Fashion

Anyone got any advice on washing a merino wool jumper? Got a nice finisterre one in the summer (eBay, obvs) and I don’t want to shrink/misshape it. We have some of them mesh bags for delicates, would they be good? Not got much experience with this but did ruin the last wool jumper I had about 10-15 years ago.

A little more casual than I had in mind, but tempting all the same.

Better to hand wash it.
Take measurements beforehand and, ideally, make a hardboard or similar material frame with the right dimensions to put the wet sweater over when you’re done. Wool specific cleaners will have instructions on the label.

Re: second hand clothes. In 2017/18 I decided to try one year only buying my clothes from charity shops. What I found was that you have to visit pretty often to find stuff you both like and that fits you. Generally you’re getting fast fashion cast offs but occasionally some nice stuff appears and then even more occasionally it appears your size. For things like t-shirts, unless they’re near enough new then there’s not much advantage (environment aside, obviously) as a couple of t-shirts in H and M is (was?) about 8-10 quid. It was no problem to do but you then find the clothes, being mostly high street brands wear out quickly and you’ll sometimes go through a patch where you’re low on jeans or whatever until someone of your size (and taste) has a clear out and you find a couple of pairs.

Have picked up a few bits from here and also branched out into eBay but the biggest issue I find is that charity shopping has skewed how I value clothes. The prospect of paying more than £5 for a pair of jeans is hard for me to get my head round. The other thing with eBay is I find I get things where the sizing was just wildly different than I expected or the description was whack. Ultimately buying all your stuff second hand is completely doable and it’s what I’ve basically done since then, but there is something about just finding the thing you really like, in your size, trying it on and then buying it knowing you’ve got something good which is nice. /CSB

the biggest issue I find is that charity shopping has skewed how I value clothes. The prospect of paying more than £5 for a pair of jeans is hard for me to get my head round.

absolutely this!

I wash mine on 30, wool program, wool detergent. Never had any issues. Mine are 10+ years old and still going strong

Re: second hand clothes. In 2017/18 I decided to try one year only buying my clothes from charity shops. What I found was that you have to visit pretty often to find stuff you both like and that fits you. Generally you’re getting fast fashion cast offs but occasionally some nice stuff appears and then even more occasionally it appears your size. For things like t-shirts, unless they’re near enough new then there’s not much advantage (environment aside, obviously) as a couple of t-shirts in H and M is (was?) about 8-10 quid. It was no problem to do but you then find the clothes, being mostly high street brands wear out quickly and you’ll sometimes go through a patch where you’re low on jeans or whatever until someone of your size (and taste) has a clear out and you find a couple of pairs.

yeh what is in your local charity shops can really depend on where you live. I didn't realise how much this was a thing until I did some volunteering at a sorting centre and they had us sort the clothes into graded piles and the fancy stuff went to some shops in more affluent areas, the average stuff went to other shops and the rubbish stuff was to be shipped abroad

Ta.

Any leather glove recommendations? And no, second hand leather gloves is not an option that excites me

The most expensive hestra you can afford

TK Maxx had a shed load last year, some better than others. Think I paid £30 to feel like a serial killer.

also recommend Hestra, I have the Wakiyama which are very warm and quite thick, the Utsjö is probably more of an all round glove and still very warm.

That one is an outlier, held down by a repair. But I like the outliers. Often they are held down by an amateurish or uncooperative seller. It's not a perfect market...there are still bargains.

Yeah. I bailed out of getting a proper Parker type thing and used to wear a uniclo untralight down jacket with a RL reefer coat on top.

Got to say I wished I'd have had a proper big jacket, but given I don't really wear the reefer here as it's rarely cold enough it was probably the better call.

Likewise with shoes.

+1 for tk maxx. Otherwise it's the sort of thing places like Hackett always used to do nicely. Idk if they still do.

I struggle with gloves due to swollen joints so a big range is my main criteria, which I why I always go to a decent tk.

10 week or more lead times, that’s niche alright.

On a slight tangent, there’s a place near where I live that has a huge dead stock range Kavu stuff from the last 10 years or so. Always a treat popping in there but just a shame that most of the stuff is unwearable in 30c and 80+ humidity

Go big or go home. Ending soon, with no bids. It's unisex (I checked). Don't be discouraged by the seller's boobage.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285036695553?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=3bjx7Ha-TDC&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=0PDdBtKRSKe&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

It’s a conundrum to me buying second hand when the item is mostly or all plastic, likely made in a place where working conditions and wages are not ideal - am I making things better or worse compared to buying a new item made out of natural materials by someone with a decent wage under good working conditions?

Perhaps it depends on what will happen if you don't buy the plastic item. Maybe it will be incinerated.

Lots of similar controversy atm with thrift stores down here. What once used to be a good place to buy reasonably priced, well made clothes from American made brands for people who couldn’t necessarily afford to buy new clothes, is now full of Shein and other such tat. It often costs more than it did new from Shein, and it’s basically disposable clothing from a quality perspective.

It also depends on whether you believe that the vastly inflated prices are due to the clothing being meticulously assembled by well-paid elves from magic dust and Unicorn faeces. Surely the prices couldn't be justified by pure greed?

Then, I am a cynic.

The sweatshop in Napoli rather than Indonesia.

Of course greed comes into it, though I believe (based on nothing) that small (like really small) companies can’t afford greed as easily as corporations.
Vastly inflated prices compared to what? Good wages, good working conditions, good materials - what did that cost in the 1950s? Virtually everything now is vastly cheaper in relation to income in the wealthy west. In the early 70s you could buy a tv for about $500, that was two months pay back then in Canada.

We just buy more shit more often.

But if you buy, or grab for free, someone else's used shit and use it for a long time, you slow down the cycle. Doesn't make any difference whether it was made in a horrible sweatshop out of the worst plastic.

Greed is also comparative, a tiny company turning out, say, 10 garments a day with one 'guiding light' one person making it happen and 3 people actually making stuff would do quite nicely on $1000 per item downy garments. The makers might not starve, but the principal certainly won't.

It make sense to have properly warm winter clothing in Canada, but in mild, damp and drizzly Britain it is a pure pose. I have an ex who was born and raised in tropical Siberia and managed to survive without the ludicrously priced outerwear which some on this soggy island deem necessary.