Mary Portas take on dying High St's

dopester

lostinrates wrote: »

I'd love a robot vacuum cleaner (its my most hated job) but I'd wnt it to be solar powered, (could leave it in a light place to ''charge'') and much heavier duty ...I use a miele dog and cat now, any thing light weight wouldn't cope.

That is pretty much top-of-the-range. I've been asked to look out for precisely that model... to buy it if ever finding a great price "liquidation sale" type of deal for it.

kennyboy66_2

fc123 wrote: »

Anyway, all the yards (except 1) I used to visit are shut down now as the cost of the sorting ended up costing far more than the recylced product could get. The majority goes into landfill now.

.

This was a fascinating insight but I think the main reason that stuff get land-filled is because people just put it in their normal bin.

I get at least 1 plastic sack a week through the door from companies (usually purporting to be charities) asking for old clothes.

Re-cycling still goes on but it is done where labour is cheaper (some in Italy in Europe, but mainly in India & Bangladesh). I think the charity SCOPE put out a press release that claimed that only 6% of clothes donated to them ended up in landfill.

Its not dis-similar to the demise of the rest of the UK textile industry.

lemonjelly

fc123 wrote: »

The textile waste business is a strange one as it was always so hidden unless one was directly involved.

It's also the hidden casualty of the the cheap imports, price deflation and mass move off shore for manufacturing.

Always fancied writing about it but thinking should be more of a setting for a story (that informs) rather than a long rant....like Two Caravans which had amazing background info as part of the story.

Still a great thread fc123!

If you ever do write a book, please pm me so I know to buy it.

For my birthday last year, I got 8 t-shirts. There aren't that many days in the week! It made me realise that I own too many clothes (so do most of my family) (& also, I'm a difficult one to buy gifts for!).

I looked at my wardrobe(s) and decided enough was enough. I don't wear stuff out. I'm too tight to throw it if it isn't useless anymore. So I said to all & sundry, not to buy me clothes for Christmas last year.

I'm now thinking of how long I can keep this up. Since then, I've thrown a pair of trousers - that's all! I am now noticing some clothing is getting worn out though!

Current aim is 2 years (this & next). Everyone knows not to get me clothes as a gift too.

I also think there is a big difference for males & females. For females there is so much more variety & choice available, & there are also so many more possibilities of mixing & matching outfits. For blokes, it is jeans or trousers, t-shirt or shirt. There is also a much larger market of cheap (for want of a better word) clothing for females, which kind of promotes the above.

lostinrates

dopester wrote: »

That is pretty much top-of-the-range. I've been asked to look out for precisely that model... to buy it if ever finding a great price "liquidation sale" type of deal for it.

well, let me know if you do! we have mainly wood floors here, and I opt to sweep rather than vacuum where possible, but I'd still rather have a bot do it! Today I have spent a lot of time on housework: I just can't seem to catch up.

fc123

dopester wrote: »

Good idea imo. At school... not proud of it now... sold fake lacoste & ellesse ect iron-on cotton labels.. Iron the back, heat up the glue, apply to non-branded top... push, hold and wait. Did quite a trade in them. Could do the same to those tops.. except with an iron-on label design of your own.

Possibly they could be held to `design' but depending on the item, maybe that too could be adapted.

Tut Tut

We used to pull old Perrys and Lacoste. Real Lacoste had the crocodile woven into the fabric, fakes were pressed onto the surface. I do recall 'doing' a 2 tonne cage of polo shirts once (we would buy about 3%) and the ratio of fake Lacoste to Genuine was around 20:1.

The Perry revival was interesting (and profitable) though.

Was around 1993/94 we were asked by one of our Japanese clients to pull Fred Perry Polo shirts and Original V Necks (loads of fakes of those..I think C&A was the main culprit). At the time we didn't sell them in our store as off the radar.

Good margins too...but Japanese wanted rare colour combos (not too many White/Navy) only size S + M plus A1 condition. Our lady at the head of conveyor belt 1 would pull off any that came up and we would sub sort, clean and repair where necessary. Paid £2.50 per kilo (I think 2 or 3 per kilo) and sold on for £10 piece.

After a couple of years, demand was impossible to match with supply so we called up the F Perry rep. He came to our store with his 80's throwback samples and thought we were barking mad when we asked for slimmer fits, yellow/navy combos etc. He had rep'd for Perry for 40 years.

10 years later, we were at a trade fayre on Brick Lane and were chatting to the Perry reps who remembered the guy...long since retired and his story about our store. At some point, the Japanese also got in touch and Perry was re-launched in the late 90's.

Happened with a few old school brands like Adidas (trackies did a killing for 3 years before they wised up) , Fila etc.

fc123

OK pulling this up from the graveyard...cos I have to tell someone.:j And yes, I need emoticons to express myself here....:j:j

My Grand Footfall Experiment.......OMG. Yup, conclusive proof....It's all about footfall.....I know I know this already, but I am In It...and ...I have no words to say what it's like.
Real life Land footfall is different to Internet Land footfall.....as you can see it and feel it.


Late today, I was in our old location and it was limping.....a museum area for visitors....all the local footfall was elsewhere in town.


So my answer to the traders in MP's prog is definative; if the trade isn't coming past you...you need to move to where the trade is. End of unfortunately.

bo_drinker

fc123 wrote: »

Tut Tut

We used to pull old Perrys and Lacoste. Real Lacoste had the crocodile woven into the fabric, fakes were pressed onto the surface. I do recall 'doing' a 2 tonne cage of polo shirts once (we would buy about 3%) and the ratio of fake Lacoste to Genuine was around 20:1.

The Perry revival was interesting (and profitable) though.

Was around 1993/94 we were asked by one of our Japanese clients to pull Fred Perry Polo shirts and Original V Necks (loads of fakes of those..I think C&A was the main culprit). At the time we didn't sell them in our store as off the radar.

Good margins too...but Japanese wanted rare colour combos (not too many White/Navy) only size S + M plus A1 condition. Our lady at the head of conveyor belt 1 would pull off any that came up and we would sub sort, clean and repair where necessary. Paid £2.50 per kilo (I think 2 or 3 per kilo) and sold on for £10 piece.

After a couple of years, demand was impossible to match with supply so we called up the F Perry rep. He came to our store with his 80's throwback samples and thought we were barking mad when we asked for slimmer fits, yellow/navy combos etc. He had rep'd for Perry for 40 years.

10 years later, we were at a trade fayre on Brick Lane and were chatting to the Perry reps who remembered the guy...long since retired and his story about our store. At some point, the Japanese also got in touch and Perry was re-launched in the late 90's.

Happened with a few old school brands like Adidas (trackies did a killing for 3 years before they wised up) , Fila etc.

Blur reforming for Glastonbury may have don F P a favour Damon was FP'd up all night I think. (not the same shirt) :beer:

dopester

fc123 wrote: »

And yes, I need emoticons to express myself here....:j:j

fc123, it sounds like you've had an encouraging trading-test with your new location.

Glad to hear it, and really hope it continues that way. Especially good compared to how it seems things are playing out in your old trading location.

LIR... sorry I meant the Miele Cat & Dog cylinder vac was top of the range. My fault.. intended to bold the part I meant. [Not a solar robot vacuum cleaner.. as I don't think solar ones exist yet, and our OWL electricity monitor shoots up when turning a vacuum cleaner on, which makes me think solar power and battery tech would have to make some serious leaps forward.]

OK - I've just checked models and prices, and Cat & Dog cylinder vac model isn't Miele top-of-the-range, but sort of their mid-to-high range. Overall though, compared to the rest of the market, still a premium model... at around £180.

biglugs

We used to recycle - it was called the rag and bone man! He used to come by with his horse and cart, exactly like Steptoe and Son.
Most things are never as new as people think

brogusblue

I watched this program as i live in Dunstable, Yes is a dump hardly any good shops left since that was filmed we have a few more shops... We had a nice town center when i first moved here we had waitrose, 3 butchers, 2 green grocers, 2 bakeries and lots of small independent shops but that has gone and now we have lots of coffee shops,estate agents,banks,pubs,charity shops & mobile phone shops ... It started to go down hill when asda's arrived and slowly the town started to die... Also the problem with dunstable is that its a bit here and a bit there if you park in asda's and need something i wilkinsons and then decide to have a look in aldi's and then to agros back to the car it seems that you have walked miles...

We have 2 shopping area's in dunstable Eleanor's cross which is tucked away and has always struggled to attract shops most of them are closed apart for a caf!, tanning shop and mens hairdresser.. and then is the main area quadrant center one end of it is nearly empty .. we have lost somerfield/kwik save, burger king,clothing shop,rosebys.clays the butchers,post office,florist,womens underwear shop, and then we have also lost from there stead & simpson,adams,priceless shoes,another clothing shop & Dr herb chinese herb place..

They built a new theatre complex with 6 retail units and lots of housing out the back 3 units where snapped up the rest are still empty 2 years later....

As the program said 52 shops had closed now about 55 have closed .... We are a market town well our market is rubbish they spend money years ago converting the square into a paved area complete with clock to put the market on when asda's took over the queensway hall area.. So they put the market there and the traders complained so they have moved it around the corner by wilkinsons so on a saturday when the market is busy is crammed up the side of wilkinsons and you can't move very easly... and our market has gone down hill now we have small market and then a car boot crap thing at the end... I used to work on dunstable market when it was down by the queensway hall and it was a large thriving market and it was always packed on a weds,fri & sat...

Its a shame that dunstable has declined s badly over the years... Just down the road is leighton buzzard smaller than dunstable but has a lot more going for it i shop there when i can... and then only a 30 min drive is Milton Keynes or 15 mins is Luton or Hemel Hempstead...