6 Reasons People Are Stopping Buying Clothing From Chain Stores (And We’re Not Talking About Prices)

In the last 7 years, people have started to buy less clothes. This has led to about a 50% drop in profits for large companies and tens of thousands of stores are closing and some have even gone bankrupt. Consumers are choosing to spend more on food and cosmetics than on clothing. Who needs piles and piles of the same blue jeans and white t-shirts?

O awesome.club has been trying to figure out why more and more people are stopping buying clothes at big chain stores. And what are the alternatives to the big brands.

The giant Zara alone produces 450 million items annually and develops around 40,000 new models. On average, the world produces around 80 billion new garments annually.

In today’s world where people care about how they look, it’s important to stand out from the crowd. Maria Ruppert-Stroescu, a professor at the School of Design at Washington University in St. Louis (USA), assesses that the enormous mass production of clothes limits individuality: “People make spontaneous purchases in bulk and do not think much about what they are wearing, what a certain piece can match and what to do with that exaggerated amount. of items they have in their wardrobe”.

Due to the high demand for clothes, the next problem (this much bigger one) is overproduction. Greenpeace conducted a study and found that only in hong kong 110,000 tonnes of textiles are disposed of in landfills annually, which would be like saying that city citizens throw away around 1,400 blouses every minute. It would take at least 200 years to recycle that amount of material. Another very serious environmental issue: many of the clothes are made from synthetic fibers, obtained from non-renewable sources and release microplastics, thus harming ecosystems.

In order to increase purchasing power and reduce prices, manufacturers use low quality fabrics and raw materials. Clothes warp more at the seam, wear out more quickly, buttons fall off and color fades. This happens because, with the development of the “fast fashion” market and changing trends, people no longer see clothes as durable goods.🇧🇷 In fact, they become almost disposable purchases for one-time use.

Some people claim that, due to the low price and poor quality of the items they buy, they start going to stores more. And when looking at the pile of unused clothes in the wardrobe, they often feel dissatisfied.

Collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Savar, Bangladesh

Another way to reduce the cost of manufacturing clothes would be to make production cheaper. Textile factories are located in countries that offer cheap labor. The main ones are China, India, Cambodia and Bangladesh. Workers are paid around US$3 a day (R$13) and have virtually no protection under labor laws. Many of the large companies do not directly own the factories; that is, they have no responsibility for what happens there.

On April 24, 2014, the Rana Plaza building, which contained several garment factories, collapsed in Savar, the capital of Bangladesh. Workers had repeatedly complained about holes in the walls, but management had not listened to them. The accident left 2,500 people injured and over a thousand dead.

With large production volumes, companies don’t always have the ability to check for patterns and correct errors. And the employees themselves are not interested in whether the parameters are exactly right.

The main target audience for clothes from large mass networks are women of sizes S and M🇧🇷 It is on them that manufacturers focus production. You will hardly find clothes that are too big or too small, but some brands create special collections for such consumers.

The average height of European women is 1.65 m. If you’re taller or shorter, you can be prepared to spend more by taking the garment to a seamstress to adjust for your body type.

After the famous brands show their collections on the catwalks during fashion weeks, mass market brands copy the design and put their clothes on sale🇧🇷 But what is seen on the catwalk can be quite different from the effect of such clothes in everyday life. The see-through bags, for example, that have appeared in recent seasons, looked great on models but wouldn’t necessarily have the same effect in a noisy and dirty metropolis.

Seeking to follow the most “innovative” trends, companies forget to produce what the customer can wear immediately when leaving the store, the well-known “ready to wear” style. As a result, there is a lot on offer, but little option for everyday life.

Individual tailoring. Make a list of clothes needed for work and play and find a good seamstress. You don’t need to order an entire wardrobe, just pick a few more recurring pieces. For example, a pantsuit, a party dress, a pencil skirt or a coat. Such pieces will probably be more expensive, but they will fit you perfectly and for a long time.

swap party🇧🇷 The “Swap Parties”, or “Parties for Exchange”, are events where people exchange clothes, get to know each other and talk in a very relaxed atmosphere. You can take a few clothes from your wardrobe that are ready to change (naturally, without holes, stains or major deformations). If you don’t find any pieces you like, at least you’ll free up some space in your closet.

Second hand. In the last 10 years, used clothing sales have doubled. The main consumers of such products are women aged 25-37, who want to dress well without breaking the bank. It is often possible to find very original pieces from well-known brands and even clothes with the tag still on.

Local designer clothes. If you don’t want to support giant brands, look into clothes from young local designers. Thus, you will not only help small entrepreneurs financially, but also modernize your wardrobe and style. As a rule, parts are produced in small quantities and the quality is high.

Where do you prefer to buy your clothes? Do you have any secrets to finding the perfect dress? Comment with us!