"‘Primarni’. What bullshit.”

This article in Draper's is a doozy... Portas: Primark is destroying UK indies
Here's my favourite bit;
“With the rise of value chains like Primark what hope is there for the quality retailer? When Primark launched, the fashion press called it ‘Primarni’. What bullshit.” - Mary Portas
I second that emotion.
I do understand many of the reasons why people shop there, and I won't look down on you for doing so. I have been known to shop there myself in the past, although I no longer do.
But to think it does no harm to the fashion industry, let alone working conditions in other countries and the consumption of dwindling recources to create a low quality product that will be disposed of after one wear adding to the rapidly growing mountain of textile waste, is naive.
And why does "democratising fashion" and "giving people what they want" equate to selling people crap? A lot of people have argued that Primark makes clothing more accesible to those on the bread line. I find this quite insulting. Basically what you are saying is that it is ok to sell poor people cheap crap, it's ok for them to have an unpleasant shopping experience, they should be appreciative that they can afford it and isn't it nice that they can shop in the same place that us middle class folk like to fritter away our money on a quick fix even though they are poor.
I don't claim to have any solutions, or even believe that Primark shouldn't exist. But let's be honest about what they sell and why we shop there. And maybe shop there a bit less.