Time for a change of whats cheap! 

By Ryan Cooper-Brown 

Last month the Lord’s committee described the culture of ‘fast fashion’ as encouraging throw away fashion. You can’t help but to be left with the thought that Lord Howie of Troon doesn’t spend is Saturday afternoons fighting through the crowds at his local TXMAXX trying to get that new top for a night out. However although he may fail to understand that we all see and acknowledge throw away fashion, it does not make his point any less relevant.

One pound in four is now spent on value apparel in this country, with brands such as Primark, H&M and Topshop offering discounts as low as £2 for a t-shirt. Between 2003 – 2007 garment prices have fallen by 10%. When you off set this against the 2 million tonnes of clothing thrown away over the year and only 9000 of it making its way to the charity shops, his point becomes crystal.

This leap from buying goods to last the test of time to purchasing a top for a one off, although creates massive surpluses in the east and mountains of waste in the west, it has benefitted our wallets.  These benefits  however are set to be the rug pulled from underneath us, although brands are trying their best to cushion us from the credit crunch in the form of mid-season sales and special offers. The one main driver for the cost of goods around the world which is fuel, cannot be controlled by our favourite retailers.

Back in June 2008 the cost of transporting goods by container from Shanghai to the American East coast was £2000, it now sits at £4,312 and is ever increasing as the worlds oil costs rise. This cost will have to filter down to us lowly high street zombies, which will see the cost of all of cheaper clothing produced in the east rising.

So are we really going to pay more for cheaply made clothes, which we will keep for less time....?

My advice to stay ahead of the prices is  to use your noggin and try to purchase clothes made within Europe, look for labels made in Turkey, Spain or Poland. As these countries are closer in distance meaning it is cheaper to transport clothing from stich to store.

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