To feel so sorry for all the staff losing their jobs, but Cath Kidston was a load of over priced wank.

[blubberball]

Just read that Cath Kidston won't be opening up again after the lock down. My sympathies are with the people who will now be out of a job, but I really didn't get it.

Ck was like women's liberation never happened

How?

Say what? Feminism is about what clothes we wear now and we mustn’t have anything with flowers on.

I love CK. Sad about this and hope they do stay on line. Someone said it was crap further up the thread. It just isn't, it might not be your taste but the quality is great and it's all well made. I usually like their dog themed stuff :(

I think it went too twee. At the beginning it was retro but in a cooler way. The prints were a reinterpretation of older chintz styles but used twists like brighter colours that definitely looked modern. There’s nothing modern about the brand in its current form

That’s a very good summation, @Francina670

Love my guinea pig mugs and teapot and different colour tea plates

Dd liked CK and has some mugs, she is 24

I wish they had taken the 50s inspiration a bit further and looked at the modernism movement. I love geometric prints. The floral is all a bit repetitive.

I love ck for comfy but smart dresses for the office - always buy them from a local outlet where they end up about a third of the price!

The handle came off my favourite CK strawberry print mug last week, I was gutted. I did buy it in about 2003 though.

Very retro, not floral, not twee.

Everyone goes for grey and minimalist no they don't, some people think it's boring. Like women's liberation never happened , so feminists can't have pretty cups and saucers? Is that what you mean?

I always enjoyed a browse in CK but never bought anything full price. I got this weekend bag for £10 years ago and it fits loads and is very durable! Hopefully online only means there may be more bargains in future?

I really liked the summer dresses with novelty prints of animals or scenery on them, but I mostly dress in a 50s retro style anyway. The dresses were starting to get extremely expensive though and sometimes would still be around £50 on sale! I am gutted though.

I still have an eBay alert for their penguin dress and their badger stuff because I didn't manage to buy them when they were in the shops!

I hate grey and minimalist. Boring as fuck.

I like some of the older style Cath Kidston stuff, but I agree it seemed overpriced when I went into one of the stores last year.

I have bags that have lasted for years. I love a bit of granny chic, I like florals and have CK bird wallpaper. I have no interest in a grey minimalist house but couldn't care less if other people do.
CK handcream is amazing.

I had some lovely things from there when ds (17) was a baby. I got an apron there about 20 years ago from a concession in HofF and remember how brilliantly retro and kitsch and different it was. It was fun, but it never really changed and now it seems very 15 years ago which is dated rather than retro. FWIW I think grey minimalism has had its day and is on the way out. Any stores selling only grey minimalism will not survive in 15 years time if they don’t adapt.

I agree, River.

I have a set of jewel-toned wine glasses from there that are still going strong after nearly 20 years. Love them! Going to get online and hopefully get a few replacements now they've closed .

That’s not a bad idea, we had some wine glasses that were discontinued elsewhere and were part of a wedding present so I bought as many as I could when I found out.

FWIW I think grey minimalism has had its day and is on the way out.

This all day long. It has dated badly, very quickly.

If it wasn’t for you why should care either way? Why even comment? Unless it’s a thinly veiled dig at people who do like Cath Kidston? In which case, unnecessarily nasty. By the way, I’m not a Cath Kidston fan and I didn’t know it was closing. Just can’t be doing with the little poisonous arrows being chucked about for no reason

This. What a pointlessly mean mindset to start a post to slag off a brand going under with people losing their jobs cos it’s not your cup of tea.

I love Cath Kidston and will be very sad to see the shops go as they are my happy place to mooch around in and I have loads of bags, purses, mugs etc. Those slagging it off have obviously never used the products as they are amazing quality. Sad for the staff as they were all really friendly and helpful

I don't like shops like cath kidston and joules. I get annoyed when you stick a brand on a piece of material with a price tag that most can't afford. Yeah some of it is nice. But the price just isn't worth it. It's aimed at wealthy country folk in my opinion. They close themselves down by not making the price reasonable for everyone. You need to have a big customer base to survive the modern day shopping times.

@Lexijayde44 I don't really agree with that- not everyone wants to shop in places like Primark that are cheap or reasonable. Up to a certain price you get what you pay for- Joules is better quality than more 'reasonable' Priced brands and appeals to a certain demographic (Mainly mums and wannabe horsey types ) I don't think Cath Kidston failed because of it's price- it's more likely because it only appeals to a certain type of person- not many want to buy their stuff basically!

I don't like Primark either because it just doesn't last and i don't shop their apart from hair bobbles and socks.

I like next and Sainsbury's for kids clothes.

I also think Mothercare made the same mistake and mamas and papas. Gorgeous clothes. Not affordable to the average family.

I agree actually on the style at cath kidston. It's floral and country styled. Won't appeal to all. But neither does £55 for a pair of PJ's lol

It was horrible frumpy stuff!

@BanKittenHeels yy. I had a grey minimalist bathroom with metro tiles 15 years ago, I had to get the paint mixed specially because there were only 2 off the shelf options and they came up purple on our walls. It was getting a bit passé when we sold up in 2012, so it's definitely had it's day now.

I like my flannel pyjamas from CK and they are a good shop for buying gifts. I used to like them most when you could buy their fabric off the bolt, I think I still have some stashed away somewhere.