Boo Hiss - cheap shopping at a human, environmental and long term cost (Primark)

Member Name: SapphireSunflowr

Product:	Primark
Date:	27/02/09 (173 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's cheap.

Disadvantages: It's cheap because it's bad quality, and what on earth do you think they're paying the workers?

As a student, one of my biggest priorities when clothes shopping is price - or, more to the point, value. My friend at university complimented my tights the other day and when I told her they were from Marks and Spencer's for a fairly reasonable £4, she remarked that she'd bought a pair in Primark for less than half of that. Ah, thus ensued the classic Primark debate - price versus morals. I explained that I used to buy my tights exclusively from Primark, but could no longer shop there comfortably after having so much irrefutable evidence in the media about their abuses of cheap human labour both abroad and at home. My friend argued that Primark were just media scapegoats - many, many companies must use sweatshops etc but it hasn't been so publicly proven, and she got a lot of lovely clothes form there for little money.

I completely understand why it is so tempting to shop in Primark - and, of course, for some people a financial necessity. The clothes are cheap and generally fashion forward, and with trends so fleeting nowadays there's no real point in spending money on an "investment" pair of pleather leggings... However, I can't stand the clothes for their quality - the amount of times I've been lured into a pretty printed dress or embroidered top, only to try it on and find the fit unflattering, the sizing all over the place and the quality terrible. When I have bought, my items have fallen apart, got holes and washed out in no time at all - and even though the clothes are cheap, when you've spent £8 on a top or £12 on a dress that's still annoying.

For me, when I need a cheap fashion hit I head to vintage shops, where you can pick up a second dress of often excellent quality and a good fit (vintage clothes are just cut so much better for real bodies!) for around a tenner. Not what everyone wants to do I know, but for me I cannot reconcile Primark's treatment of it's workers and the appalling quality for just a cheap shopping fix. Buy slightly more expensive and it will save you money in the long term - you'll love and treasure your clothes, not add to landfill.

Summary: I avoid - if you really can't afford one shopping level up, you'll get better value second hand,