Aldi cycle clothing bargains this Thursday

So last year I brought the soft shell and only found myself wanting to wear it a couple of times, it's too good at keeping you warm.
I find layering up with some thinner layers is better. Base layer, jersey and windbreaker worked pretty much all winter for me (most of my rides started at 5:30am an d lasting well over an hour with temps as low as -14 and freezing fog.

This year I've brought the socks and gloves on offer.
The socks feel comfy to wear and have already replaced all my current cycling socks.

The gloves are like the softshell in that they will keep you warm on a cold morning. The gloves however are so think they offer no feeling when shifting and very little when braking. For those with electronc gears probably not an issue but for those of us who like to feel the gears moving in our hands these gloves remove that feeling. Also they don't give a comfy feeling when riding on the hoods and actually cause a bit of discomfort between the thumb and index finger.

On this morning's nursery run I did go for the 'trousers tucked into socks' option. Not stylish but it works. Kinda wish I had dug out a set of tights though as it was a bit drizzly and damp jeans are pretty uncomforatable.

Also popped in to my local ALDI - gloves and shoe covers. Couldn't quite bring myself to go for the dayglow jacket; might have done if they had some slightly toned down colour options. Shoe covers seem alright, still too warm for the golves though.

Gloves for a fiver seem like a bargain. Sizing is a bit iffy, I bought the XL and they're still snug. Quality seems decent and they slip on and off OK.
If the leg warmers are decent I will pop back on the way home.

I've been this morning a bought a pair of leg warmers for £6.99. Tried them on when i got home and they fit really well. Walked around the house with them one (ooh what a sight !) and they didn't start to creep down my legs so well happy at the mo.

Having an Aldi just a short walk up the road I went up and had a look. Came away with a waterproof jacket (s) and a pair of gloves (large).

The jacket looks a lot nicer than my old heavy Ozzo polythene one. Being 6ft and a 38" chest I found the only one in the shop which was small. It's a nice snug fit with a decent length in the sleeves. Until I've tried in the wet I can't comment on the level of waterproofing but the seams are taped. It seems to be a perfectly decent piece of kit for the price though. If it was Rapha, the decimal point would be one place to the right.

The gloves seem ok too. The inner doesn't pull out when taking them off. Might wear a merino liner under them when it's really cold.

Just picked up both of the jackets and they look okay and fit okay as well. They will do for my commute if nothing else. With the weather it can be in this country I guess I will be finding out warm and waterproof they are pretty soon.

While Aldi and Lidl stuff is very cheap, that's no reason to believe that more expensive brands are treating their suppliers and the garment workers any better. Premium clothing brands Nike, Adidas, Gap and others have been guilty of all sorts of skullduggery, they're all at it. Apple, for all its glossy image, uses subcontractors with dreadful records in both environmental and worker exploitation.

Big brands can pretend all they like but it's invariably all about money (they don't get big by being nice). Unless you hear it from someone like a Garment Technologist or, more realistically, someone who has actually worked in the factory, you don't know sod-all about what really goes on.

Stating that someone will take a shit wage over absolutely poverty is factually true but that doesn't make it right to exploit them. Would you want to live like that?

Howies try very hard to reduce their impact and source ethically, Veleco clothing too: http://www.veleco.cc/ethical-cyclewear
Lusso and Shutt VR manufacture cycle clothing in the UK.

Edit: I should add that some of the extra you pay for cycling brands over Aldi/Lidl may well go on materials, design and product testing. But lots of it will be spent on marketing (including team sponsorship, advertising, product launches and freebies given to reviewers), a posh HQ, the CEO's helicopter, importers/distributors' and dealers' margins and more.

Just to add another perspective to the cheap gear/fair-trade/corporate responsibility debate its worth noting that this sort of low-cost gear gets people cycling.

Lets say, as an example, that I drive 7 miles to work every day but I'm thinking of cycling instead. As well as buying a bike if I don't already have one I'm going to need some additional kit, especially at this time of year. Jackets, waterproofs, lights, mudguards, paniers etc. To buy all of this gear from certified fairtrade, eco, sustainable sources would cost £100s; probably enough to persude me to stick with the car for my daily commute.

I bought some pannier bags last time they had things on sale. They're broken already after occasional use. Hooks failed on one, waterproof cover section split on the other. Not going there again. Guess that's what you get of you pay peanuts...

yes the softshells were good last year, really nice fit. The shower jackets less so, a bit loose round the middle and not well cut.

I had one of the ALDI gilets a couple of years ago. The zip snapped off the second time I did it up. Couldn't get out of it so my mrs had to cut me out of it with scissors! Wouldnt bother buying anything with zips from them again, but the baselayers I got last time are great. Will probably nip down to take a look I guess.

I got last year's winter softshell. Brilliant value.

Off-topic, is it too much to ask to type 'at' and 'and'?

Carradice is a British company, making stuff in Britain, from British stuff. British workers can't be enslaved or flogged, even up north.

Are the gloves the same as last years? As in, when you try to remove your hand from them it pulls the lining out, meaning it's almost impossible to put your hand back in without spending 10 minutes rejigging the lining back in to place?

I threw mine away last year as they were unusable.

bohrhead wrote: Amazing what you can achieve during a 19 hour shift http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24195441

+1

can't say about fairtrade clothing, but in addition to howies (just bought a new jacket from them, 10x the price @ aldi but probably about 10x as good as well -- & made in portugal so presumably morally safe as well as showerproof) i also have cycling jerseys & merino base layers from embers & icebreaker. i'd be confident they're ok. also check out paramo.
in fairness to aldi & lidl & others, there is a debate to be had about sweat shops in developing countries. i've travelled a fair bit in very poor countries (in africa mostly) & people i've met would rather be working 10 or 12 hours a day for miserable wages than not working @ all. @ least then they can send their children to school (not really free in most of the world) so there's some hope their children can have a better life, even if they themselves will never know anything better.

Santini stuff is designed and manufactured in Italy. I am assuming that that is a good thing in terms of factory conditions. http://www.santinisms.it/en_who_we_are_madeinitaly.aspx

Amazing what you can achieve during a 19 hour shift http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24195441