Do you thinks its ok to buy cheap school uniforms for the children, UK?

Question

When you almost certainly know they are made overseas. After all how can you sell as many of the big chain stores like M&S, Asda etc are doing and sell them so cheaply. Does your conscience bother you that they may be made by children who do not go to school because they are busy trying to earn enough to eat that day. Or provide for their families.

I only ask, because there has been a lot in the press recently about sweat shops in India, China churning out clothes for companies like Primark, but now that M&S do, isn't this just as bad.

After all if you can sell a uniform, at £6.50, someone is making it on the cheap someplace that can't be here in UK, for wages that wouldn't feed a cat in UK.

Answer 1

You could always go to Rawcliffs or Lester Bowden

Answer 2

its not exactly cheap is it? £6.50?

when they say cheap, they mean things that take alot of sewing ie beaded items that cost just £2 to buy.

uniforms are usually made in factories, mass produced using sewing machines.

and tell me, what would these child be doing, if it wasnt for the child slave labour? would they be at school like you seem to think? and THEN how would they eat?

they would be on the streets, selling their bodies, or they would have been sold by their parents into even worse....

yes, they are being used, but its a life better than many of them can hope for. the wages need to be higher thats all. but slavery will exist forever.

Answer 3

Yes. Those overseas workers would probably be a lot worse off if they weren't working, even though it's a minimal wage.

Answer 4

i personally think you get what you pay for when you buy clothes . you can buy defected shirts and pants at a bargain but wait a month and you will be throwing them out. its best to buy a more expensive brand because there name is on the line and they are much higher in quality .

Answer 5

you have hit it on the nail

the kids don't go to school so they earn money for the family.

if they don't work they all starve.

in an ideal world this wouldn't happen and i totally disagree with

child labour - cost of living of course in these countries is much lower.

the problem is if you don't buy it and no-one buys it these people have

no work and starve - they have no nhs.

until these countries can sort out their population control etc i can't see

any way out out if.

personally why don't you buy it and sponsor a child in the third world

through a reputable organisation - this will get one at least educated -

ask for a girl they are the last of the family to get educated.

Answer 6

Yes it is Ok to buy the clothes because the companies are making ridiculous profits. They can afford to give away £100 million pounds to help the poor but you can't.

Also, if a Indian child went to school they could end going to an University and then emigrating to the UK and taking a job which your child might have had. Then you would not have any money to look after you when you are old.

Hey, it's a dog eat dog world.

However, this is part of the natural economic cycle. One day it would become too expensive to make clothes in india and China so companies will move to Africa and then Africa will industrialise and it will become too expensive to make clothes in Africa.

Then one day all countries will be developed so the price of making clothes will be the same everywhere in the world. The cost of transportation will increase. Then each nation will become self-sufficient and sustainable by relying on no one else and hopefully world trade will cease.

Answer 7

I think that to keep costs down for people with little money all Schools at the end of term , and if uniforms are not wanted any more, by the pupils they could be donated to the school, who then in turn have them cleaned and then sell them on to other children   just coming into that school,At cheaper prices, it would be good for the poorest, but also enable them to fit in with the rest of the school.

Answer 8

I think there are a few comments to be made here:

If you can afford to shop in places that sell UK made uniforms at 4 times the price of foreign made goods, go ahead, and congratulations that you can. There are alot of people in the UK living on the breadline, so they have no choice to shop for cheap goods. I am sure they would like better wages to be able to do this.!!

You cannot blame the consumer for the price of things, wherever they are made. Although companies always justify their low prices are "because of consumer demand". If they didn't source these goods from impoverished countries and had them made in the UK there wouldn't be a choice, the consumer would have to purchase what was on offer at much higher prices.

But even though we think the standards of sweat shops in India, China etc are extremely poor by UK standards, they are at least keeping people employed in countries that are over populated and poor. Remember also that these kinds of countries do not have free health service etc, so if your mother or father is sick, then it would be down to the children to feed them all. If you were in their shoes, I bet you would work for 2$ a day and fed your family, than not work and starve!! You can't tell me you wouldn't.

Are the large companies exploiting this, you bet ya! (But in the UK it is the law to offer a basic wage or more. How many companies ONLY offer the basic wage because they have to by law instead of offering a decent wage! So exploitation doesn't only occur in poor countries!

I certainly do not condone the sweatshops, but the way things are run in another country and the laws of underage workers etc, are the problem of their government not us.

I live in Spain, and here we do not have half the choice that you have in the UK, there is no price war here, we have little choice on where to shop. Childrens clothes are very expensive compared to the UK. So think yourself lucky!!

Answer 9

i dont feel sweat shops are ok but when your on a tight budgit you need to buy with in your means but alot of the time you can not buy the uniforms from asda as there perset uniforms that cast a packet so you buy what bit you can cheaply

Answer 10

They are all made in the same places - it's just the profit margin that changes. If you think that paying inflated prices to a fashion house is going to satisfy your guilt then think again.

Answer 11

wages that wouldnt feed a cat in the uk could feed a family of 6 for a year in china. buying more expensive outfits in the uk wouldnt feed anyone in china

Answer 12

i dont agree with cheap labour overseas,but i cannot afford to buy clothes for my kids out of m&s or other expensive stores like that so i have no other choice but to buy from the likes of Asda and primark that sell cheaper clothes .Most of my daughter's uniform is second hand which i feel bad about but there's nothing i can do about it.If it's a choice between paying my bills so i can feed my children and keep them warm and clean rather than buy them fancy brand name clothes that do'nt have sweat shops making them i know what i'd chose in an instant.

Answer 13

it aint ok but its life. you cant do nothing about it. all clothes in the uk are not made from uk and made from overseas. if clothes were made in uk then a children uniform will cost £35 or something  

Answer 14

I understand your point, but what is the alternative?  Yes, those children should be in school, why isn't their government doing what ours does, and insisting on it?

Some families depend on the money the children make to prevent starvation.  I'm not sure that our refusal to buy the uniforms would change anything - it would probably be diverted into other avenues.

Our consciences should trouble us, but what is the answer?  

Answer 15

i agree with you i don't like this cheap labour from poor children,what makes me laugh is the government can see what is going on with these children and they are well off big banquits and plenty of money and food on there tables,

yet they see their own coutries kids doing cheap labour why won't they help these poor people it is disgussting.i can't say anymore as i am getting annoyed,just buy whatever unifoms but just make sure they say made in a country that is not doing child labour.good luck on looking.

Answer 16

I understand what you're saying, but we have to get school uniform from somewhere and as they grow out of it so quickly most of us have to buy cheap stuff as we can't afford anything else. My kids are teenagers at a state school and I have to get their blazers through the school supplier and they cost me over £30 each! School uniform adds up and I don't have the luxury of ensuring that its made ethically.

  

Answer 17

living on such a tight budget i get my son what i can afford and as it happens it is the cheap uniforms you mention if i could afford to worry about how and where it was made maybe i would but as a single mum i give my son what i can afford better he have a cheap uniform than none at all