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?

I despair of clothing in a lot of shops these days, much of it is just dreadful.

That said I’ve had a lot of success at Uniqlo and J Crew, expensive but gorgeous things in a range of colours, and lots of choice. Also I love Sezane, a French online brand.

I now buy 80% of my clothes at Oasis. Plenty of floral and it’s fair share of bardot but they do a great if limited selection of basics (long sleeve, short sleeve, sleeveless and spaghetti strap tops in a wide variety of colours) and jeans.

Dresses I always find well cut and suit my small waist big boobs without swamping me. They also have a wide range of different top shapes. I love their vest tops where the straps are wide enough to cover my bra straps with a slight V in the neckline which is very flattering.

Prices more than H and M/New Look, more in the region of Zara so £40-£70 for a dress, basic T is £14 and nicer tops as much as £40. But wash well, don’t bobble and hold their shape.

Exactly betty - I’ve started to despair and just think I may as well shop in cheaper shops because then I know what I’m getting and can afford to replace regularly. But I’d rather but quality that lasts and suits a tall pear shape with a bigger tummy than boobs!

I've found Zara and Asos to be pretty decent quality and affordable too.

Thing is, if you re-work your style so that you have a capsule wardrobe of decent stuff for any occasion it need not be an issue. I can't be arsed with the high street; trawling through shops under hospital grade lighting looking at rails of 'stuff'. Online is far better; Debenhams still offers pretty decent ranges.

I think the range of colours is awful - everything is dingy in grey, black, khaki or beige. I like colourful clothes - they lift your spirits. I agree with the pp who mentioned suits from Next - there used to be a good range, well made and quality material. Now their clothes are just awful apart from the odd top.

I agree with the OP. When I saw the figures for retail share of the clothing market in the context of M+S's lower profits, I despaired at the concentration (around a third of sales being from 8 chains), and that the main growth is in stores such as Primark which I would avoid like the plague.

Italy is a poorer country than the UK economically, as is France or Belgium, but they manage to have some style and quality in clothing. The other thing is that fabrics are often so thin that they are virtually see-through.

I agree with Araiwa. You're not going to find quality in a £30 dress. Think about it. Decent fabric is expensive, the pattern cutting, garment construction, shipping and paying the shop rent, sales assistants and marketing all need to come out of that £30.

For that reason the quality will suffer as corners need to be cut. That is usually done by using awful fabrics: having misaligned prints and using sweatshop labour.

Zara are brilliant this year. It's my go-to place at the moment. I haven't liked their stuff in the past.

No prices visible though but just to see loads of stuff I liked was great.

That's what I found where I was recently. I could have gone into one shop after another. I was excited by what I saw. Even in a small town like Constance I could have done a complete wardrobe shop if Id been there longer than an afternoon.

Boss jeanswest do straight and bootcut jeans?

Misaligned prints along an obvious seam is a bugbear of mine too. But it happens in more expensive clothes as well. So hard to find any dress with a large floral pattern which matches up at the back. It takes more material, and skill, to do it.

So what is the price I can expect to pay for decent clothing items? I can’t afford maxmara prices of £150+ but surely there are

@AjasLipstick.. Can you remark on the difference in quality between Zara here and in the UK? Honestly the Zara here is on par with Kmart quality IMHO

All of this^ cheap, poor quality clothing etc etc is down to 'fast fashion'
Textile waste is now a huge environmental concern
And yet so many do want less better quality basics, rather than wardrobes stuffed full of clothes they never wear and that don't suit them. I wish I had the answer!

@araiwa there are dresses in French connection that cost over £100 but the fabric quality is shocking. Not dissimilar to once you'll find in New Look. Same with Ted Baker and Reiss recently, they used to do lovely silk maxi dresses in ted baker, but now they have cut the quality and style. 'Full circle' floaty style maxi dresses now are made with half the fabric previously used and it's polyester.

I just wonder WHY the quality is so shit in Australia when UK stores also manufacture in China.

Is it because there are fewer people in Oz, so shops can't order the massive amounts that say, UK Primark or George can? So they have to pay more or something?

I mean Oz is closer to bloody China!

I think ASOS is very hit or miss. Annoys me that they still don't have customer reviews for clothes on their website.
I've had some amazing, unique black tie event dresses from there and great value accessories. Own brand isn't too bad for basics but a lot of the other brands they stock are shocking quality and poorly fitted.
But their target market is very much throw away fashion.

Next don't seem to sell clothes for women with small waists/big hips/breasts. It all seems so boxy and shapeless.

I used to buy work clothes from D.Perkins but their stuff now fades and bobbles so quickly.

I've been looking for dresses for summer weddings and when I finally find a nice cotton/cotton blend dress, I find it's been lined in cheap, shiny, sweaty nylon.

tbh, reading this makes me think
"There's no such thing as wrong weather, just wrong ways of dressing for it."

Ditto...
"There's no such thing as bad quality clothing, just wrong expectations of what clothing can do"

I bought 2 £40 jumpers in M&S at Christmas and both of them had big holes in the seams that I found when I first put them on. I hadn’t even worn them and they were ruined. Shocking quality. I do like M&S for shoes though because they are nearly the only place that still sell a 6.5 and actually fit!!

Cross post withlljkk I think my case illustrates that there is such a thing as bad quality. I think it is reasonable to expect that seams will be unbroken with no big holes in the middle

Maybe I don't encounter probs like that coz I can't afford M&S.

Me either normally it was my Christmas present money I was treating myself with which made it doubly disappointing.

Misty9 you’ll struggle to find a national brand with a physical high street presence for clothes like that due to cost of rent v turnover (low) of selling classic well made clothes as they dont need replacing that often so people only shop once or twice a year. Try local boutiques in your nearest ‘naice’ town.

user1493423934
Boss jeanswest do straight and bootcut jeans?

I went into jeanswest recently and they only had one colour and style in boot cut jeans. Most of the jeans were skinny jeans. They did have a small range of straight but not much choice or variety. I've tried just jeans too. Maybe it depends on where you are in Australia.

who wants an orange, floral jumpsuit

me me me. Ahem - when I was 5.

Now I am 50 with plenty of available cash - I cannot find one single item of clothing that i would want to wear.

What the fuck is up with everyone? Everything has floral bullshit or fucking poncy necklines, bits cut out, faffy bits added.

I just want some basic fucking shit to wear. Can it be so hard?