To think that clothes are such poor quality now?

[Pythone]

(And other products too, really!)

I saw this tweet which summed it up: twitter.com/lingerie_addict/status/1494349028296900613?s=24

I've been thinking this for months - the difference between newer things and things I bought pre about 2017 is so stark. E.g. a nightdress from John Lewis which looked nice on the website, but then in real life the material is so thin and is only printed on one side, so the other side is just white with the design sort of showing through. Everything from mid-level shops seems to feel like the "cheapest of the cheap" from a decade or two ago, sometimes even like a fancy dress costume level. Thin fabric, weak construction, terrible finishing, strong chemical smells when you open the bag, and looking bad after a few washes. I bought a dressing gown from M&S and the pockets are just coming away at the sides even without being used.

In the mid-2000s I'd buy cheap things, often as part of a costume for a party or for a one-off outfit, and they'd just end up as part of my regular wardrobe for years. These days it's hard to imagine anything lasting that long, never mind things that weren't really expensive to start with.

Has anyone else noticed this?

YANBU and its not just fast fashion either, cotton t-shirts and jeans dont last like they used to. I've got some vintage items that have lasted decades, and I'm lucky if new stuff lasts two years.

Yes. Everything is shit. Such thin material everything is see through.

@Witheringtong That's another thing that really bugs me at the moment - that anything that's cotton or another natural fabric is presented like it's such a big luxury and often costs more, even though as you say the quality is also bad! I'm sure 100% cotton used to be fairly standard. Especially with bedsheets - there's now a huge tier of polyester and polycotton sheets at the prices 100% cotton ones used to be, then the cotton ones are like the next price point up and the quality is STILL terrible until you get to pretty expensive ones.

@Comedycook Yes! And they still have the cheek to write things like "Keep warm this winter with our cosy knit jumper!" on the website, and then you get it and it's thinner than a tea towel.

YANBU. I bought a few Mango jumpers recently. Fairly cheap but honestly looked crap within 1 wash. The shapes have changed and theyve bobbled immediately.

Bought a Hush jumper from John Lewis. 1 wash later it's like a crop jumper. Didn't even tumble dry.

I hate replacing clothes for environmental reasons but they just don't last now.

Yes absolutely agree - I have some high street items from years ago that just lasted forever but now I really have to spend a pretty penny to find quality. I wondered if I was just getting fussy as I age but I do think it’s just quality actually declining rather than my standards increasing to the point where I only think “designer” things are worthwhile purchases!

Agree - and the problem is that quality doesn't seem to improve unless you spend lots more. I bought a £200 dress and it arrived and it was cheap polyester! If you spend loads more the quality does improve but buying middling high street stuff seems to get you no more than buying supermarket clothes.

We seem to live in a throwaway culture now. Something breaks or gets a hole and we buy a new one, rather than fixing or reusing it (or just wearing a top with a small hole in). Its not in the shops best interests financially to make stuff good quality, they have a bigger markup plus if its rubbish then you end up buying two.

I'm guilty of this too, of course, but its going to take a LOT to reverse the current culture and get back to a "make do and mend" attitude.

I have clothes I wore twenty years ago which are still in good condition from normal high street shops. I have stuff I've bought a few weeks ago that looks older!

If anything it just encourages people to buy even cheaper things as if it's all crap that needs replacing after a handful of washes anyway why spend more than you need to

@DockOTheBay Yes, and I suppose it becomes a vicious circle - as we get used to things just falling apart, we won't see them in the same way anymore as something to be looked after and kept.

@HardbackWriter I think that's what's SO frustrating, that it's hard to circumvent the problem by buying fewer, nicer things (which is the advice people always give if you're fed up of fast fashion) because the price point for actually decent things is now so high that for many people it just isn't possible to have even a capsule wardrobe of higher quality items.

I have quite a bit of vintage clothing and the difference in quality is astonishing.

It seems very variable. I bought a cardigan a couple of years ago from I think White Stuff and it twisted and bobbled in no time. Something similar from Woolovers still looks fine.

It's bloody annoying when you shell out for something that you expect to last and you might as well have gone to Primark.

Yes, for some time now but it's worse than ever.

Add to that I don't like any styles for sale (refuse to wear 90s clothes I wore the first time round).

YANBU .

It's been this way for a while and a PP says paying bit more does not get better quality it huge amount more and then no guarantee of better quality.

@MondayYogurt Agreed, it's definitely been getting worse for a while. It's maybe in this past year that it feels like the quality has just fallen off a cliff, and barely sewn together plasticky, thin fabric seems to have taken over.

I have a lovely wool jumper from Gap that I bought in the sales over ten years ago. Not expensive. I’ve worn and worn it and finally it’s wearing out as the ribbed sleeves have developed little knicks in them. Laughable to think anything from them has anything like the same quality now based on Gap stuff I’ve bought online. Got some T-shirts that were actually unwearable as they were transparent.

Interestingly, this is not the case for menswear. My partner is able to buy nice 100% wool jumpers that last forever from Tesco. I can’t, and even if I spend 10x the price the things look great at first but get holes really quickly.

It's nothing to do with "make do and mend". It's to do with the fact that retailers won't raise prices to the customer.
I was paying £35 for an H&M dress 20 years ago and it's still about the same price now..

Isn't this because materials are way more expensive & cheap labour harder to source?

yy JunkIsland, I only buy men's jumpers now.

YANBU. Ive come back to the U.K. specifically to shop and everything is just awful! I’ve been in John Lewis, Zara, H&M, next, M&S, jaeger, Hobbes, countless “young” stores that I’ve never heard of. All the department stores in town have closed, bar JL. There is nothing to buy!

Cheap plastic fabrics
Shiny, shiny, shiny
Square: jumpers that are basically 6 rectangles sewn together
Total absence of any tailoring. Just shapeless bags with elastic at the bottom.

I gave up and spent my money in Waterstones instead: I’ll keep wearing my rags and reading my books!

It's to do with the fact that retailers won't raise prices to the customer.

Yes when I worked in fashion it was decided it was better to keep price points competitive so quality had to reduce

I blame fast fashion
It’s a shame that quality
Has gone to the dogs

@JunkIsland That's interesting about menswear! I generally don't fit into men's clothes (too short and not the right shape!) but for basics like t-shirts to sleep in I might look into getting some. I think there's always been that disparity between men's and women's clothes but I didn't know that they hadn't had an equivalent decline. So I guess now the disparity is even worse.

(Just a vaguely related rant: I'm so envious of men's jumpers! Long sleeves, thick fabric, nice colours! So many women's jumpers seem to hang off the shoulders or have shorter sleeves or be cropped or drape weirdly and sometimes you just want a warm, cosy, jumper-shaped jumper without paying hundreds of pounds for one that still might look bad after one wash!)

I think everyone needs to learn to make their own clothes now!
I bought some t shirts from White stuff which I 've had years. They are cotton and really well made. In the past year they have all developed holes mysteriously so I have started to look for new ones. Just cannot find anything that is decently made and hangs well which is 100 percent cotton with long sleeves. I have returned so many as they are all utter crap from various shops. I just don't know what to do !

@TammyOne

It's nothing to do with "make do and mend". It's to do with the fact that retailers won't raise prices to the customer. I was paying £35 for an H&M dress 20 years ago and it's still about the same price now..

I think that's true at the lowest end - in real terms the cheapest clothes just keep getting cheaper. But it doesn't explain why if you do spend £100 on a dress it'll probably be considerably worse quality than that 20 year old dress that cost £35.