..clothes and shoes...

[malJohann]

I've got a couple of questions about clothes and shoes I need answered, since that's about the only things we're tagging along.

1. My wife wants to buy me some nice leather boots before we go, but being boots it weighs a lot, so should she rather buy them in Oz? I want to do the same for her too.

2. I already have a pair of full length CATs, but the soles are on their way out (because I love wearing them), should I just resole them and is it possible to put replacements of the originals on?

3. Should we replace any clothing or shoes with new items before coming over? Are prices really that bad and quality really so poor over there in Australia? Is it all "Made in China" or worse?

4. What is considered a good professional dress code in Australia for a Senior Analyst Programmer? Do I need suits or would long sleeve shirts with ties and jerseys do me good?

5. How should we prepare our clothes and shoes before packing it in for the flight? I don't want to get there and then one or two pet hairs on clothes, or a bit of dirt on shoes is a problem.

Keep in mind we're working on a weight budget here, and I'll have to throw out some items in order to add some of the above.

[Oosie]

Hi Johann

You will get a lot of answers with different views from the people on the Forum. There are shops like Target and a more expensive one is Myers that I find the clothes are really good quality, Target is cheaper than Myers but there quality of clothes is very good. You get shops like Kmart and Big W that's much cheaper but for me the quality is also not so good. Apart from these shops that I mensioned there is a lot of other shops with good quality clothes. The prices are not so bad if you shop around.

If I can give you advise bring enough clothes just to make up the kg that you can bring on the plane and if you need anything else buy it here, the sooner we all get used to buy our clothes here in Aus the sooner we will get use to it. Our daughter's mother in law came a few months ago from SA for a visit and brought some clothes with for our grandchild from Ackermans and Jet, after a few washes the clothes was in a worse state than the clothes we bought her here in Aus.

Everyone can decide for themself but for us the clothes here in Aus is just as good if not better.

Linda

[rozellem]

.

Hi Johann,

Let your wife buy her boots there and wear them on the plane. I always wear my heaviest stuff. Not because its too expensive here, when you see the perfect pair of boots you will kick yourself later that you did not buy them. You will be very busy when you land, so wont have time to run around shopping for loads of clothes. Dont know about CATS and getting them resoled. Do have a good clear out of your clothes and think if you want to take them to the other side of the world. You can always replace tshirts and less expensive, everyday items anywhere. Its not that things here are only Chinese imports, but a lot of the basics are. It takes a while for you to know which shops sell the stuff you like and where to find what. My husband is also in IT (in Sydney, so do ask someone in Melbourne) but he says suits are only for interviews. He wears open neck long sleave shirts and smart shoes, trousers. He wears a warm casual jacket to work and there it is warm enough to take the jacket off. So you probably wont need the jersey at work. He has never needed a tie. They actually want him to work with their logo golf shirt on Fridays. So Friday is dress down. Then he wears jeans and something with a collar. He works for banks but is not client facing. As for the cleaning, look at your soles and wash and brush your clothes before you pack. But you dont need to go all CSI on your stuff. Good luck.

[on our merry way]

my experience with leather(real leather) was that we found it vey expensive .we were in townsville so i dont know if its cheaper in diferent states

[LeeInOz]

I've got a couple of questions about clothes and shoes I need answered, since that's about the only things we're tagging along.

1. My wife wants to buy me some nice leather boots before we go, but being boots it weighs a lot, so should she rather buy them in Oz? I want to do the same for her too.

2. I already have a pair of full length CATs, but the soles are on their way out (because I love wearing them), should I just resole them and is it possible to put replacements of the originals on?

3. Should we replace any clothing or shoes with new items before coming over? Are prices really that bad and quality really so poor over there in Australia? Is it all "Made in China" or worse?

4. What is considered a good professional dress code in Australia for a Senior Analyst Programmer? Do I need suits or would long sleeve shirts with ties and jerseys do me good?

5. How should we prepare our clothes and shoes before packing it in for the flight? I don't want to get there and then one or two pet hairs on clothes, or a bit of dirt on shoes is a problem.

Keep in mind we're working on a weight budget here, and I'll have to throw out some items in order to add some of the above.

Here is the official website with distributors of CAT

http://www.catfootwear.com.au/Public/Galle...id=1&pid=99

http://www.wellingtonsurplus.com.au/listPr...PILLAR+FOOTWEAR they sell them for $250 or so and cheaper

http://au.shopping.com/xDN-shoes--brand_caterpillar here is another link with prices

Shoes and boots

http://www.shoecity.com.au/

Dress code. Depends on where you work. Neat and tidy seems OK for most industries. In the city centres some places like business dress like shirt ties jackets but in QLD you see very little of this.

They check the shoes you are wearing on arrival. The form asks if you have been in a farm etc. Just chek them before boarding and landing for seed. Pet hairs they wont really care about, only things that can grow (insects and weed seeds). I buy shoes at Rivers and all are very good quality and low cost. You get what you pay for.

If you must bring old CATs than get them soled at a good place before coming. I brought some (also like them) but think I must look for a new pair

[steve&dee]

Hi Johann

I just wanted to make a comment, whatever you are wanting to bring clothing or linen wise, do, do, do! We have been here for 20 months and finding it very expensive - even sales, which are exciting for us, but coming with rands takes a while to adjust, my husband and I keep saying when we return on our first holiday to SA in a year we will shop like crazy for clothing.. our friends went back and had to pay in for their luggage with having shopped so much in SA.. and they have been here and well settled for 4 and a half years and good earners, but still felt they could not resist the prices in SA versus Aus..

Cheerio

[Eva]

My hubby had his CAT boots resoled at the local shoe-repair guy in South Africa. And then wore them on the plane as I had heard so many reports of CAT boots being 'destroyed' because they were not properly cleaned. They didn't look at the shoes we were wearing at all.

All 3 of my kids school shoes are wrecked and it is only half way through the year, so my shoe buying experience is the quality is poor. And one of their shoes were really expensive as the cheaper ones were not available!

My opinion, the quality of stuff here is not great. Towels and linen I have bought here pill and shed terribly and this was expensive 300 thread count Egyptian cotton - still worse quality than good old Mr Price for a third of the price.

Bring it with you, you'll eventually have to buy here, but stock up with what you can....

[Alibaba]

At first the quality of the clothing I thought was poor, but I either got used to it or buy smarter now. I buy most of my own and my daughters clothes at Target. I do agree that Big W and KMart do not have equal quality than Target, BUT you have to be careful with what you choose. I bought 2 polar neck jumpers from Big W for work, wear and wash them often and they are still beautiful. I even bought a lined black jacket which is machine washable for $40 at Big W. I also bought a long Wool coat at the sales at Target for $48 (my husband paid $295 for his at a men's clothing store and it was marked down $100). The quality are the same.

Meyer/David Jones are expensive, but I had to buy some work clothes there as I couldn't find what I was looking for at the cheaper stores. The quality is fine, but to pay $99 for a long sleeve work shirt for myself (that was cheap, some was >$200) seems so much if I can get a similar item at Target for $40 or less if on sale.

Buy some new underwear, especially if there are certain brands you prefer. There is a big variety here, but it takes time to sort the brands out, especially for women's underwear. Also the shoes you like in SA. I don't buy lots of shoes, but when I do I like to buy real leather. There are loads here and very fashionable ones, but it's very expensive. I again found some on sale, so then it was affordable.

We are going for a visit to SA in Feb. I also want to buy a lot, especially work clothes for my husband at Woolworths and kids clothes at Ackermans. Price vs quality....... I'll have to see for myself how it looks.

You don't have to dress up for work. Most men wear decent trousers and a shirt with a jacket/coat for outside. Suits are very rarely worn.

[buzzbee]

continuing the shoe theme ... i have a school shoe question - i would like to buy some new school shoes for my kids and put them in the container - do the kids in the state primary schools (we will be in sydney) wear the lace-up black shoes like they do in SA? - those 'bata toughee' type shoes (my son seems to like the woolworths ones and finds them comfy so it's worth buying him a pair for next year before we leave).

do the girls wear lace-ups as well or do they wear the baby doll-type shoes?

i realise this may vary from school to school, so if it's a silly question, forgive me! but in CT they all pretty much wear the same shoes.

thanks!