to feel annoyed that clothes in shops are so crap

[soggydigestive]

Why is it such a struggle to buy decent clothes. I went in Gap today and everything was reduced but it was all awful. Just dreadful designs, fabrics, unflattering things.
I went on holiday in Italy recently and could have bought everything in a couple of clothes shops I visited - simple tops and t shirts in lovely fabrics and loads of great colours. Here I can't get anything similar to that, we just don't seem to have shops like that.
And yet with M & S going down the pan and the High street in general not doing well, why can't we just have clothes shops with some decent good quality good fabric not too expensive things in them?

Most of my wardrobe is Uniqlo

Terrific value and simple / classic.

@AjasLipstick
Yep! My DP is constantly moaning about the quality of stuff here (He's from NI) but tbh I think he'd get abit of a shock going home now as he hasn't been for ten years. In saying that his Mum sent us a lot of lovely baby clothes when our DD was born and the quality was excellent. The brands are George and M&S. Much much better than you can get here at the likes of KMart and Target. Unfortunately it's 'fast fashion'. The Netflix documentary 'The True Cost' provides a great and very sad insight into this.

Why not look at buying clothes from the Italian shops online? You can actually pick up some good finds on Amazon. I rarely buy anything from a physical shop anymore. I order everything online to get petite sizes or better ranges.

I do think clothing companies are more concerned with 'fast' fashion now and to keep us buying they do make cheap tat people will wear once and then dispose of. It's like everyone decided to follow Primark's business model. Thing is though, when New Look was recently closing loads of shops, one of the main reasons they said New Look was struggling was because they were ignoring customers aged 25-40 who wanted affordable basics rather than fashionable pieces.

Can folk link to what they think of as 'decent' quality? What would be flattering to you, what are 'classic' clothes?

I wouldn't pay £70 for a t-shirt. Uniqlo stuff never appeals to me.

Yes, yes, yes I feel the same way here in Australia. I hate polyester clothing. I love cotton. It is really hard to find clothes, pyjamas, bedding made with 100% cotton. I also hate skinny jeans. They just don't suit me and trying to find boot cut, while possible, is like finding a needle in a haystack. I was looking for a light jacket (as I live in Qld) and most of what I found was not suitable for our weather or was just plain ugly synthetic crap with crappy stitching. I found a denim jacket that was cotton polyester blend no real shaping and kind of ugly for $120. For that price couldn't it have some quality to it. Makes me so mad. Then when I find clothes that I like online it ends up with a we don't ship to Australia Seriously considering buying a sewing machine and learning how to make my own clothes but would probably have a hard time finding decent fabric. I crochet and find it hard to find decent affordable yarn. Whatever I make in crochet costs a bloody fortune because I like cotton yarn and the selection of yarns is quite small compared to acrylic. Polyester and acrylic are plastic. I really hate the feel of them as a fabric and I don't like the fact that plastic lint escapes into our waterways. Rant over, feel better now

When I was younger I used to notice that the clothes were made in Italy, Spain, Turkey... the lovely cotton items... I love
Italian cotton.

Now, it's all made in China or Bangladesh. This is the difference. All made using polyester materials. So many times I have taken things back to M&S after wearing once (not even washing) as items have begun to bobble. Even items I have paid gbp 50-60 for... such as a top or a sweater...

Bossbabysapprentice
Drat! I'm going to Aus on holiday soon and though shopping was good.
I've always liked the surf brands and bonds cotton stuff for kids. Country road used to be lovely.
Has that also dived in quality ?

Ive spent the last two weeks in Italy, Switzerland and Germany. The clothes shops were great and good quality seemed to be the norm even though the usual high street shops were also available.

People generally seemed to prefer independent retailers who’d gone out and sourced well made clothes that looked great and were affordable.

The staff in these shops looked after customers really well and it seemed to me that they took pleasure in helping me and other customers get rigged out with new clothes.

The whole experience has left me seriously contemplating only buying clothes when I visit my friend from now on in.

I got persuaded into buying a polyester ditsy print top from French Connection a few days ago.

Why...?

It cost me £60 for a piece of flimsy piece of tat that made me break out in a hot sweat when I only so much as look at it.

It’s going back.

I get basics from Uniqlo, but I then buy higher end stuff (Maxmara, Elie Tahari..) off eBay. Great quality, cheap as chips and not a cold shoulder in sight.

Toast is amazing quality and if you pick through Sea Salt and avoid the prints you can get some lovely pieces too for layering which were £££s but look like they are going to last. I agree with PP, but less and spend more. I plan to mix it up with what I team it with, different tops layered underneath and jewellery and scarfs etc. This is good for spring/ autumn/ winter. In summer I'm !

Stop going to cheap tat shops

If you want high quality, well designed clothes you will need to pay for it. Youre not gonna find it in primark or top shop for a fiver ffs

I bought 2 pairs of maternity knickers from mothercare for £15 or so and they fell apart after one wash. I don't call that cheap but the material was so thin and poor quality. Similarly i bought a top a dress and some jeans at jojomamanbebe and the top and dress bobbled and faded after one wash and the jeans split at the thigh very quickly. Haven't even had the baby yet. And that is supposed to be a good shop or so i thought.

@habibihabibi
Bonds is good but fairly expensive, although they do have alot of sales which is the only time I'd buy from them as I can't justify paying full price when they regularly have 40% off etc. This is only for baby clothes though. The adult clothing is crap but the underwear is good.
Country Road is nice but out of my price range at the moment unfortunately. Where I live we have a 'Super Mall' with everything from Zara and H&M, Country Road and then Gucci, Hermes etc. There is definitely a noticable difference in quality between Zara/H&M and Country Road. The quality of the first two is apalling!

I think polyester can be fantastic (and extremely durable) and don't have any problem with the quality of clothes if I buy carefully. And not necessarily expensively. There is a lot of tat out there but it isn't necessary to buy it. Shops will catch on eventually - the few that are left after many go bust.

I think one of the probs, especially with trousers is that everything now has to be stretchy fabric. So has elastane or similar through it which imv doesn't wash and maintain shape well over time.

Also everything is baggy over tummy/hips so not flattering if like me you have big boobs but not so big hips, everything is a boxy shape or flared so never fits at your waist.

I was in Paris this time last year and the clothes in the city centre shops were amazing. No prices visible though but just to see loads of stuff I liked was great.

A programme on the radio was talking about the import of old clothes from western countries to resell in Zambia (which is trying to restrict this to improve their own traditional fabric industry) and the guy said they like second hand UK clothes best as they are the newest!

I bought a coat from Wallis (I think) in 1990/1991 for £120. Dresses in the sale at Laura Ashley -when LA was something special - were £25. I remember drooling over a Jaeger cashmere coat in the mid 90’s for £700. Clothes are shockingly cheap in real terms today.

The issue is consumerism and buying trends coupled with soaring housing costs. People buy tons of clothes these days as they don’t last due to price. Dyes fade, holes appear either in the fabric or stitching comes undone.

Everything either has awful flowery patterns, bows or ties or flappy bits. Why can womens clothes not be comfy like mens?

araiwa I don't go to cheap.tat shops. I go mid range, think white stuff, fat face, jigsaw. But in the last few years most things shrink.in the wash and become misshapen after a few washes. That's not what I expect for spending £30-40 on a top/dress. For the kids it's even worse - I like bright colours so shop in PoP, jojo, vertbaudet etc but they all shrink. I even changed my machine because I thought it was faulty!

£30 for a dress and youre surprised its not great quality? Id expect it not to last very long

People have warped senses of value these days

I have to say I'm in the minority here and love British clothes!

I'm not a fan of polyester or unnecessary frills either but there's tons of nice, reasonably priced, decent quality clothes around and I only shop at high street/ASOS types of places

I was in France recently and hated the clothes and style...it felt really mumsy and out-dated. The only stuff I liked was in the shops we also have (H&M etc)

Okay, more like a top. And with wages stagnating and housing costs increasing, why shouldn’t we expect decent quality for that price point?! Manufacturers are cutting corners now, such as not pre washing cottons so they shrink on the first wash. It’s not good enough and is leading to the next generation thinking things are so disposable.

Ara what a snob!
30 quid isnt cheap. Primark and supermarket dresses are 15 and under. 30 is a decent amount for a lot of people, Id expect that to last a good while.

More expensive shops can be a waste of money. A lot of shops source clothes from the same places, the more expensive shops just have more of a mark-up. Choose carefully in any shop and you'll be fine.

Im not a snob. Im not rich either.

But as stated before, warped sesnses of values are being shown here- i would never expect a £30 dress to be high quality.

And i would expect a £5-10 dress to almost be disposable single use