Tinker, sorry I think you misunderstood me, the point was that those women saw expensive clothes as a necessity, and therefore needed to work to pay for them. As I said I wasn't digging at people needing to work, and I am very aware that some need to go back to work for basics, I guess I was commenting on what people define as basics, to me expensive clothes for babies are not a necessity.
As to quality, my ds has just for the first time (aged 1) worn out a piece of clothing rather than grown out of it, maybe that's because we've had so many hand me downs. I agree that some cheap stuff is rubbish, but you can usually distinguish what looks good when you buy. I am sure that quality will get more important as things last longer.
And I agree about shoes, I'll pay for good ones.
It really annoys me too that Britain is so pricey. My dh is Dutch, and we buy as much as possible in Holland (although at the moment it is all local bazaars as we are overseas) The same brands in Holland are cheaper than their british shops AND in Britain we are supposed to have VAT free children's clothes, and in Holland they pay VAT, but even with the VAT the same clothes are cheaper in Holland, which means that shops like GAP are making an automatic 17.5% mark up on everything they sell in the UK compared with Holland, plus the price difference they add on here.