Clothing in Thailand
I used to take our son to school, neatly dressed in blue shorts with a razor-sharp crease, a white shirt with the school emblem and his name embroidered on it, white socks that hit just below the knee, and black shoes.
Along the way we saw dozens of other children going to school, sometimes in the same outfit, but also in different colors from another school. At the morning roll call of the school, where the Thai national anthem is sung together, about 1500 students are neatly lined up.
So all children in the same clothes, call it a school uniform. So no one can show off their own, sometimes expensive clothes and no one has to be ashamed of the fact that his parents have no money to buy nice clothes. Yes, on the way you have already seen that children from the lesser neighborhood go on their way in nice school clothes, waved goodbye by mother or grandmother in simple, say shabby clothes.
Schoolboy
I am (postponed) jealous of this use, I would have liked to have had it as a student. My parents weren't poor, but I didn't know the luxury of nice clothes then. I went to school with the same pants and sweater all week (also with the same underwear) and you could just see that a lot of my clothes had already been worn by my three year older brother. Other students, often children of shopkeepers, doctors, etc. regularly had new and beautiful clothes from expensive shops. No, not designer clothes, because that concept did not exist, it was important in which store you bought the clothes. My parents ordered a lot of clothes for the whole family from Wehkamp, not really fashionable, but cheap and the advantage of paying weekly, so that the child benefit did not suddenly run out.
Branded clothing is a phenomenon that I really detest. What am I supposed to do with a T-shirt with big Versace letters on my chest or jeans with Dolce & Gabbana on my butt? That in itself is not typical ภาษาไทย, but the big difference with western countries is that the designer clothing you see here is often a cheap counterfeit of the original.
Uniforms
There are no designer clothes for sale in the countryside, there are no Gucci or Guess stores there. The clothing is often of cheap Chinese manufacture, bought at the village market; if you ever see a reasonably nice shirt or dress, it is often a warrior from, for example, a family member who lives and works in the big city. Clothing worn by a Farang is also very popular, I have already told you that in my wife's village there is a man walking around in referee uniform I have discarded, but I have also seen men and women in a Manchester United shirt , Ajax or Feijenoord. Their supporters are apparently everywhere.
I'm not that fond of uniforms, so the sometimes beautiful clothes of all those different security people don't bother me. I do like the uniform clothing (big difference with the word uniform) in banks, restaurants, shops and companies. In my opinion it gives a worthy cachet to the company. In the Netherlands that is almost unthinkable, mainly because of the costs.
I am not a fashion police officer, but I can appreciate beautiful clothes. The "service clothes" of the bar and disco girls literally don't wear much during their work, but if you find them in a disco after work, they generally look beautiful, sexy and elegantly dressed.
Holiday clothing
You can often not say that about the Farangs. I often think, you do have some decency and a sense of standards. Yes, I also walk around my house during the day in only sports pants, but as soon as a visitor reports and it doesn't matter who, I put on a shirt. In my bare chest on the motorbike into the city? No way! And when I go out at night, it's in jeans and shirt and certainly not in those hideous imitation camouflage pants or with a “beer shirt” or a T-shirt with those so-called funny comments like “Good boys go to heaven, bad boys go to Pattaya”. During the day, many Farangs stroll along the boulevard in Pattaya or hang out in holiday clothes, but you see truly impossible combinations of shirt and trousers. Sandals with socks and (too) shorts, how can you show yourself like that. I don't even want to talk about the pigtails or mats in the neck and the tattoos.
Clothes also make the man when it comes to holiday clothes and those guys who are so badly dressed in my eyes immediately get a negative stamp from me, no matter how nice they can be.
– Reposted message –
Gringo states that there is a big difference between a uniform and uniform clothing.
I don't see it that way. It both means that the members of a certain group wear similar clothing.
Perhaps when Gringo thinks of 'uniforms' – which he doesn't particularly like – he thinks of (professional) groups that try to radiate a certain degree of authority, whether justified or not, by means of a tough uniform (he himself cites security guards as an example), while he with 'uniform clothing' one thinks more of banks, restaurants, shops and companies, whereby it should exude a degree of 'cachet', whether justified or not, through elegance or the like.
The difference, if it can be defined unequivocally at all, seems to me to be extremely subtle rather than large.
But maybe I'm missing something or I didn't understand it.
There is a difference between a 'uniform' and 'uniform' clothing.
The first is a noun, the second an adjective.
You don't see any differences in that, but you understand that there are.
The 'uniforms' of scouts and guides are completely different.
But they both always dress 'uniform'.
Just to bring up the subtle difference.
Gringo voluntarily walked around in a Marine uniform for 6 years. So if you don't like a uniform that much, it's not too bad. Was a cute uniform.
Ha ha, Theo, that's the crux of why I don't like uniforms.
Once out of service, I swore to myself never to wear a uniform again and
moreover never again to wear a beret, hat, cap, beanie or other headgear.
Another great article Gringo, totally agree with you.
I totally agree with the writer. In Pattaya terrible all those fat unkempt people with their "holiday" clothes. Surely you inherited decency from your mother during your upbringing. You can put on a shirt when you walk in public areas.
oh yes, those Northern European Farangs…. and Australians and Americans….. very often have few standards. Spaniards, Portuguese and Thais, etc., will never go bare-chested on a terrace, at lunch or in a shop, they do have a sense of style (or have had a better education). At least they have higher standards. They are not trying to make anyone feel uncomfortable or spoil their appetite or make them a little nauseous.
Totally agree with you, mr. Gringo. I am in favor of school uniforms. May be imported immediately for me in the Netherlands.
And as far as the appearance of many farang is concerned: I also practice discrimination. If you look like a piece of shit, people treat you like a piece of shit.
Nice puh.
.
The advantage of school uniforms is that every child, regardless of their social background, can feel equal to the other children.
It is also not immediately clear to the teaching staff whether the child comes from a so-called better off family.
The clothing and especially expensive brand competition between children, which is known from many countries in Europe, has occasionally taken on ridiculous forms.
I think that many parents in Europe would welcome it if there was also a uniform requirement there.
Well, I think I pretty much understand what you mean. Partially undressed in a place accessible to everyone other than the beach, is indeed not very appropriate.
But otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, everyone is able to decide for themselves what to wear, I'm not going to go over that.
I myself sometimes feel underdressed in many places in Bangkok with shorts, shirt, short sleeves and sandals, but yes I do feel very comfortable in that.
Let me give it a bit now to wrap myself in long pants with a shirt with long sleeves and preferably also a tie that I have long ago renounced with about 35 degrees or more.
I have also experienced that many Farang who think they should do this perspire so heavily that the not really fresh air moves them meters ahead and back, which has spoiled my coffee or lunch many times and has made me look diligently for another seat far away, look at me again.
By the way, I still have the idea that what you have written actually says a lot about you for a good listener, but that is not a bad thing…………
Of course it is no problem at all for someone to wear shorts, shirt or T-shirt at high temperatures.
Only whether everyone is able to find and wear the right clothing for every environment, I unfortunately have a different opinion.
Although it is written everywhere, at the various temples you still see people who apparently have not found their right clothing.
Also at a breakfast or evening buffet I find it extremely distasteful when you see people with so-called sweat shirts without sleeves, where they hang their armpit hair over the food of the others.
It is not uncommon to see such people participating in the cheap,, All you can eat ”buffets, especially in Pattaya.
Moreover, their figure is often such fat bobbins that any concealing clothing would look better.
If such a person, who indicates that he/she apparently does not know how to dress, continues to refuse to adapt in a restaurant, this person should be refused entry without mercy.
DJ, do you go into a bank dressed like that? Or the Embassy? Or a government building? Or Immigration? I was sent away from the Immigration Bangkok, soi Suan Plu because I was wearing a sleeveless shirt, change first. The year? 1977, just nineteen seventy-seven. Since then I have always been neatly dressed and recently received a compliment from Thais because they are "fed up" from Farangs who look like you.
Beats. Been stationed in a government building as an intern once for a month straight. Some Westerners, if they reported sleevelessly, were asked to report back 'to be dressed appropriately' for a new appointment. Not the same day.
Of course, in your garden or with the neighbors in the countryside it's not so close. But if you go to dinner with them, you can be sure that they appreciate it 110% when you dress up or just wear long pants and a shirt with a turtleneck. Furthermore, I worked in BKK for 10 years, and with long trousers and shirt made of cotton (no tie practice) it is just as fresh or hot as with shorts or a t-shirt. It is not for nothing that a safari suit consists of long cotton trousers and a shirt with long sleeves. In the bush that is even recommended because of insect bites and the sanding of vegetation, etc. And the weekends in … yes, Pattaya, the same. And change clothes on the beach, yes, they saw me go into the sea in swimming shorts and flip flops. You can also think about the fact that a Thai – proud as they are – would rather see you in your shirt than in a singlet. Mutual respect. But here too, the barbeque isn't Saturday night dinner with your in-laws. a little etiquette only brings benefits. And a stinker, who stinks in a tight suit as well as in his singlet.
Dear, a shirt with short sleeves, as I wrote, is something different from a sleeveless shirt, say shirt, which I then wear under a shirt, but only when it is cold.
I have never been refused anywhere, on the contrary I am very welcome everywhere, but I think my good manners and respect for the country and its inhabitants contribute a lot to this.
First of all, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The Netherlands is a country of individualists. This is reflected in the clothing. School uniforms or school clothes absolutely do not fit in here. In addition, as a teacher I teach newcomers, with a theme about clothing. Not once in recent years have I heard a student say they prefer a school uniform, even though they come from such a country. Without exception, all the parents of our students are poor. They are not yet allowed to work and receive benefits or an allowance.
Mister BP, This is typically another theme where the many opinions will differ strongly.
In most Western countries on the European continent, we have learned not to accept anything that is duty.
Even children who are not yet required to wear a compulsory uniform will never report themselves to wear it, which is why you have never heard of this in your school.
Most children, even from poorer families, are certainly fashion conscious and try to impress even as children in their own way, albeit with cheaper copies.
The fact that in your school, as you write, there are only children from poor families, is in itself a peculiarity.
Most schools will have at least a certain percentage of students who start a desirable competition with their often material thinking and expensive brands of clothing.
And to prevent the latter, by giving everyone the same clothing duty, you play into the hands of many other parents.
Incidentally, I come from a country where it was a duty, and I have always taken this for granted, and I have not had any problems with this.
While in today's schools where it is no longer a duty, the envy and envy relationship between children is already stimulated in childhood.
Yes, those uniforms are great. Pupils, students, teachers, soldiers, police, civil servants, monks, flight attendants, doctors and nurses all wear uniforms. Must, otherwise we can't tell all those kinds of people apart and we don't know how low to bow.
I also advocate that all foreigners be obliged to wear a uniform so that they become equal to each other and can be clearly distinguished from the Thais immediately. Maybe each nationality has a different color. For the Dutch, everything is orange or a combination of red, white and blue.
For the Dutch, everything orange doesn't seem very useful to me. This color is already in use by a certain group. I regularly see them passing by, often on foot. Then maybe red, white and blue would be better.
I think that Tino does have a different opinion, so that he is deliberately provoking with a uniform for different nationalities and his aversion to existing uniforms.
Surely there will be professions, of which a single individual is not worth wearing the uniform, because he abuses it, but in schools I see only advantages of this.
Furthermore, the appearance of a nationality, as Tino almost jokingly puts it, should not be indicated by a uniform, but by a good education, which teaches a person exactly where certain clothes are going to be very painful.
And the latter could also happen with a uniform in red, white, blue with an orange cap.555
Yes, the clothes of the school children, beautiful, everyone the same, so no discrimination.
But for some people that costs a lot of money, that is an additional cost.
And you are obliged to buy and wear it.
Don't give me a certain sense of freedom in Thailand.
The farang's turn now.
And what you trip over, everyone cares what he wears, and if it's a beautiful lady preferably
as little as possible huh, or not hahhaaha
Bare bark, I see a lot of thias walking here in bare bark sometimes.
Of course if a farang walks bare-chested, and he doesn't have the body for yes, that will come anyway
a little confused about,
A muscular man with the necessary dose of looks beautiful or not, the ladies also want to see something, right? .
Funny, I really think almost diametrically different from the writer of this piece, especially with regard to Europeans dressing themselves in scanty or ugly clothing. I absolutely don't see what it has to do with higher standards to go into town dressed in a shirt versus a sleeveless shirt.
It's also hypocritical: Men like to see an attractive young thing walking around in mini pants and a power shirt, but what if a fat sweating foreigner does the same.
It is up to no one but the person in question to determine how he or she wants to appear, as long as it is approved by the authorities.
I think it's pretty bible-belt like to have an opinion on that as a private person.
You have a good right to think that way.
But do you see that attractive Thai beauty, sitting under the moonlight, staring in love at the man with the belly hanging under his singlet. His white lower legs full of mosquito bites, if one hopes so. Not to mention the armpits or toenails. That is not so important in the tendon room. But. Rest assured that if she ever takes it to her family, he'll have to buy a shirt and slacks, and wear socks in his flip-flops.
Furthermore, the authorities do have a minimum dress code for temple or museum visits. Do you go there in shorts and singlet and do you change into a shirt and long trousers? Or stay away from there.
But, everyone is entitled to their own (wrong) opinion.
It has to do with norms and values that unfortunately are not understood by many. One thinks one can do what one would definitely not do at home, especially offend by perspiring and smelly, dressed in shorts with singlet and sandals, even daring to go to restaurants. Fortunately, these people are usually denied access to the better restaurants.
Uniforms? Brrr. I wonder how many of the proponents would have loved to hop around in a uniform all the way up to ubiversity in their own youth? It does not hide more than the class differences at first glance, but children are not stupid, they know after some interaction whether someone is poor or not. Instead, introduce child benefit so that parents have some money for clothing, etc. Build up a social safety net and welfare state little by little.
Although Tino's idea is brilliant. I would add color codes myself that indicate whether you are single or not. Handy if you are looking or want to be found. Texts such as 'I respect Thai culture, I will pay you ฿20,000 pocket money per month' can then be placed on the back. Brilliant if I do say so myself. 555
The arguments for and against school uniforms are clear.
Is the student primarily an individual in the making, or mainly part of a group?
The costs are also not negligible.
It is the families who have to bear these costs.
It's not just about the national school outfit, there's also the sportswear, the boy scout uniforms and the ethnic dress drachren (at least in the north, on Fridays).
Poor families have perhaps a thousand baht to spend every month.
These costs are imposed on them from outside.
Uniforms are of high quality. They are passed down, if not through family, then through temple or school itself. Only those who can afford it buy it, the others get it. It really is, even if not everyone likes to admit that they have to wear passed-on clothing. But you don't see that since everyone wears the same thing ;~) The fact is that everyone wears it, doesn't rebel against it. A good system stands on its own. If society starts to think differently about it, it will change. For example, the rules in some BKK colleges were relaxed once, and students were allowed to wear their shirt off at a certain point. This was so badly received that the next season everyone walked out again with the shirt in the pants.
Is the student primarily an individual in the making, or mainly part of a group?
That's a very good question. It is also clear how the different communities answer that question.
Apart from the cost, which is indeed quite large and many people have to borrow money for, I have never heard a schoolchild or student say that they appreciate the uniforms. They almost all want to get rid of it. But maybe I'm hanging out with the wrong people.
Of course there are many pupils and students who would prefer not to wear a uniform.
I think this also has to do with the fact that humanity in general has something against duty and rules.
But to say that all this is much more expensive than the normal civilian clothing, I have serious doubts.
Regardless of whether a person comes from a poor or well-to-do family, many people actually have their idea of impressing others in their genes from birth.
Only in the eyes of most schoolchildren and students, at most those will be able to conduct this competition, where a few Baht need not be looked at at home.
A competition that is unfeasible for most, especially in Thailand, causes unnecessary unrest, and can be easily solved with a uniform.
Someone who thinks that the annual purchase of a uniform is more expensive than regularly following the up-to-date fashion, which is OUT again after a few months according to the youth, has not studied this world for a long time.
These clothes are much more expensive than the usual clothes. My son has 3 different uniforms (regular blue, something like a boy scout, and a regional dress) and 1 different kinds of shoes. Heavily growing, so 2 or XNUMX x a year there must be a new cloak and shoes. Only child, so no getting or passing on.
Our neighbors regularly have to borrow money to pay for this.
Normal clothes come from China, we are ready for 3-400 bath. Flip-flops, and play. And… Where I live, Thai children don't do the up to date fashion. People are happy to wear decent clothes.
Dear Tina,
Children between the ages of 6 and 16 usually just want to look like their peers. Uniformity, that is also called in child psychology. Just look at the hairstyles. If there is a fad, everyone follows it and soon everyone at school has the same haircut. A few years ago, that Ducktale hairstyle was so trendy. The fidget spinner, … Everyone wants the same thing. In your younger years it will have been knuckles or marbles.
In the puberty phase, things will change more quickly, then girls will see that there are females with larger curves, have different interests, boys will see the same. Yes, then they will grow up, and they will also get to know their skills for which they are more or less genetically predisposed. Then they can individualize and quickly specialize. Technical school, vocational school, literature, philosophy, then they become individuals. But until they are - roughly - 16 years old, they mainly want to be the same together, before having to start the hard school of real life.
The uniform at school mainly teaches adults that their children are all equal, for a while.
“Is the student primarily an individual in the making, or mainly part of a group?”
I think mainly part of a group on the way to individuality, the question is when does that start?
Saw a commercial on Dutch TV in which a mother asks her child, approximately 3-5 years old, what are we having for dinner tonight? Does that child know much other than chicken, fries and applesauce? (exceptions)
What is the role of a Mother/Father/Parent??? Parenting, right? Passing on Norms and Values.
So that when you grow up/ mature!! you can adapt, and not like many today in NL behave like aso and even worse on holiday think they can afford everything. As in bare-chested/ sweating/ smelly wandering the shops/ bars/ or worse looking for…???
My experience with school uniforms is by far preferable to the battle of fashion clothes from the “brand” names, all the more so that they probably come from the same factory.
And yes, some of us can't put ourselves in another world,…never too old to learn.
Enjoy life, it's just... too short