2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

@kiwisavings, I think we'll have to appoint you to the post of Librarian of Much Mending On the Borrow.  I am in awe of your ability to track down documents.

I'm off to the Isle of Wight this afternoon, for a weekend away with my quiz team.  Must remember to pack more sock yarn.  I'm currently making a pair for my friend, our office manager, who was made redundant this week (in a back saving exercise by her useless manager, our CEO's PA), and have another pair lined up to make for a colleague who lost everything when their block of flats burnt down at the start of June.  (She's a knitter, too, so I'm thinking of giving her some yarn and needles, as well as the socks.)

- Pip

Cherryfudge

Thank you doing the Maths, @kiwisavings! It must have been an additional struggle for those who weren't good with numbers. Interesting: it appears that some retailers were counting items as 'theirs' and therefore selling 'second hand' when in fact the garments were unused.

Are we going to try to adhere to the rules for second hand as well as new?

Nelliegrace

Interesting cuttings @kiwisavings. It explains why men’s prewar handkerchiefs were so much larger, and boxed handkerchiefs were reduced from six to four. 

There were clothing exchanges run by the Women’s Voluntary Service, and Red Cross (charity) shops, raising funds for parcels for prisoners of war, and lots of fund raising local hospital and Church fairs, and jumble sales, which would have had coupon free clothing.
It would have been hard to police hand-me-downs, inheriting Granny’s old fur coat, and private sales. I could have used some of our surplus eggs, meat rabbits, honey and jam as currency, (I used to have a good deal with the local butcher which included off ration offal, sausages and bones for stock.)
I think coupons on vintage clothes here seems unnecessarily complicated. My conscience is clear, I have been taking old clothes for the charity shop all year. 

Cherryfudge

Nelliegrace said:

It would have been hard to police hand-me-downs, inheriting Granny’s old fur coat, and private sales.

Don't hand-me-downs count as gifts? I.e. no coupon cost? After all, children's clothes would have been handed down as a matter of course. It can't be policed but the purpose of rationing was to give everyone equal access to new stuff. Private sales would be absolutely impossible to police, and I expect there were a lot of 'swaps'.

PipneyJane

I think if you're spending £50+ on one item of second-hand clothing then perhaps you deserve to pay up with coupons, however not for regularly priced items.

- Pip (does that make sense?)

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

I think if you're spending £50+ on one item of second-hand clothing then perhaps you deserve to pay up with coupons, however not for regularly priced items.

- Pip (does that make sense?)

Absolutely. So higher prices second hand items cost coupons, but real bargains don't! (Says she thinking gleefully of a few very desirable items bought for almost nothing).

I have enough clothes and am actually managing to wear a few out and make inroads into the backlog. It's taken literally years to get to this point - the sock mountain is going down now, as is the hill of knickers! Even tee shirts are starting to wear out. This year I've not bought as much second hand as last year, and I think I bought less last year than two years ago. I have a feeling our second hand clothes clothes market is very different from that of the wartime, as clothes are over-abundant now, so it's easier for us in a much less competitive market.

diminua

More coupons gone - a dress and two pairs of shorts, on the basis that it's only June and already my jeans are sticking to me. I also trawled round the charity shops today and picked up two skirts and a dress - all £10 each, so well below the threshold for secondhand. 
I went through a decade of almost never wearing skirts but these last few summers have got me back on them. Plus I can't find any summer weight trousers that don't have a palm leaf print or something (is it strange that I'm totally fine with patterns on skirts but not on trousers?)

Anyway I've taken a snap if anyone wants to see the patterns - the bottom two are on the dresses, the top two are on the skirts. 

Cherryfudge

Those are great, @diminua. I particularly like the stripes… such a summery set of colours.

We are away this weekend, near my absolutely favourite charity shop. If I’m back online tomorrow, it will be to boast of finds. If I’m feeling really restrained and virtuous, it will be to tell you all about the things I didn’t buy. There’s a first time for everything.

Baileys_Babe

PipneyJane said:

@kiwisavings, I think we'll have to appoint you to the post of Librarian of Much Mending On the Borrow.  I am in awe of your ability to track down documents.

I'm off to the Isle of Wight this afternoon, for a weekend away with my quiz team.  Must remember to pack more sock yarn.  I'm currently making a pair for my friend, our office manager, who was made redundant this week (in a back saving exercise by her useless manager, our CEO's PA), and have another pair lined up to make for a colleague who lost everything when their block of flats burnt down at the start of June.  (She's a knitter, too, so I'm thinking of giving her some yarn and needles, as well as the socks.)

- Pip

That is a kind and thoughtful gift. When a friends family lost everything, I know she appreciated the needles and yarn she was gifted as it helped her to retain some of herself and something she did to support herself mentally at a very difficult time.

PipneyJane said:

I think if you're spending £50+ on one item of second-hand clothing then perhaps you deserve to pay up with coupons, however not for regularly priced items.

- Pip (does that make sense?)

Agreed.

kiwisavings

Thanks for the Librarian appointment @PipneyJane, funny that I recently applied for a role at the local library and am considering doing a librarian study course 

I agree with the £50 limit for general second hand items as this should cover most items that us thrifty folk would be buying. I think that the rules regarding second hand clothes had to be put in place during the war due to people trying to make a quick buck out of the situation. Generally, today most sellers wouldn't be trying to sell new items as second hand, although I guess some of the fake 'vintage' stuff might fall under this category.

Interesting that men's handkerchiefs changed size during the war, @Nelliegrace, I'm sure that many were not overly thrilled about this. Do you think that the classic knotted hanky beach 'hat' could be achieved with the smaller sized ones?

Wishing fun and sunny times for those of you that are off for some summer adventures.