Clothes gone crazy!

[WeirderandWeirder]

Everything is as thin as a piece of tissue paper. Huge floppy proportions and saggy crotches. See through tops and tshirts and elasticated everything...

I haven't been shopping for a long time. A couple of years. I loved clothes but something has really changed. Even spending more guarantees nothing. I can't be arsed with the touted, trending eco brands either, as I have witnessed their corner cutting and cheapening over time, too. I used to have a ton of fave shops and now there isn't even one.

I have just gone back to wearing outdoor stuff. Like a man, kind of. They never seem to have to deal with this crap. I spent a good while searching for a decent tshirt that didn't have a choking high neckline and actually covered my arse. Spent £40 on two organic cotton tees from Seasalt and both produced holes in two washes.

It can go the hell for me, now. It used to be exciting, and I do love the re-emergence of 90's styles. But the cargo's ain't what they were back then. They're floppy, thin and formless with randomly placed pockets and gussets as long as the Gaza Strip. I just can't anymore. Fuck em all. Greed got the better of them I guess.

I ain't paying for a £400 fancy sheep wool, artisanal brick shaped jumper this winter. And I won't be paying £200 to avoid polyester this summer either. I'm just going with what I already have and hoping to god it lasts.

I mostly just buy ‘going out stuff’ from charity shops these days, and not all that often.

My outdoor stuff is all from Icebreaker and Findra, over the last few seasons, and they’re such good quality, they’ll go on for years. Findra also have a repair service.

Knickers, socks and pyjama bottoms are from BAM, and bra tops from Boody.

I’m too long in the tooth to shop around anymore. I know what I like and stick to it.

I find I'm increasingly buying from brands I hadn't heard of before; Kaffe and Saint Tropez from John Lewis, an online small business called Kimble that suits my shape well.

Sainsbury's stuff seems to wash and wear ok and I've done all right with M&S but maybe I've been lucky.

If you’re petite, buying mens stuff doesn’t really work. I have enough trouble buying womens socks that will fit and not have the heel halfway up my ankle.

Like a man, kind of. They never seem to have to deal with this crap.

I've been trying to buy a suit for work for months. The two I have that fit are wearing thin. Hardly any shops sell them (about 18 months ago, none did: one or two have started again since then). Those that do only have trousers to fit slim men or fat men with short legs. As a fat man with long legs, which I think is the most common shape of suit-buyers, I can never find anything in stock to fit me. I'm very reluctant to order online as it could take several weeks of purchases and returns to get something that fits.

That said, men do have the advantage of having clothing sized in actual units (centimetres/inches), rather than having to deal with made-up size numbers that mean completely different things in different places and at different times.

WeirderandWeirder - I completely get it!
Not much fits me any way, I'm gangly, but add in the rubbish quality and I am stuck.
I don't want to make my own, and my alterations lady has retired (no one taken her place).
I don't want second hand, unless it is antique.
I am wearing treasured clothes from 15-20 years ago! I have never bought fashion, more classic, so they still pass muster.
I have had luck with Asda for long sleeve T shirts (more colours, please!)
Bonne Marche - T shirts again, but only because that is all that fits me.
If you can stand patterns - I can't, David Neiper is good quality.
House of Bruar is decent quality, but you pay for delivery and returns. £10 to try on a jumper!
I have just bought a cami from Uniqlo, and as a previous poster says, it works, it's like having a primer for your body!
There is an excellent thread in Mumsnet Classics about buying quality, and buying purposefully.
All the time we keep buying the crap, we will get crap.
Back in the 50' 60's we were able to hand clothes down through the family. (How I envied my friend her older sister! I had brothers and balaclavas!)

I am very drawn to the Agatha Christie films, because of the good quality clothes!

Spent £40 on two organic cotton tees from Seasalt and both produced holes in two washes.

I had exactly this. Little holes appearing in random places in the fabric.
I've also had it with cords from M&S.

Some of my clothes are a decade old and when I compare them with new clothes it's obvious you just can't get the same quality any more.

Jumpers are particularly dreadful - like spun plastic and produce enough static to put your hair on end.

I was struggling for a decent wardrobe. Mostly because I’ve put weight on and am a heifer now.
I hate the “black trousers look smart” brigade as they’re super uncomfortable to wear and for my work (which involves sitting/kneeling on the floor and moving around on the floor) just not practical.
I found Carolina Dress Room and have never looked back.
Proper, good quality clothing, in cool/funky designs (today I am wearing leggings with purple mermaids on for example) and the seams are beautiful.
3 sizes so fits all arses and covers nicely PLUS they’re a talking point which in my job is useful.
They do dresses, leggings, shorts, skirts, skorts, mens shirts, dungarees, underwear and T-shirts and I have yet to find something that doesn’t wash really really nicely as long as you follow the instructions. (Ie; hang to dry and don’t spin)
I got myself onto their Facebook resellers site and buy through there, so nothing has cost me more than about £30 for a dress, most leggings are between £8-£15 a pair and last for ages.

It’s only womenswear that has gone to shit. Men still get cotton jumpers and t shirts that aren’t see through.

I definitely agree about T shirts and knitwear. I've had modern knitwear that's only fit for the bin before it's even washed, ever. Covered in bobbles, which reappear as soon as removed. See through Ts, shapeless.

My old man begs to differ. He's as fed up as we are of rubbish fabric and fit, not to mention that trouser zips are half the length they used to be, making it harder to get them on and off, and of course going for a wee takes a lot more fishing down his pants to find the necessary equipment. Pockets are going the way of those on women's jeans and trousers too, they're not deep enough and backing is rubbish fabric that holes as soon as you look at it.

I idly leafed through the sewing patterns on offer in the craft shop last time I went in to buy knitting yarn. They were all the same stupid styles as the clothes in the shops - enormous tents and crop tops. Who wants to spend time and effort and MONEY making something that will be out of style in a year and looks hideous anyway? Pattern makers need to offer more classic styles.

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.

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

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

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

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

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 😂

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

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.

And as wide as a gate.

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.

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

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.

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

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).