Amy doesn't shop at Primark?

A friend said to another friend in passing conversation the other day...'Oh, Amy doesn't shop at Primark'. And it is true, I used to boycott Primark and would never consider shopping there.

I had never really heard of Primark when I was at school as I don't think it had quite spread to England then. OK, so I've just researched that and apparently Bristol and Derby were the first towns in England to get Primark stores and this was in 1974 so it obviously was around, I just wasn't aware of it.

Anyway, it wasn't until sixth form when I got a bit of allowance and started buying clothes for myself that I bought a few vest tops there. Then, when I went to Kenya in 2005, Dee, an Irish girl who I was staying with raved about Penneys and couldn't understand why I wouldn't shop there more.

The children we were teaching in Kenya lived in the rubbish dump nearby and this really made me think about the throwaway culture that we live in. I've always been a squirrel who keeps clothes for years and I get very attached to them but I knew a lot of people who shopped at Primark as they thought of it as disposable fashion. This was one of the reasons that I decided to stop shopping there, as I don't like the idea of buying something to wear just once. It is true that some Primark clothes are so poorly made that they do only last a few wears and so this was another reason why I decided to stop shopping there.

When I got back from Kenya, I headed off to Portsmouth for uni which didn't have a Primark so I didn't really think about it too much more.  Then, when one opened, everyone was wearing exactly the same things. I love looking a bit different and mix and match clothes that I've bought from all sorts of different shops all over the world and so hate the idea of going out and seeing three other girls in the same dress as me.

Primark was exposed in 2008 by Panorama for using child labour in India. They were quick to counteract this by insisting that the work was being subcontracted out by the factories, and that they had no idea that this was happening and discontinued working with those suppliers. About the same time, I watched a series called Blood, Sweat and T-shirts on BBC which showed Primark Tops being hand beaded by small children, but alongside items from other suppliers.

So why does everyone think Primark is so much worse?

A friend's mum said to me recently 'Ooh I like your cardigan, where's it from?'. When I answered 'Primark' she was horrified and said 'You do know where Primark clothes are made don't you? and I replied, 'Yes, in the same places as many other high street stores'.

I read an article on Times on-line, entitled, 'Are more expensive clothes made in better conditions?'. Whilst you would assume the high end high street retailers pay their factory workers more, hence the higher prices this is simply not true. So how does Primark manage to sell their clothes so cheaply?

There is one reason, which you don't really think about. Advertising. Most retailers spend millions on advertising but Primark work by word of mouth. Think about it. Have you ever seen a Primark advert. The answer is no, because they don't need to. They are already so popular because of their cheap prices, that they will never need to advertise. Also, they have such short runs of items, with clothes directly copied from the catwalks, that they rarely have stock left to sell off in sales. Both massive money saving techniques.

Primark are fighting back against the 'anti ethical' status so much that they have even asked the Ethical Trading Initiative to check through their audits and their supplier conditions and are working to improve workers pay rates and conditions.

So the answer, if there needs to be one, is yes, I do shop at Primark, because there is nothing to make me believe that they are any worse than any other high street store. But I don't by one off wear items, I buy 'classic' items which I know I will wear for a long time. Well, until they wear out at least.