Make do and mend
One of the things that incenses me more than anything else on my daily walk across Manchester is the sight of a group of girls weighed down by Primark bags. It’s never just one bag, and they are never small bags. Nobody seems to buy just one item from this place and, lets face it, they’re not encouraged to keep the number of purchases to a minimum. Ever since the store took over the old Lewis’s building, I’ve had a couple of problems with Primark. Firstly, it has always seemed obvious to me that that selling a t-shirt for two quid equals slave labour somewhere along the line, despite their very public ethical policy. Secondly, I hate the disposable nature of everything they sell. They’re speaking to ‘more more more’ mentalities and a generation accustomed to excess; eager to add more more more cheap (who cares if it’s shoddy?) clothes to their wardrobes.
So, I can’t say it came as a big surprise to find out that Primark have been found out.
What did come as a surprise was finding out that all this was happening on my doorstep. Exploitation is still exploitation whether it is happening in Manchester or Mumbai, but if there’s one factory in Ancoats paying its workforce peanuts so that teenagers can have 12 t-shirts of the same style, but in different colours, then there’ll be more. And if there are more, how many other retailers are claiming to be ethical by hiding behind a ‘made in Britain’ banner?
One of the things that bothered me more than anything though was that, when I read this story on the MEN website, they were running a poll to ask readers whether they would now think twice about shopping at Primark. Needless to say, the no vote was miles ahead. Coupled with the fact that Primark were one of the few retailers to report huge profits in the Christmas period, I’m dismayed that people care more about buying disposable, poorly made clothes than they do about the lives of their fellow human beings.
It was with this in mind that I started looking around the internet for courses in dressmaking. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering the knitting bug since I picked up the habit again last year, and I would absolutely love to turn my attention to mastering a sewing machine this year. I feel less and less inclined to be a part of this consumerism, and learning to make clothes is something that has appealed for a while. Let this be one of my reluctant resolutions.
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