Fashion and Shopping (3)
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Hello. This is 6 Minute English and I'm Neil. And joining me today is Rob.
Hello. Rob, how do you feel about shopping?
Urgh! Mooching around a shopping mall from one shop to another,
spending money - it's my idea of hell!
How about shopping online?
Ah yes, much better – sitting in front of the TV and browsing online is much easier.
Well, that can be a problem – it's sometimes too easy, especially when we are tired – and we
sometimes make purchases we regret. That's what we'll be talking about in this programme – an
activity known as 'vampire shopping'. But before we continue, it's my job to set you
a quiz question, so here goes. According to the UK's Office for National Statistics,
at the end of 2018, what percentage of all retail sales took place online? Was it…
a) 9.8%, b) 19.8%,
or c) 29.8%?
Buying things online is big business now, so I'll say c) 29.8%.
Well, you'll have to wait a bit to find out. But let's talk more now about vampire shopping – this
term refers to shopping late at night - traditionally a time when vampires appear.
Most of us are asleep at this time but sleep-deprived parents,
shift-workers and gamers might not be. If you're an insomniac – someone who
can't sleep easily – it's tempting to open up your laptop and start shopping.
Online shops are open 24 hours a day so it's easy to get sucked in and do some shopping!
When you get sucked into something it means you can't stop yourself getting
involved with something that you didn't want to do. So what you're saying Neil is at night,
when we're very tired, we don't always think straight and can make some bad decisions.
That's right. And this shopping temptation can be particularly problematic for those with mental
health issues. It's something Helen Undy has been talking about on the BBC Radio 4 programme,
You and Yours. She is the Chief Executive of the Money and Mental
Health Institute. Let's hear what she had to say…
Our ability to control our impulse to spend and to resist things like advertising
is reduced when we're sleep deprived. Well mental health problems can have a similar
effect so the mental health problems themselves make it harder to resist the urge to spend
and they also cause sleep deprivation, so you're alone possibly surfing the internet, and both the
lack of sleep and the mental health problems make it harder to resist the things that you can see.
Helen said that for all us, when we're sleep deprived – that means
not having enough sleep – we find it harder to resist the urge to shop.
We're more sucked in to shopping by the advertising we see.
And resist the urge means stop yourself acting on a strong
feeling to do something. But this is more serious for people with mental health
issues. They are particularly sleep deprived and along with everything that's going
on in their minds, they find it harder to resist – to stop themselves buying things.
I suppose buying things at night, if you're alone, gives you some comfort - even a feel-good
factor – doing something that gives someone a happy and positive feeling. I certainly feel
good when I've bought something. But Rob, have you ever bought something you regret?
Yes. Bits of tech, even flight tickets to somewhere I didn't
really want to go to – because they were cheap!
Regret is a sad feeling you get when you've made a mistake and wished you hadn't made
the mistake in the first place. We all have regrets Rob, particularly
when buying things – but there's usually the option to return something and get a refund.
That's true but it's not always easy. Let's hear what Helen Undy had to say about that.
We found in our research that 75% of people,
so regardless of whether you've got a mental health problem or not - three-quarters of people
didn't send back the last thing they bought online that they regretted. We found that 4
in 10 people with mental health problems didn't send things back because they were so ashamed of
the things that they were buying that they just wanted to pretend it never happened.
So, she says that three-quarters of people didn't send back the last thing
they bought that they regretted. Maybe they were too embarrassed?
Possibly. But it's not always easy to return an item
and for those with mental health issues it can be a struggle,
a great effort. Helen Undy says that sometimes they were ashamed of their purchase.
Well, I think we have all bought things we are ashamed of. But while
online shopping continues to expand the temptation will always be there.
Well, your question earlier was about the rise in online shopping, so what's the answer, Neil?
I asked according to the UK's Office for National Statistics, at the end of 2018, what percentage of
all retail sales took place online? Was it… a) 9.8%,
b) 19.8%, or c) 29.8%?
I said c) 29.8%. I've got to be right!
Well, you're not. The rise was a bit smaller at b) 19.8%. But that's still
large compared with ten years previously, when the figure was just 5.8% of all retail sales.
No doubt the figure will continue to rise. And before I nip off to do a bit of vampire shopping,
let's recap some of the vocabulary we've mentioned today. Starting with insomniac.
An insomniac is someone who can't sleep easily. They suffer from insomnia.
Next, we talked about to get sucked into something. This informal phrase means not
being able to stop yourself getting involved with something that you don't want to do.
If you are sleep deprived, you do not have enough sleep.
And if you resist the urge, you stop yourself acting on a strong feeling to do something.
For example, resisting the urge to buy something online.
But if you don't resist the urge to buy something, it might have a feel-good
factor. A feel-good factor is something that makes you feel happy and positive.
But after buying something you may have regret. That's a sad feeling you get
when you've made a mistake and wished you hadn't made the mistake in the first place.
Well, hopefully you haven't regretted spending 6 minutes listening to us! Please join us next time
and in the meantime, why not check us out on your favourite social media platforms and on our app.
Goodbye! Goodbye!
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Dan.
Neil Let me just sit down. Ah! And I'm Neil.
Dan Neil, are you wearing high heels?
Neil Hang on. Ah! Not any more!
Dan How did they feel?
Neil Agony! How do women do this?
Dan Why on earth are you wearing them?
Neil Well,
I wanted to look fashionable and cool! Everyone knows that high heels are the
height of fashion – on the street, at work and at parties. I'm ready for anything!
Dan I'm not so sure you're right there,
Neil. Our topic for this 6 Minute English is about the rise in popularity of the comfy shoe. However,
before we step into that, let's have our quiz question. Which famous sports clothing company's
first pair of running shoes was inspired by the square pattern on a waffle-making machine? Was it:
a) Adidas
b) Nike, or
c) Puma
Neil Well,
I have no idea, so I'm going to say Adidas because that's got marks.
Dan We'll have
to wait until later to find out. So, what do you think of when I say comfy shoes?
Neil Well,
comfy is an adjective which is an informal way of saying 'comfortable'. So, I suppose we're
talking trainers. But I was always told that trainers weren't appropriate for everywhere,
like work and many formal or social places, such as parties, bars and clubs.
Well, that certainly used to be the case, but that may not be as true any more. Victoria Moss
is the Senior Fashion Editor at the Telegraph newspaper in the UK. Here she is speaking on
BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour about why trainers are considered more fashionable these days.
Is it something that's happened very recently? Well I think it's been, sort of, coming on for a while. And I think one thing in fashion in the last 10 years has been a, sort of, mass
casualisation of everything. And there's been a big streetwear trend, which has filtered through.
So, is it something that's happened very recently?
Apparently not, no. She said that there has been a mass
casualisation of things over the last 10 years.
Casualisation here means 'the process of becoming less formal and more relaxed' – 'more casual'.
Yes! Society has relaxed its idea of what is considered formal or appropriate.
In addition, we're told there has been a big streetwear trend. Streetwear is a style
of casual clothing worn especially by young people from urban settings – that's the city.
This trend has filtered through.
If something filters through, it appears or happens gradually over time.
So, presumably, the trend for streetwear filtered through
from its specialised area into mainstream fashion until everyone was following it.
Well, that explains why trainers are more fashionable these days,
but it doesn't explain why people are wearing them more. Not everyone follows fashion, you know.
Yes, Neil I can see that when I look at you. But you're forgetting the comfy part. Emma Supple is
a podiatrist – a foot doctor - who also spoke on Woman's Hour. Here she is explaining why
being comfy is so important. What are people doing more these days that they weren't before?
So what we're actually talking about is, actually, people, for wellness walking more
and doing more… and they're not going to do that in a lot of high heels… so trainers are changing
the materials. There are now a lot of fabric trainers and if you've inherited foot problems,
then that kind of fabric… they're wrapping around knobbly bits, and knobbly bits hurt.
What are people doing more?
They're walking more and they're doing it for wellness. Wellness is the state of being healthy.
As a result, trainers have had to change their materials to fabric
to make themselves more comfortable.
Not only that, but if you have any foot problems, these fabric, or cloth,
trainers are better at fitting to the shape of your foot. That means if you have any
knobbly bits, they won't hurt as much, which makes trainers more comfortable for everyone!
Knobbly is an adjective that means 'lumpy' – 'having many raised areas on the surface'.
So, it's the combination of a change in fashion and a change in materials
that's made trainers and other comfy shoes more popular than ever, right?
Exactly! And hard on the heels of that revelation, we can reveal the answer to our
quiz question. Earlier I asked which famous sports clothing company's first pair of running shoes
was inspired by the square pattern on a waffle-making machine. Was it:
a) Adidas
b) Nike, or
c) Puma
Neil, you said?
I said Adidas
Sorry. The answer is Nike. In 1971 their co-founder Bill Bowerman was
having breakfast when he saw the waffle machine
and it inspired the design of Nike's first running shoe. Let's hope it was comfy one.
Aha! It must be time to review our vocabulary!
So, first we had comfy – an adjective which is an informal ways of saying 'comfortable'.
Then we had casualisation. This describes the process of things,
such as fashion or behaviour, becoming less formal and more casual.
Next was streetwear. That describes a style of casual clothing that is worn especially
by young people who live in cities.
Then we heard filtered through. If something filters through, it appears or happens gradually
over time. For example, has it filtered through to you yet, Neil, that high heels were a mistake?
Yes it has! They didn't do anything for my wellness,
I can tell you, which means 'the state of being healthy'.
