Clothes gone crazy!

I think the fact that so much shopping is online makes a huge difference - I used to use my hands so much when shopping to feel quality and comfort, as well as looking to see how well things were finished. But online you can't do that so looking good in a photo is the main factor we have to go by.

I do most of my shopping on vinted for environmental reasons but generally like the quality too. And while I miss being able to touch before buying, it definitely beats spending hours trawling charity shops and getting nothing that I wanted!

I came on here to say Community Clothing (the company started by Patrick Grant) as their ethos is make well (in the UK) and it will last loner so you buy less. He was interviewed recently and said that manufacturers these days reduce costs by cutting uite significant corners like not preshrinking fabric.

You mentioned Brora - if you can afford their prices then its worth seeking out smaller indie brands. I've just discovered Justine Tabac who sells well made clothes often made from deadstock etc.

Would you mind messaging me about the groups please. I'd love to sew more than just hems and repairs! No experience though

On the other hand that is exactly why you should be looking at sewing patterns. They come in multiple sizes so you can adjust the top and bottom to your measurements. It obviously depends on what you are making how involved that is, but it means you get a made to measure garment. Fitting and adjusting patterns to suit you is part of the skill of knitting or sewing. It can be as easy as adjusting the length.

I think you have answered the question I would have asked.....I am plus sized (20 on top 16 ish on the bottom and tall, about 5'10) and was tentatively wondering about starting to make some of my own clothes but I think I would struggle to find patterns suitable for my size.
I am finding the quality of everything, not just clothing going down hill rapidly. I work in a similar industry to clothing and the corners being cut to create a profit margin are unbelievable. Sadly with things like shipping costs (eye watering) being taken into account something has to give and 99% of the time it is the end product that suffers.

Nope, @HeapsOfStuff, I got an armful of cotton jersey tops and an assortment of 'ponte' bottoms. They had cotton dresses too. All the supermarkets do offer a lot of polyester, though, because it's easy care and affordable.

Same thing with knitting patterns. Reddit is full of knitters and crocheters complaining about designers (most of whom make almost nothing from pattern designing and are doing this in addition to a day job) who don't offer knitting and crochet patterns in every possible size, and moaning about the ones that do because the pattern designers can never do a good enough job or cater for every last possible variation in plus size bodies.

Plus-size pattern creation (for knitting and for sewn fabric clothes) is just really hard, because whereas slim bodies tend to all be relatively similar to each other (other than height), plus size bodies vary a LOT because as humans gain weight, they gain weight in different ways, with some people gaining more in their busts, some in their stomachs, some in their hips, some in their thighs and so on. I kind of get why some fashion designers are apparently just giving up and creating plasticky tents with loads of elastic.

TBH Im not mad about it at all! I cant afford to shop in 'decent' shops most of the time but I have noticed very little difference in quality in an M&S or Seasalt tee shirt and one of my regular Poundland ones!
I think mid range brands are getting poorer quality items in, conversely alot of cheaper brands are upping their quality meaning there is less of a divide these days.
Of course there is a point where clothes become so expensive that the quality starts to match the price again but I cant afford those ones anyways!😄

If I remember correctly, Lucy & Yak were “called out” a couple of years ago because their size range went “only” up to size 22.
I’d imagine that larger sizes (beyond 20-22) would not only require more fabric, but also a redesign of the pattern though?

I bought a Ralph Lauren cotton jumper in sale last year and am quite impressed with the quality.
Proper chunky knit you can wear in winter even though it’s not wool. Washes really well too.

Me and my son have been saying this. The men’s Dept of M&S and Next (and others) have far more stylish clothes than the women’s. My son thinks it’s because men don’t shop so often and will wear their clothes till they fall apart so want to get some decent quality things but women like to shop more often and have more fast fashion. This is purely his take on it from his own personal clothes habit but there could be something in it (says I wearing a jumper so old it has BHS on the label). My own point of view is that men are much more stylish, better groomed (so better looking) than they were in my day (the 70s).

Oddly I have had a cracking thick cotton shirt and sturdy lyocell trousers from Asda this year. Go figure.

The need to cover a huge range of sizes is definitely part of the problem. I live in a country where there isn't much obesity, and most tops and dresses only come in 3, maybe 4 sizes - jeans somewhat more. When clothing manufacturers have to constantly come up with new styles to keep up with trends AND cover so many different sizes, it's going to really eat into their margins, and they will probably respond by cutting quality. The other way to solve the issue, of course, is to shift towards tent-like clothes with very little fit, drop sleeves, elastic, which we are also seeing all over the place.

Enshittification in action, basically.

I agree, but feel the Gaza Strip comment is in poor taste.

This is such an odd thread. It is true that there's often poor quality out there, but it's not my experience at all that this is universal. And the reality is that styles change so if you still want clothes in the styles you liked 20 years ago, that probably is going to be challenging. eg I wouldn't consider a t-shirt that doesn't cover your ass "cropped" nor a huge issue that you can't find them. Normal -shirt lengths are not routinely much below upper hip.

I haven't been doing a lot of clothes shopping over the last year or two but I have a few bits from M&S or John Lewis own brand and the quality is just fine. DD's clothes mostly come from Zara and are pretty good quality. Primark less so - because they're super cheap.

Sizing is an issue but I think that's partly the result of different fabrics and styles. It is weird though how much variation in size you can get even within the same store.

And as wide as a gate.

I have, more often when I was a child but it is still in use.

It’s used in a similar way to “the length of the Nile”. No one would say that phrase was in poor taste, even though the Nile goes through Sudan which is in the middle of a civil war.

Agree. Corporate greed and the onward march of global capitalism.

Apparently one shop tried to introduce pricing to reflect this (ie larger sizes costing more) but unsurprisingly it didn’t go down well and they abandoned it.

I think they absolutely should do this.

I'm also all for women's clothing being by actual size like menswear eg trousers and skirts in inches by waist size.

I'm sick of poor quality and non standard sizing. Also sick of everything being fucking pink or pastel shades 😂

I agree.

Recently went to an outlet village type place with DH and DS - there was a noticeable difference in both the choice and standard of clothing between the men's shops and women's - gave me the rage

My husband also reports that it's starting to affect men's clothes too now.

It makes sense that it should be priced by size doesn't it. Big difference between a size 8 and size 20 garment. They do it with kids clothes, definitely a tricky area though

As much as clothes retailers like to pretend to be 'eco', they are benefitting wildly from selling garbage as it's

1. Cheaper for them

And

  2. Means your clothes won't last so you'll be back to but more in a month or two

Part of the problem is people tumble drying stuff. It really does shorten the life of your clothes. I would never put a wool garment in the washing machine either.

I hand wash a lot and don't have issues, but I only buy wool, cotton or linen. It's definitely getting more difficult to find.