To Primark or not to Primark

bugbabe1970

Hi all,

Just a quick one before I go to the sanctuary of my work place (I really mean that by the way)

Just wondering about opinions about Primark!

Have abstained as yet as my social conscience tells me the use of sweat shops and child labour is not the way to go but am having a bot of a dilema having seen some rather nice, cheap, clothing items there!

Does boycotting a shop make it look at its social policies and responsibilities?

Does boycotting these shops mean that the workers get paid even less if the profits go down?

How easy is it these days to buy something that is ethically produced? Not very I would have thought, considering the amount of imports we now sell from China, and we all know how they treat their workers!

Dont mean to trivilarise (is that a word??) the subject as I do think that this kind of labour is a disgrace, and refused point blank to step into GAP when it was revealed that they used sweat shops.

Just wondering what the rest of you think and if anyone knows what Primarks policy is for the labour force it uses

Thx all

MrsBartolozzi

While Primark gets all the anti-sweatshop bad press, many other high street stores are just as guilty - Next, Tesco, Asda among others. It's entirely possible you've bought something already that was made by the same folk who make for Primark.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-real-price-of-cheap-clothes-bangladeshi-sweatshop-labourers-paid-just-3p-an-hour-427589.html


http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/article123365.ece

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3375012.ece


Just a few stories I found...there are many more.

stef240377

In the current eceonomic climate i cant afford to have a conscience when it comes to clothes shopping. If something looks good and like it will have plenty of wear in it then i will get it if it is cheap enough.

My kids get their clothes from Primark and Asda, for the time they are in them it is not worth paying too much for their clothes as they continue to grow.

When it comes to buying clothes from any store do you stand there and quizz the ethical side of its manufacter like some do of a chicken on the shelf in a super market?

patchwork_cat

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

While Primark gets all the anti-sweatshop bad press, many other high street stores are just as guilty - Next, Tesco, Asda among others. It's entirely possible you've bought something already that was made by the same folk who make for Primark.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-real-price-of-cheap-clothes-bangladeshi-sweatshop-labourers-paid-just-3p-an-hour-427589.html


http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/article123365.ece

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3375012.ece


Just a few stories I found...there are many more.

When I mentioned on the next sale board that Next products were not ethically produced I was shot down in flames! My reasoning is that all the companies use the same sweat shops and merely increase their profits, however I was told no Next is wonderful!! I did however find that on my research Sri Lanka has better regulations of labour. So you could look for items made in Sri Lanka, perhaps.

Personally all the slatting that I received did was to secure in my mind that some shops just have better PR than others. You just have to look at the prices in sales in the likes of Next and realise that they are still making a profit on those prices, so therefore the price for manufacture must be very low.

Basically my feeling is that with the more expensive brands you are just dealing with a company with better PR.

However when you consider that Primark can produce a T shirt for £2 and Next will be £8 I would be happy to pay £2.50 or £3 at Primark if the manufacturer/distributer received this rise, but I would bet that the Next manufacturers/ distributers do not get £6 more per T shirt!

kivsy

Ok, forget all the moral stuff here, I have 4 kids, 2 of them are teenagers and they love Primark (we have a huge one here in bristol), they love it because they can afford to buy things with their pocket money. Anyway, because of this I have washed primark clothes for them, the thing is with primark stuff is not how it is made etc etc, but the fact is that the quality is RUBBISH!!!!!!! If you wait a while, you can get some really good quality stuff in Marks and Spencer, Debenhams etc etc in the sales for the same prices, but it will last and wash well.

Dont mean to sound like a snob, but a bargain is only a bargain if it is good quality, no good if you have to throw it away after 2 or 3 washes!!

davetrousers

Primark is a big shop where people go to throw clothes on the floor!

I don't shop there.

Enterprise_1701C

I buy from Primark, the goods are there and there is no reason to buy elsewhere for more money. It means that when we go on holiday it does not matter if everything gets wrecked, and we have been known to leave some of their clothes behind to make more room - I'm sure the hotel employees made good use of them.

Another way of looking at it is, yes - they do run sweatshops, but they would just get the goods made elsewhere if they didn't get them made there, there are plenty of places around that have no real employment rules. And they would not exist if this did not go on, and there would be a lot of people over here out of work.

And, at the end of the day, the labour force that they use at least have a roof over their head and are fed and looked after in some way and aren't in the sex slave trade. If they didn't have this work they may not have any food or shelter, and would be vulnerable to even worse excesses.

A lot of people that complain about how little people get paid in other countries forget to take into account the cost of living in other countries.

Now I shall wait to be pilloried by the do-gooders and people that like to go around making trouble! I know I have controvertial (sic) opinions but that is the way it is and I make no apologies for it.

DKLS

Agree with you Jane totally.

HannahIOW

I have and still do buy from Primark sometimes only we don't have one on the Island. However I have noticed that most of their stuff is lacking in quality. Though I have got a pretty pair of shoes from there, that still look fantastic but granted I don't wear them very often. As another poster said, I can't afford to be too fussy about where I shop.

lolly1981

i watched a program about teens who spent outrages amounts of money on clothes...they were sent to india to these sweat shops and shown what it was really like...some places truelly are horrendous...they actually did the work too...and they found that alot of the workers were grateful for just havionga job as many didnt..they seemed happy and enjoyed their work.
i do not agree in any way with the treatment of these people in the sweatshops but for the people these jobs are better than no jobs, so by boycotting these places you are making the workers suffer not the company...they need these jobs to survive and causing a company to change who they use isnt always the best way to go.

i do think however that the companies should makes ure that the people who are making their products are fairly treated but they only think of the money unfortunatly.

so i will continue to shop in these places because it is the livelihood of many people who need the money...and no that is not my justification for shopping in these places it is a reality that we cant really get away with or make ourselves 'martyrs' for

lolly1981

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

I buy from Primark, the goods are there and there is no reason to buy elsewhere for more money. It means that when we go on holiday it does not matter if everything gets wrecked, and we have been known to leave some of their clothes behind to make more room - I'm sure the hotel employees made good use of them.

Another way of looking at it is, yes - they do run sweatshops, but they would just get the goods made elsewhere if they didn't get them made there, there are plenty of places around that have no real employment rules. And they would not exist if this did not go on, and there would be a lot of people over here out of work.

And, at the end of the day, the labour force that they use at least have a roof over their head and are fed and looked after in some way and aren't in the sex slave trade. If they didn't have this work they may not have any food or shelter, and would be vulnerable to even worse excesses.

A lot of people that complain about how little people get paid in other countries forget to take into account the cost of living in other countries.

Now I shall wait to be pilloried by the do-gooders and people that like to go around making trouble! I know I have controvertial (sic) opinions but that is the way it is and I make no apologies for it.

i have written pretty much the same think...:) great minds think alike