The Matron has a special relationship with this store. The kind of symbiotic love affair, in which they get (very little of) her money and she gets all kinds of designer fare! Memorable purchases include a $7.49 Lucky leather purse (retail $200), a $3.99 Calvin Kline beaded skirt with the $295 price tag still on AND a faux fur the Matron paid $7.49 for but found on eBay for $400.
Love affair, indeed. Sigh.
But even more - the children! The Matron's offspring are well-heeled, thanks to this store. Both of the older sport brand new Obermyer ski jackets this year (total cost: $16) and their closests are awash in Brand Name, High End, Good Quality. Just as important, the Matron has no interest in bearing the karmic burden of creating her own personal land fill. She thinks recycling the daily stuff of life - from clothes to furniture to gifts--is just as important as putting those cans in the bin.
So imagine her complete, utter shock and outrage when she discovered that, starting February 10, children's used clothing cannot be resold unless it has been checked for lead and ph thalates. Do you know what a ptthalate is? Neither does she and you can bet the folks at ValuThrift don't know -- let alone know HOW TO CHECK FOR THEM - because they are now not accepting children's clothing as donation in order to phase that now dangerous and illegal item out of their store!!
Read about the whole mess, here. Please! The Matron is far too vain to send you to someone else's blog if her entire Universe weren't crumbling.
The thing that staggers her is the absolute environmental arrogance of the law. Throw out that clothing and buy new! Oh my Heavens. And if contemplating lead and ph thalates in clothing isn't the proverbial mountain out of the molehill (HELLO CONGRESS! Lead is not an issue in clothing! Hope you do better on the Bailout.), she's not sure what is.
America! The only country in the world, she will bet you, that will soon regulate against systematically recycling perfectly good, safe items otherwise headed for the landfill AND popping a sucker punch in the belly of her citizens who NEED to save a buck, all at the same time! Way to go.
Worse? The Matron's tender yearlings are accustomed to Ralph Lauren, Juicy Couture and Little Marc Jacobs, all on a song and dime. Well, they actually don't notice. But she does!
Where's that crack pipe!? Because she's losing her's. . . .
16 comments:
I remember the happy days when there was a woman whose twin sons were a year older than my son AND she worked at Gap Kids who sold her kids' clothes to the resale shop and I bought them.
I guess those "toxins" are better off just leaching into the earth from a landfill.
This new act, while well-intentioned, was not well thought out, nor was it well written. Yes, some children's clothes have Bad Stuff in them. I understand that and am outraged that it should even be a concern. Still, other children's clothing does not have the Bad Stuff. In general, it's the cheaply-made stuff that comes from China that we should avoid. I read an article last year that listed problems (mostly lead) with many of the Hannah Montana and High School Musical lines of clothing and accessories. Other companies -- such as Lands End, LL Bean, and Hannah Andersson -- have not been cited for lead concerns.
My mom dressed me in anthrax fibers. No wrinkles, stain resistant. The perfect textile.
I'd heard about this, and it is devastating. I'm thinking that Craigslist might take up the slack, with people bartering bags of kids' clothes (size 3T boys available - looking for girls 5 or boys 10) - ya think so?
I'd be in a snit, too. This is crazy making. Although I did have to raise an eyebrow when Jen on the Edge mentioned that some of the contaminated clothing was Hannah Montana stuff. Methinks this fitting, somehow.
But, I am in pain for you, of course. What a gem this store sounds like!
One bad apple, too much government. So I wonder how they test the clothing? Does Dick Cheney have stock in the company that makes the lead and pthththbt detectors?
That is craziness! Maybe there's some undiscovered gem of a thrift nearby?
Well this is a lousy how do you do. As a fellow thrifty I'm feeling for you over here. I wonder if this is going to ruin my Goodwill.
I am beside myself with rage. My child will be naked until she's 13.
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Unbelievable. What do you suppose will be next? :(
This same law just closed my work-at-home-mom business, www.woopsiebaby.com. You know, that business that kept groceries on my table when my husband was a resident and fellow at the mighty Mother Mayo. Yeah, that business that kept me home with my kids b/c we couldn't afford quality childcare on my teacher's and his resident's salary. Yeah, that small business o'mine that was part of the bedrock of this nation's economy. Closed. Same law. I believe in big government, but I sure as heck don't believe in stupid government.
That really takes the fun out of thrift store shopping. I feel for you, Matron. The irony is that those European couture items that are buying from them are probably the least likely to be contaminated . . .
Isn't it just like our government to "fix" things by making them worse?
I'm happy that they want to stop putting lead toys in our kids' hands, but this isn't the way to do it.
Is this the same act that is causing problems for toymakers and crafters?
Hum, can retail big-shots be behind this? - perhaps lobbying for this "safety measure"?
My 10-year-old is growing fast - I actually got her a small/petite designer women's jacket at Value Thrift this year and my 13-year-old has been in man sizes for 2 years (as the Matron well knows) so I will still be able to spend most of our family clothing budget at thrift stores, but this is so very wrong - big hardship on middle class families!
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