Target/Big W/K-Mart etc sometimes sell plain-coloured cotton shirts, jumpers and pants for often around $2, manufactured at factories in China, but also India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and other low-wage countries. While these companies of course buy in volume and pack in as much as they can per shipping container, international postage from China is also very cheap and can easy fit a folded adult male shirts.
A pair of cotton pants may not be the most fashionable piece of clothing, but they're comfortable and great for sleeping in (and as underclothes for 6am cycling commutes on rainy winter mornings)
I'd like to buy factory direct if possible - I want pay the people sowing my clothes fair rates, and not the middle-men like K-Mart or Big W
So OzBargainers, is there any particular shops you buy from?
Or do you use AliExpress/Alibaba and eBay?
I would have assumed judging by the amount of sellers selling the same stuff that they buy from a third party rather than making them themselves. The clothing is most likely still made in the same sweat shops as your Kmart gear.
The only issue is that you have their shipping and handling charges on top, which doesn't amount to much admittedly, but it means that the cheapest you'll a find a t-shirt on Ali express is nearly $4 instead of $2