As it states on the booklet, no one could buy clothes without these coupons, and they could not be used until the appointed date and the booklet had been
officially declared valid. This generated a whole country that, for the most part, made do , and clothes were mended and passed down through the family, even to the point of adapting girl's clothes to be worn by boys and vice versa. Even when completely ragged, the clothes were used/recycled.
