Clothes on the Cheap on BBC3

Check out this programme recently on BBC3 called “Blood Sweat and T-Shirts” about clothing manufacturing in India.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00b3zyn.shtml?src=ip_potpw

Clothes on the Cheap

Just a few thoughts on the homogenous cheap virus that’s taking over our high streets.

In Asda they’re selling £5 men’s shirts and £5 women’s outfits, the rise of Primark seems unstoppable.

They’re not doing you a favour, which is how they love to present themselves. Think about it, a blouse and a pair of trousers on the rails in Asda for £5. How? How did they get there from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam for £5? How can 2 garments be made, all the fabric and components bought, it be packaged, shipped halfway round the world, distributed to the right store, labelled, photographed, advertised and everyone involved in this long chain make a fair profit for £5? Something has to give.

I wrote to Asda’s customer services recently asking them just that question while they were busy plugging their £5 women’s work outfit. What happened? Nothing. They didn’t even grace me with a reply. What does that tell you?

If you want to find out more, have a look at these websites:

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/

http://www.cleanclothes.org/

How to buy a ready-made suit

If you’re buying an off-the-peg suit here are a few things to look out for to make the best choice.

• Make sure it fits you around the shoulders, armhole and across the back. These are the most glaringly obvious places if a suit jacket is a bad fit.

• Jacket lengths – short and fitted if you’re curvy.

• Be careful with below hip length jackets, it is hard for a jacket this length to be flattering.

• Choose single breasted if you’re big chested or have a thick waist.

• Double breasted only really look good on bean poles.

Ask yourself:
Can you move your arms in it?
Can you sit down comfortably in it?

If you need a real work horse of a suit stick to mainly synthetic blend fabrics. Not the nicest to wear but certainly the strongest and the easiest to care for.

Think about what you want that suit to do for you. Will you be wearing it to interviews, meetings, conferences, meeting clients? Then you want it to make you feel confident and a good fit is even more crucial, you don’t want to spend your time fiddling with the uncomfortable bits. And try to think outside of the black, grey, navy box. Hard I know with th limited choice available, but it’s worth the extra effort.

If you have plenty of separates that you’re happy with (ie. skirts, trousers, dresses) and just struggle with the jacket (often happens with all those pesky female curves), think about having just a jacket made to co-ordinate with your existing separates.