clothing that checks all the boxes (fair wages for everyone in the supply chain, workers having rights, sustainable manufacturing, materials that don’t harm the planet, etc), you do need to pay a lot more upfront (like US$75 for a basic cotton tshirt or $150+ for a pair of pants). You know H&M isn’t paying the workers who make clothes enough money to support themselves when most of the stuff they’re selling is under US$20
So far the only thing I’ve bought at H&M are baby onesies, so not lasting very long isn’t really an issue yet. But I’ll keep that in mind if I shop for my own clothes there in the future.
Fashion fans who missed out on our popular Conscious Exclusive collections now get a second chance to dazzle in their favorite sustainable dresses as H&M is set to debut clothing rentals in a Stock
H&M still has more of its suppliers and factories in china than in any other country. All this information is available on their group website. Sure, they make the odd statement here and there about forced labour and various other issues depending on which way the political wind is blowing, but they’re much the same as the rest.
Quality. Plus fast fashion brands perpetuate the idea that clothes are cheap, so you can just buy new stuff easily. Which I guess goes along with taste. This report came out a few weeks ago. Buy, use briefly, dispose, repeat.
I’ve seen fashion where the holes are so big you could actually slip through.
