Oh no! You’ve got paint/glue/glitter all over your new dress/skirt/trousers/tee-shirt. How often has this been heard from parents as children come out of school or nursery at the end of the day. Although we want our children to have rich and varied experiences during their formative years, it is frustrating to find that their clothes so easily become stained with art materials resulting in them having to be discarded.
It is because of this issue that stores that sell cheap and cheerful children’s clothes are booming. Parents can often completely kit out their child for the same price as purchasing one item from a store that promotes their clothes as being long-lasting. If a tee-shirt has only cost a pound and it is spoilt there is no problem with throwing it away – or is there?
Over one million tonnes of clothing and other textiles is thrown away in the United Kingdom each year. This is a major problem as it is adding to the landfill mountain that is growing year on year. For this reason, parents need to think carefully before contributing to this problem by throwing away ruined children’s clothes. Buying from a store that is reputed to sell hard-wearing clothes that often wash better is probably the more ethical choice.