2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Sarahspangles

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?)

I just had a look and I’ve never spent more than £50 on anything second hand apart from a leather jacket!

Laura_Elsewhere

I’m a solitary voice of dissent about the £50 idea… 

I agree with someone upthread that we don’t need to over-complicate things in Much Mending on the Borrow by bringing in any coupons for second-hand items…

but if you all think we should do, then I don’t think we should have coupons only for over£50 spending. 

If I bought a really good overcoat, or really good shoes, or all kinds of really good items, that could easily cost £50 but last years and years and years. I just spent £40 on a pair of second-hand shoes, a pair of Clark’s walking-shoes which they stopped making but which I know will suit my feet and last several years of hard wear. 

The £50 cap is surely going to discourage people from buying really good quality items that will last and last. Won’t it just encourage people to buy the ‘bargain’ that is £30 and then a year later when it’s worn out, spend another £30 buying another ‘bargain’… or else to buy more items because “it’s under the coupon-cap so it’s such a bargain!”

 I think we should just not include second-hand items in this challenge, or else included all second-hand items exactly as new items: we aren’t in exactly the same situation as the war- we’re not trying to stop profiteering or black market trading…

we all have different priorities but we all want to buy less stuff… so I think we should just focus on really *thinking* about each thing we buy.

maryb

I see your point Laura but it will be such a rare occurrence that anyone spends that much that we could probably leave it to individuals  - rather like you are reverse couponing.  I'm not doing role re-enactment but rather trying to be more mindful about what I buy and I'd be fine with buying secondhand however much it costs because it reduces the amount of fast fashion I am personally responsible for.  But someone who is aiming for minimalism/simplicity might choose to count things from all sources

PipneyJane

Interesting counter-argument @Laura_Elsewhere.   I’m not disagreeing with you; perhaps I set the limit a little low.  A quick look at the Oxfam online shop shows a dressy Valentino suit for £270, but it’s a “wear to a posh event” suit, not an everyday tweed outfit.  Most of the suits on the site are around £50.  Should we set the limit at £100?  

Bear in mind that I’ve purchased two sheepskin coats over the years from Charity shops.  One was £30 and the other originally £12, but sold to me for £6 because it needed the zip replacing and still had a biscuit in the pocket.  (I replaced the zip and then spent £30 getting it dry cleaned.  The drycleaner was very impressed by my sewing skills.  It’s now my football coat.).  I’m guesstimating that both coats would now cost around £50.

We went to Osborne House today.  Some beautiful floor tiles, ceilings and furniture, but I didn’t get a feel of it as a family home.  It was too much of a museum.  I did spot a spinning wheel and swift, but I reckon neither were used by Queen Victoria or her family.  They were just set dressing.



- Pip. (Apologies for the size of the photo.)

PollyWollyDoodle

Ooh Osborne, I went there last year, but didn’t love it, like you @PipneyJane.  I was back in the Isle of Wight this year, and opted just to do the gardens this time.  I can’t imagine Queen Victoria spinning!   

My feeling is that secondhand could just be left out of it. If people want to make their own personal rules, they can.  I went into this challenge with an intention to stop buying new clothes, as ‘fast’ fashion (almost all fashion really) is so wasteful of resources.  Others may have gone into it with different objectives.  

Most of my purchases are under £10 from charity shops, but I am looking at spending £80 on a second-hand winter coat for an upcoming holiday in Norway.  I rarely spend that much, but need to get something suitable for very cold conditions. In my mind, I’m still not buying new and therefore reducing the burden on the planet, and so it meets my criteria.  

To be honest, I spend so few coupons that I could probably afford to pay the required amount anyway!  

Diane1276

diminua said:

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. 

Oh that red is particularly lovely!
Like the stripe too!

maryb

I felt repelled by Osborne House - all that extravagance felt really vulgar.  But the gardens were lovely

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
Have been enjoying everyone's posts and views regarding second hand clothes and which set of coupons criteria we use. I'm happy to go with whatever the group collectively decides. I still tend to mainly buy brand new clothes, but I do look out for good quality second hand clothes to supplement my wardrobe needs. 

kiwisavings

PollyWollyDoodle said:

My feeling is that secondhand could just be left out of it. If people want to make their own personal rules, they can.  I went into this challenge with an intention to stop buying new clothes, as ‘fast’ fashion (almost all fashion really) is so wasteful of resources.  Others may have gone into it with different objectives.  

Most of my purchases are under £10 from charity shops, but I am looking at spending £80 on a second-hand winter coat for an upcoming holiday in Norway.  I rarely spend that much, but need to get something suitable for very cold conditions. In my mind, I’m still not buying new and therefore reducing the burden on the planet, and so it meets my criteria.  

To be honest, I spend so few coupons that I could probably afford to pay the required amount anyway!  

This would be my take on it too, that it could be an optional extra for those who wanted to follow these second hand clothing rules. This would help keep the challenge relatively simple for the majority of the people following this forum.
I feel we are in quite a different space compared to the war years, with today the challenge being more around sustainability, careful consumption and the avoidance of clothes going to landfill. I was talking to my nearly 90 year old mum and she said that very few second hand clothes available in the 1940s, so they were likely to be relatively more expensive than today. The rules around the selling of second hand clothes likely closed a loophole to prevent people trying to fiddle the rationing system , an issue that doesn't really exist in the present day.

PipneyJane

Hi everyone.

Quick question for you, based on a thought that occurred to me yesterday, while we were on the IOW Steam Railway.  Back in the 1930's and 1940's, did women knit on public transport in the UK?   I cannot recall seeing anything in films or books.

In Oz, the answer would be a "yes", because my mum knitted or crocheted on pretty much every train trip from her teenage years onwards, although I remember a remark about having to be careful to avoid getting smut on your handiwork.

PollyWollyDoodle said:

Ooh Osborne, I went there last year, but didn’t love it, like you @PipneyJane.  I was back in the Isle of Wight this year, and opted just to do the gardens this time.  I can’t imagine Queen Victoria spinning!   

My feeling is that secondhand could just be left out of it. If people want to make their own personal rules, they can.  I went into this challenge with an intention to stop buying new clothes, as ‘fast’ fashion (almost all fashion really) is so wasteful of resources.  Others may have gone into it with different objectives.  

Most of my purchases are under £10 from charity shops, but I am looking at spending £80 on a second-hand winter coat for an upcoming holiday in Norway.  I rarely spend that much, but need to get something suitable for very cold conditions. In my mind, I’m still not buying new and therefore reducing the burden on the planet, and so it meets my criteria.  

To be honest, I spend so few coupons that I could probably afford to pay the required amount anyway!  

Agreed.   I think that's the consensus, that secondhand is left out of the challenge.

@PollyWollyDoodle  May I recommend that you take a look today at Uniqlo for your coat.  They have a very warm, down filled coat in their sale for £129.  I have something similar of theirs, but mine is "ultra light" and not as warm.  (If you are XXS, they have those on sale for £29.90.  Nothing in larger sizes, though.  Mine cost 79.90 in January 2023.)

- Pip (I really don't need another coat.  I really don't need another coat... I really don't need another coat....)