To think the quality of a lot of stuff has drastically reduced in recent years

[Tommalot]

Maybe over the course of around 20 years or so. I'm concerned this is a symptom of side effects of widening social inequality generally.

I'm sure I remember being able to buy pretty decent quality natural fibres clothes from the early 00s and before from high street shops for a semi-reasonable price. Now it seems very polarised, like you can buy either cheap synthetic nasty shit from Shein or New Look which falls apart or hangs poorly, or have to pay £££s at a very upmarket outlet for anything approaching quality that will last.

Food is similar. There's been a lot in the media recently about UPFs but the majority of most supermarkets are packed with unwholesome products. Whereas buying good quality, natural food is now a lot more expensive.

I feel it may be the case with other products and services as well, that there's increasingly just a choice between something cheap but shit or decent quality but out of reach of most people, with very little in between.

AIBU or am I just blinkered to affordable middle of the road stuff? Am I doing John Lewis all wrong? Help me out here 😁

Definitely clothes. Even clothes I bought 10y ago last longer than what I've bought in the past couple.

Clarks school shoes used to last forever
Sadly not anymore

I disagree on the food front. If you’re a ‘from scratch’ cook ingredients are stuff the same, as far as I can tell. It’s easy to buy fresh ingredients to make your own pasta sauces/curry sauces etc, it just takes more effort but they taste so much better than a jar of Dolmio’s.

I absolutely agree on the clothing front. I remember being able to get very decent wool jumpers from Uniqlo several years ago, they were such good value and was something they were so known for. Their wool jumpers now are poor quality, and a lot of ‘wool’ jumpers are cut with synthetic fabrics which feel awful.

I make as much of my own clothing as I can now, and I’m (very slowly) learning to knit in the hope I can make some jumpers myself.

I remember next opening its first shop here in Glasgow, the quality was superb.

Not now.

I work in a new build house (children’s home). I’m astounded at how cheaply it’s been built and how flimsy it is.

Apparently they’re only built to last around 50 years? The one I work in was built in 2008 and it’s crumbling already. Large cracks around the doorframes and windows. Hideous.

I don’t mind SHEIN. I bought some dresses, skirts and pyjamas from there during the first lockdown and it’s still going strong. Maybe I’ve been lucky?

Food wise, I don't think it's difficult to find ingredients of a normal quality that are just what they are. However, I do think that it's difficult if not impossible to find in the UK the broad range of products that are available in some other European countries. Obviously your small Sainsburys or small Waitrose is only going to have a certain selection of items. But there seems no equivalent in the UK of the big Carrefour or big Kaufland which I've seen in Franc and in Poland, the big Maxima XXX in Lithuania, etc. Even the 'big' shops here (the biggest near me is an Asda) seems to have much more limited ranges, less variety.

I think you're right in general, but I think there is a mid- ££ - options where things are made of decent cotton. I'm thinking of something like Levis' where you can still get jeans that are a decent 99% cotton (although I find their sizing a mess, even the width x length is awfully inconsistent and it shouldn't be) or Superdry (where a lot of the stuff is terribly logo'd or too short on me, but most of it is a pleasant feeling cotton). I don't think it's all very upmarket £££ for cotton and linen, even though the major high street chains now are largely synthetic or where it's cotton (or claims to be), it's a cotton that's not pleasant to the touch.

Yes, on the consumer side it's anchoring bias.

Younger people are more invested in fashion and spend, e.g. £10 on a top.

Inflation increases the price of the same quality top to £12, but to the same person, £10 is the right price for a top, so they buy the £10, lower quality top.

Repeat over two decades and the price for the same quality top is now £20, which is super unreasonable to the buyer - who buys cheaper clothes and complains of the quality. Meanwhile fewer people will make the £20 quality top because they can't compete as easily with the £10 retailers.

What I find odd is the relation between what some people consider 'acceptable' prices to them across various things. If when you go out to a restaurant, you spend £20 or £30 on one person's meal, how can you expect that an item of clothing or shoes, which you should expect many wears out of, will cost the same as one dinner out?

We're guilty of this - my husband pointed out that I was reluctant to spend £30 on something I would use daily, but we spend 30-40 quid on takeaway every fortnight.

You're absolutely right. I'm wearing some clothes from the 90s - mainstream mid price brands not expensive stuff - and the difference in quality is amazing. I've passed a lot to DD too and she agrees that the quality is very much higher.

This is the main theme of the recent book Less by Patrick Grant of Sewing Bee.

Thing is, even the more "expensive" items from the "better" retailers are not great quality too

I’ve got a Monsoon velvet top bought 27 years ago. I’ve worn it loads but it still looks new. Granted I paid £90 for it at the time, but considering how much I’ve worn it the cost per wear is virtually zero. And I don’t think you’d get the same quality if you paid £90 for something these days.

Honestly, I don't find this. I buy cords from M&S or Muji, Jeans from Uniqlo and stretch cotton and supima tees and PJs from Primark. They wash well and last forever. There's such a myth that Primark clothes are shit. Mine and DCs are indestructible whereas more expensive designer brands fall apart. The trick is to keep an eye out for good fabrics and cuts that fit you well.

The only poor quality stuff I replace often is M&S linen trousers because they are so comfortable and I wear them almost everyday in the summer so they only last a couple of years. But wear-per-pound, I get about 150 full days' wear from them for £25.

I'm really glad I've kept a lot of my old wardrobe. It's so much better quality.

This is true. DS works in fashion and told me that a coat his company made retails at £400 but costs about £380 to make, inclusive of fabric, machinists, overheads etc. So the profit of £20 is tiny and vanishes as soon as a few coats go into sales. He was very surprised how tight the margin was.

DD is currently wearing my old Next flared jeans from the late 90s (can’t believe I’m at an age where my child is calling my old clothes vintage🤣) - she is amazed by how good the quality and fit is compared to anything that you can buy on the high street now. 25 years old and still going strong!

Yes but that £90 is worth £170 today. You probably could still get a nice quality top for that much, you just need to adjust for inflation.

For the life of me I cannot fathom why clothing retailers have decided that 'Recycled Polyester' is a selling point. I don't even want virgin polyester.

The quality of the mid- and upmarket outlets has gone down the pan too, IMO. I have one or two go-to sites that I still use, largely because their fabrics are still mostly of a decent quality. Other than that I buy vintage wherever possible, which isn't so handy when there's a specific item you need.

It's not only the quality, either. The designs as far as most high street or online retailers are concerned are now really frumpy.

Clothing 100% I agree with, a national disgrace. Sadly people in the UK seem accepting of this, by and large. Fashion followers instead of thinking for themselves what is suitable and looks good on them.

Where are the least worst options these days? I've only been shopping in M&S as it seems semi-reasonable price/quality wise. And sale stuff on the Outnet.

Completely agree about Zara now. Wouldn't buy any of it. It's all (unintentionally) see-through it's so shit and £££

Where do you go for better quality threads now?

It's harder to find even high end well made goods now. Everything is made on the cheap with shit materials under the guise of eco friendly sustainability. Well making clothes that are poorly designed, poorly made and of horrible materials is the opposite of sustainable. I wish we could go back to less choice, only natural materials, pricier but acceptable to own less and wear things more frequently.

I'm spending far less by shopping this way but it's getting harder to find these garments as my usual places to shop are either being bought up, going bust or going the same way as others.

I switched to sewing my own as much as possible when I realised that despite my not being a skilled seamstress by any means, the stuff I could make was STILL better than what I could buy. My hems might not be quite straight but I can buy decent fabric, choose not to cut corners and make it fit me. And it still ends up cheaper than most of what’s out there.

I found a dress I loved in Kate Spade a while ago, the design of it was lovely but at nearly £300 I couldn't justify buying something that was 100% polyester and wouldn't have been out of place in Primark.