2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

diminua

I owe another 4 coupons for a t-shirt, which takes me down to 27.5 left, and also need to record buying a handbag - but it's not leather, it's made from old yellow fire hose and the lining is reclaimed parachute silk (which I believe is really nylon now), so I was hoping to get away with half the coupons for that, as its recycled materials (although obviously new to me). That would leave me with a nice neat 25 left. What do people think?

CapricornLass

If this is created from materials that otherwise would be thrown, then I don't think there should be any coupons.  After all, the women making wedding dresses from parachute silk didn't pay coupons.  And the Make Do and Mend pamphlets had things like make a women's skirt from an old pair of men's trousers or cutting a child's coat from an old adults coat, which again recycled old materials into making new clothes.  Although having read the instructions, I think you would have  Laura_Elsewhere's level of skill to make a good job of it!

Cherryfudge

Hello everyone, I'm not keeping up very well at present (been fire watching but thankfully nothing too dire has happened on my patch) so apologies for my unsociability.

I've bought a couple of tee shirts as gifts for DH and DBiL - they are coming out of my coupons as are a pair of socks for DS2. Any idea what the coupon cost of mens' tee shirts is please?

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, I agree with no coupons for the bag as it was made from recycled materials so therefor second hand 😁 but happy to go with what everyone else thinks. I have just checked and as far as I can see I have 93.5 coupons left having bought very little so far this year, not even in the form of gifts which is where most of my coupons go. I can't think of anything I need right now as I have a wardrobe full of things I am happy to wear. I might have to get a pair of summer trousers as my favourite pair got torn while climbing over a fence, don't ask, and although I plan to try to repair them I am not confident. I will report back in a couple of days when I have had a proper look at them.
Take care everyone

kiwisavings

Hello everyone,

I've been doing some more research into clothes rationing and thought it would be fitting to post some of this today as clothes rationing began on June 1st 1941 

On Monday June 2nd Clothes Rationing was announced in the papers:

Certainly a surprise to all - especially the retailers! 

On June 3rd, the Board of Trade posted the announcement with the full details - this is the chart that we use. 

There are quite a few announcements made in June around resolving some issues and then a updated coupon value list was announced on July 1st - I can post these if anyone is interested. 

Laura_Elsewhere

Yes please, @kiwisavings! I hadn’t realised they issued an updated list as quickly as one month. I shall be interested to see what changes they didn’t consider for June but included for July!

 just finishing a cardigan, snug-fitting with elbow-length sleeves, in two-round stripes of rich leaf-green and cream. It’s DK British wool, but almost all women’s cardigans then would have been far finer gauge, 4-ply or finer, which would make them more hard-wearing and warmer than the modern DK-knitted-on-4.5mm sort! But I like the quick result…

kiwisavings

Your cardigan sounds lovely @Laura_Elsewhere , green and cream are favourite colours of mine - please post a photo when finished.

Here's the updated coupon list from July 1st 1941:







Looks like most of the changes were around dividing up types of clothes into smaller, more detailed groups.

Some of the woollen clothing items increased in coupon value - e.g. jumpers & cardigans went from 5 to 8 coupons - possibly due to wool being needed for wartime uniforms.

A few items dropped in coupon value e.g. skirts from 7 to 6 coupons (woollen) and 4 (non woollen), as well as bras from 3 to 1 coupon.

Interesting to see a 'one piece shelter suit' being mentioned - I'm guessing this would be a 'siren suit'....

PipneyJane

Oh Lord!  Now I have a dilemma!  Do we stick with the 2nd June list or do we move to the more detailed 1st July list?  I'm inclined to stick with the original list a) because it's familiar, and b) because it was first, but the 1st July list covers things that weren't originally mentioned, e.g. bras, and is far more detailed (which appeals to the nit-picker in me).  What do you think, Ladies?

Thanks for the research @kiwisavings.  Yes, a "one piece shelter suit" was also known as a "siren suit".

- Pip

Cherryfudge

Those are fascinating, thank you for posting them @kiwisavings. Interesting to see the fox fur tie listed separately from other fur but at the same coupon value... would this be because foxes were considered 'vermin' and not bred for their fur? And did fox hunting continue through the war?

And that's a new coupon value for bras, isn't it? I think we had them at one and a half - perhaps we could say that after the first month posting on this thread, people are entitle to buy a bra at one coupon! That rather messes up the system, though it probably did for people at the time, too.

PipneyJane

Seriously, shall we move to the new list?  It was the one that functioned throughout the War.  It is far more detailed and, I note, that several items are higher (e.g. woollen sweaters) while others are lower.  Given that we're now 5 months into the year, would that screw up everyone's calculations for 2025?

Or shall we apply the new rates for 2026 onwards?

- Pip