I’m standing in front of a pile of baby clothes. I’ve just spent an hour sifting through newborn sleepsuits, vests and cardigans that no longer fit my son, who was born in November. Some were gifts; some I bought in the first throes of my pregnancy; and some were my baby clothes, handed down by my mum the minute I showed her our first scan photo.
As I sit by the heap I begin to feel increasingly overwhelmed – a not unfamiliar feeling in the fourth trimester. Obviously I’m not going to throw the clothes away, adding to the 350,000 tonnes of used but wearable garments that end up in landfill every year in the UK, but I’m unsure what to do with them.
Stash them in the loft for (whisper it) a second baby? Do as my mum did and save them for my own son’s potential newborns? It seems sad to keep so many barely worn items when they could be being used by other mothers for their children.
The UK children’s clothing market was forecast to be worth £6.6bn in 2021 – a huge amount for items outgrown by the time the cash register has rung them through. But the market for children’s clothes keeps growing. There was a dip in sales of 11 per cent in 2020 due to the pandemic, but even that was not as much as that for adult clothing (23 per cent).
At Marks and Spencer, which has the third-largest share of children’s clothing market after Next and Primark, online sales of children’s clothing grew 83 per cent year-on-year in the six months to September 2020 (while in-store sales fell by 31 per cent).
Youngsters grow fast, which means clothes chosen with love might only get a couple of outings. The environmental charity Hubbub estimates that there are 183 million children’s garments stashed away in our homes. Babies outgrow an estimated seven clothing sizes in their first two years.
Of course, parents have always looked to second-hand clothes, whether they are hand-me-downs or charity shop finds, to save money. Today’s parents have even more reasons for seeking out pre-loved children’s fashion – it’s better for the environment. Each new tonne of clothing made creates 22 tonnes of greenhouse gas. Many items are hardly worn, and the cherry on the cake? You can make money back by selling them on once your own little darling has outgrown them.
Indeed, a number of parents – mothers, in the main – are doing just that, informally, via Instagram. Some sell clothes that have been worn and loved by their own children while others have branched out, sourcing and selling vintage finds from popular brands such as OshKosh, Levi’s, Misha and Puff, and Carhartt. This social media circular economy offers a stylish and sustainable solution for those on a budget.
Delve a little deeper, as I inevitably do during my 3am feeds, and I find an entire community on the app, all passing clothes back and forth. They even have their own lingo. They “drop” new collections (ie whenever they have a clearout) via “story sales” and “grid auctions” (first comment wins) and buy clothes to “stash” that won’t fit their children yet but that they will save until they do. Prices range from a few pounds for high-street wear to £50+ for more sought-after brands, if that’s your thing. For the sellers it’s free: unlike sites such as eBay or Etsy, Instagram doesn’t charge fees.
Before you buy
Check measurements
If you’re buying from other parents on Instagram, there’s unlikely to be a right of return, so check every detail upfront or be prepared to resell if what you buy isn’t what you wanted.
Safety first
Check the labels on nightwear. See if they say ‘Keep away from fire’ and ‘Low flammability to BS 5722’. If they don’t, they might not meet the latest standards. When buying for younger children, think about choking hazards: avoid drawstrings and check for loose buttons.
Wash before wearing
It’s best to wash all second-hand clothes as you have no way of knowing what detergent they have been washed in. Use non-biological for babies, and your usual washing detergent for older children.
One such seller is Hannah Davies, 26, who started selling children’s clothes when she was on maternity leave with her second son and needed some extra money. Her Instagram account – now called Woodrow and Co – was initially a place to sell her own children’s clothes but has since become somewhere to go for hand-picked vintage treasures.
She also sells through Etsy, and her finds are so popular that Davies has even opened a physical store in the Goods Shed in Barry, Wales – although Instagram still brings in more sales, with customers from as far away as Canada and Australia.
“I certainly think people are more accepting of second-hand these days,” she says, citing environmental factors as one of the reasons the market is booming. “It’s eco-friendly to reuse good-condition clothing.”
It would appear the environment is indeed on the minds of parents across the UK, given the popularity of children’s clothes rental services that have popped up in recent years, including thelittleloop.com which won investment from two dragons – Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett – on Dragon’s Den.
Kids’ clothes rental
The Little Loop
A subscription of £25 per month buys you a “capsule wardrobe” of nine or 10 children’s items. The company says its average customer rents £1,280-worth of clothes for £480.
Belles and Babes
Hire a bundle of 18 essential baby garments, from newborn to age two, for £35 per month including delivery. Each bundle is worth £300 to £400 and will arrive in new or nearly new condition.
Circos
Customers pay a monthly rental on smart children’s clothes from the likes of Arket, Adidas and Patagonia. It’s not cheap (from €19,50 per month), but the Netherlands-based company says you will save up to 70 per cent on your wardrobe –and 80 per cent on your carbon footprint.
Mywardrobe
This is the junior offshoot of the fashion rental site. Sizes go up to age 12 and rental is from £4 per day, with an option to buy.
But I wonder, too, whether the appeal of these more casual social-media shops – over sites such as Vinted, which is also free for sellers – is that they offer a personal touch: you get to know the families behind the accounts. You see tit-bits of their lives and, when the clothes arrive on your doorstep, they come with a backstory – something that cannot be said for the likes of Primark, H&M or Zara.
“It’s kind of buying into a person when you’re purchasing stuff,” says 38-year-old Nat Joseph, who runs two Instagram accounts, Little Cactus and Co, and Finpop Once Loved.
I’m sold – and I’ve also made £44, which will go towards more clothes for Fabian when he needs them. For now, he has plenty – since he was born, I’ve purchased a number of items from Instagram for my son, including a selection of hand-knits, jazzy leggings, some gorgeous knitted bonnets, and a pair of red hickory-striped dungarees – all of which have been worn and loved by other children. One hand-made jumper even has a tag stitched inside which reads: “Nana Kay.” I have no idea who Nana Kay is but I love that her jumper, knitted with love, is keeping my son warm.
There is one rub, though, which I realise as I stare at the baby clothes on the floor. A circular economy works both ways, and I’m not sure I’m quite ready to part with the tiny clothes that once clothed my tiny newborn. Joseph has a solution for such sentimentality. “I’m going to do a keep-box for my children,” she says, explaining that she will save a few extra-special pieces and sell the rest. It’s a good workaround and one I intend to do. And perhaps my grandchildren will be kept warm by Nana Kay’s knitting as well.
Credit-https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/buy-baby-second-hand-clothes-instagram-during-wardrobe-1478620