Hi,
My son is doing a 10-week internship in Italy and will need work clothes. Prior to the internship, he will be backpacking Europe for five weeks beginning in England and ending in Italy. What is the best was to get his work clothes to Italy because it won't be possible to haul them around?
Thanks!
Tell him to buy new work clothes in Italy when he gets there.
Shipping them from home to Italy will not be cheap, so he might as well buy a brand new wardrobe. Luggage service companies charge at least $300-350 for a standard midsize suitcase under 50lb.
Besides if he dresses like the typical tacky American youngster, his peers and colleagues will laugh at him in Italy where everybody (especially young adults) are obsessed by being fashionable with the latest fancy clothes. Your son will feel uncomfortable if his peer laugh at him while he wears his huge white sneakers and baggy pants and he'll end up buying new clothes anyway so they won't make fun of him. So he might as well save money and space in the suitcase and purchase his new clothes in Italy.
Tell me where he's going to work and I might tell you a good place to shop that is not too expensive. The euro dropped in value so it's a good time to shop in Italy. Just put a lot of money in his pockets.
The obvious answer would be to ship a box, but unless you ship well ahead and have a place that can accept the box whenever it might show up, shipping can be risky.
Another option might be firms that ship luggage. they offer better timing, maybe pickup at a location, but I imagine it might be at a cost. Do some searches, several of these firms should pop up; an example would be www.luggagefree.com
I suppose the other alternative would be to adapt his travel clothes to work as work clothes and then take the money required to ship the clothes plus some and buy clothes there. Might sound extravagant, but in the end not much more cost.
Clothes go on sale in July.
By "work clothes" do you mean for an office job, or for manual work? If the latter, say working on the Ferrari production line, many of the overalls and safety shoes will likely be provided for him.
Thanks for all the responses!!! Regarding the type of clothes he will need, he is doing an internship as a physical therapist in Gavinana (sp) - about an hour from Florence. He has relatives in Florence, so could ship there, but maybe not worth it from reading the posts. Someone suggested economical shopping, any ideas about Florence shopping? Thanks so much!!!!
Outside the Mercato in the city center are dozens of stalls selling all sorts of things, including clothes. These will be things you would find on "sale" racks at stores or good second hand clothing. There are other markets as well.
I am also sure there are some discount type stores, I tried to search to see if something rang a bell...did not find anything I recall, but a search might yield some ideas. I did find this, might be some ideas: http://blog.studentsville.it/living-abroad-2/student-stories/florentine-fashion-student-funds/
when he first arrives he should buy a pair of slacks and a couple of shirts and then see what others are wearing and flesh out his wardrobe. IMHO the junk sold in the tourist market of Florence is not only generally badly cut but of abysmal quality. On the couple of occasions we have purchased clothing there it has been a mistake. There are all sorts of department stores where he can outfit himself in hte basics and then build on that as he sees what he needs. Since he has a potential recipient (relative) in Italy, shipping a small box of basics is also a reasonable idea.
Quirite didn't catch the subtle satire in my comment.
In any case. If your son is a PT and is going to have an internship in Gavinana (a town in the province of Pistoia), chances are he will be working in one of the Rehab centers of the Turati Foundation. My aunt went there in the last years of her life.
I presume they will give him the uniforms or scrubs. If not he can ask where he can find them. The medical uniform worn by nurses or therapists is called "camice da infermiere". Therapists also wear a sort of uniform jacket that is called "casacca medica". I know the area as my aunt and uncle lived near, but don't know of a specialized store that sells those uniforms. Google the words above and maybe you can find something online.
For regular clothes in Florence at the San Lorenzo market there are plenty of choices. Or on the West side of the station, on via Alamanni, there is Santini, a reasonably priced store that sells everything from jeans to business suits (that's where I buy my business suits).
However Gavinana is near Pistoia. That entire area from Prato to Pistoia is where the Tuscan apparel industry is (now mostly Chinese owned). There are plenty of even cheaper places there. Just tell him to ask his colleagues.
Thanks again! After reading all your responses I am going to have him purchase clothes there. That seems to be the most sensible option. Happy to hear that all young Italians do not deck themselves out in designer clothes. In the States, PT's don't usually wear scrubs, and it is the facility mentioned in an earlier post, so he should be good to go as far as work clothes. For the rest of it, he'll figure it out! Thank you again!!!
H&M is a great, affordable place to find appropriate clothes.
