Such a silly fuss about Primark reportedly shredding perfectly good clothes which proved unsaleable in the time allowed by this fast moving business.
Why must they stay as clothes when there may be plenty of other uses for the shredded cloth? Why, in general, do we think that avoiding waste means turning things back into the thing they were before we threw them away – paper to paper, cans to cans, bottles to bottles? What’s wrong with using them for something else?
What makes it worth while packing them up & transporting to charity shops for sale to customers who cannot afford even Primark prices? Or transporting them to even less fortunate in countries overseas.
Industrial use – for general mopping, cleaning, insulating, packing. Retail & other outlets for those in search of cloth for crafts & hobbies, dressmaking or home furnishings. You would be surprised at how much value can be added to tired velvet curtains you would not give window room to if, after a quick swish through an industrial size washer they are cut into squares that are just the right size to be sold as ‘ideal for making cushion covers.’
We used to do it the other way round – at least in this part of the world. There were lots of outlets for what were called seconds – clothes which did not come up to the rigorous quality control standards of the major chain stores for which they were destined. Street markets were full of them, & shops called Guess Whose? The faults were often invisible to even the moderately well-practiced eye.
Now that the manufacturing & quality control standards are not quite so rigorous, in the interests of lower prices in the chain stores, these outlets have disappeared.
But what about all the hard work that went into making them? Those poor women in China or other less rich countries?
Well, if the shops stay stuffed with the unsold stuff they made last week there will be no need for them to turn up to make more stuff this week, & then what will their children eat next week?
