8/10/2009

Clothing, at what cost?

Posted by with 4 comments | in
When it comes to bugeting, whether we use the magic jars, excel spreadsheets, or even just vague guidlines, we generally try to keep ourselves within certain limits for certain spending categories.

For my clothing budget, I have it set pretty low. Clothes arn't high on my list of priorities so I often shop at discount stores, the clearance racks, and generally speaking, lower quality stores. I wonder, what do we sacrifice when it comes to saving money?

My roommate, Lindsay, recently posted on her blog about the choices we make when purchasing clothes. She makes references to some clothing company's that take advantage of sweat shops, which often have the cheaper clothes. Not just cheaper with regards to price, also quality.

Then there are clothing stores that over sexualize women in their efforts to market clothing. There is one particular store that she mentions which requires the submission of photographs simply to work there. She also mentioned to me in a converstion we had about her post that the founder of said company was charged with several sexual harrassment cases. However; their clothes are of much higher quality!

So, are you aware of the choices you make when purchasing clothes (among the other purchases we make every day)? Are we supporting sweat shops? Sexual harrassment? What else are we compromising, what other costs are associated with the items we buy other then just the dollar amount on the price tag?

Thanks for posting this intriguiging post Lindsay!

4 comments:

  1. Mom10 August 2009 at 08:14

    I don't like to sacrifice quality (I hate twisted seams ) but I do love me a good 1/2 price sale. And as 75% off becomes common, I realize that clothing stores have just raised their prices so that they can offer a deal that still allows them to make a profit.

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  2. Anonymous10 August 2009 at 08:48

    I am not really into fashion, never have been. But the whole sweat shop thing really bothers me! This is something I have been recently researching.

    Right now I am starting with food. I try to buy as many items locally as I can.

    When it comes to purchasing 'stuff' you should watch this video. It's long, but it's really good and it totally changed my point of view.

    I posted it back in April.

    Go here:

    http://frugaldreamer.blogspot.com/2009/04/story-of-stuff.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10 August 2009 at 15:09

    The most frightening part is getting sucked down the rabbit hole of where your stuff comes from. Sure, I can make my own clothes instead, but what about my sewing machine, ironing board, iron, table, lamp, house? Ack.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Manshu10 August 2009 at 18:11

    I don't really have a problem supporting 'sweatshops'.
    The thing is that for a lot of people the sweatshops are so much better than the next best option. It is not only a means of livelihood, but a window to a much better world.

    ReplyDelete

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