So, the wall was selling shirts for insanely cheap prices and I do not understand where they are making a profit.
I got a shirt which should cost 8 dollars for 2.5 and I don’t know if I can just wear them without concern.
Are cheap shirts safe to wear? Idk do they use chemicals which are bad for me? They made this insanely cheap and I don’t know what gives! It all says 100% cotton and its from a trusted brand but the mystery of the price still remains. I need to know before loading up on these things.
Also, bonus question, is white coloring agent more or less harmful than other colors? (Assume the most frequently used coloring agents)
Labour… They save on labour. People that barely make enough to survive keep your prices low.
Might as well buy stuff at a thrift store. You find quality and good fabric as long as you’re willing to sift. I buy 120-200 dollar cashmere sweaters for 20-25 bucks. I don’t trust that cheap shit either. If it’s cotton, cool, but if it’s not… 2 bucks is hella suspicious.
You also aren’t directly supporting what’s basically slave labor. Thrift is a way of life, as well as a moral philosophy.
When I can’t thrift it, I buy it USA made. I probably even out to what other people spend on new clothes.
I’ve heard that basically all new clothing is treated in formaldehyde, so regardless of the source or the price, it’s best to wash all new clothing before wearing, especially for underwear.
Side note: I would sometimes get discount clothes at Dirt Cheap (sadly they’re going out of business), and I’d usually notice some sort of harmless defect, like the pattern on the shirt would be off center or something, not like I care all that much.
I don’t understand how 2.5 is comprehensible but 8 is normal.
It should cost a lot more than 8 to make a shirt.
(India) The shirts are made by my mom and I buy it from her (the supply chains are pretty concentrated and short)
I do not understand where they are making a profit
I think you’re overestimating how much money it costs to produce this stuff. Economies of scale and certain other practices in this specific industry allow retailers to sell stuff at a significant markup even when it seems like they’re giving customers a heavy discount.
But even with relatively large markup percentages, the low price point means retailers have to move incredible volumes in order to make enough money to stay open. So they end up using aggressive marketing tactics to get people to come in the door and start impulsively buying stuff.
My intuition is that those shirts are simply from last season and didn’t sell well enough or they’ve gone out of fashion. The store is using it as an opportunity to put a big 80% off sign out front and whip potential customers into a frenzy. Could also be a scheme to recover costs from online returns. But I really doubt there is anything wrong or even different about those shirts.
Source: worked in clothing retail for a several years
It’s safe to wear but it’s also probably just plastics. Microplastics on skin and other long term microplastics are still not in yet so you could say it’s maybe not as safe as cotton. It’s the same material as more expensive stuff though so the price tag doesn’t really change the safety part.
It’s cotton, all of it is, I am concerned about the dyes they use, will they seep into my skin or something
Idk do they use chemicals which are bad for me?
For the average person, idk. If you have any sort of skin allergies, you’re in for a bad time.
everything everyone else has said is correct about cost saving, but also sometimes they do sell things at a loss. If product needs to move or it will be thrown out to make room for new things theyll put it on sale at a loss so that they can atleast get something back for it. Its better than taking a complete loss when they have to throw it away, and it can act as a loss leader when you buy other things while there that arent as cheap. Loss leaders are also a way they take a loss on items. For example a grocery store may say milk for 25 cents for a week so people come to buy it and while they are there they get all their other groceries at a normal price which evens out the losses taken on the milk.
I regularly buy Bella + Canvas shirts, which are fairly cheap but nice looking. The trade off for price, is I usually have to replace them every 2 years.
My best advice is to not overdry them, and wash them inside out.
There are also low grade threads/fabrics that consist of shorter individual fibers. They wear out faster.
The markup on most things you buy in the store is very high, sometimes 10x or more. That, combined with the fact that product that isn’t being moved is wasting money, means you’ll occasionally see things marked down drastically just to get rid of it. There’s a good chance that they’re still making a profit on it too.
When in doubt, ask. Only the provider can speak for that. Maybe the shirts are fragile. Maybe they aren’t as reusable. Maybe the provider is foreign and doesn’t understand local customs. I actually just bought some clothes (black sleeveless sweater, white plaid shirt, and faded pants that might as well be a skirt, wearing these now) at the laundromat shop reasonably because I’ve been in a clothes management situation for a while, and I learned most of it in this case is for advertising.
