Composed by Merit Laur

Who did we ask questions from?

We conducted a small survey about the consumption of clothes in our school. There were four main groups:

Pupils from 1st to 6th grade (grammar school)

7th to 9th grade (primary school)10th to 12th grade (high school)Teachers

Here are the questions we asked:

1) How often do you buy clothes?

2) What do you take into consideration when you buy new clothing?

3) What do you avoid?

4) What do you do with your old clothes ?

5) What should you do with them ?

How often do grammar school students buy clothes?

Grammar school

50%38%

12%

4-6 times a month

Buy clothes w hen theyhave money or seesomething really nice

1-3 times a month

What about primary school?Primary school

37%

63%

1-3 times a month

3-4 times a year

High schoolHigh school

37%

45%

18%

1-3 times a month

1-3 times a year

When they havemoney or seesomething really nice

What about teachers?Teachers

82%

12%6%

1-3 times a month

1-3 times a year

3-4 times a year

What do they take into consideration when buying new

clothes?• Pupils of grammar school choose clothes

mostly by nice colour and prefer good quality

• Expectations of pupils in primary school have some differences: they prefer fashionable and cheap clothes which are easy to take care of. They also valuate the well-known brands (Nike, Diesel etc.)

• Older students do not care so much about the brands or fashion, they like comfortable clothes which suit their style and complexion

• Teachers also buy comfortable clothes of high quality and their own style has a very big importance

What kind of clothes do they avoid?

Younger pupils only refuse to buy already rejected things

Pupils of primary school don’t buy old-fashioned accessories and do not like synthetic materials

High school attendants mostly just try to avoid uncomfortable clothes

Teachers avoid fad, the latest super-desings etc.

Did you realize?

• About 95% of questioned people were certain that clothes show belonging to some group

What do you do with your old clothes?

In majority clothes are given to their younger relatives or acquaintances. People also try to find a different purpose for old clothes. Just a few individuals try to fix or emend their clothes. Of course, there are also many clothing accessories which are really in a bad condition, they are usually put in the dustbins.

There are also few individuals who throw their old clothes to the deepest corner of their wardrobes and let them be there for ages (or until some well-behaved person decides to tidy up a little).

What should you do with old clothes?

Bigger half of the pupils thought it would be a good idea to give away clothes (which are still in good condition) to people who need them (orphanages, large-sized families, poor people etc.). Recycling old clothes was also one of the ideas.

People would be happy to donate their old clothes to poor people, but they don’t know how. The information about donating and recycling is not spreading among ordinary people. There are also not enough opportunities to donate or recycle used clothes in Estonia.