Boden...what's the obsession?

[StarlightPrincess]

Now before I registered on here, I'd never even heard of Boden, but practically every other thread in Style and Beauty is about it! I went on the site expecting something amazing...and just saw a whole lot of well...blah, not to mention rather pricey! Why does everyone seem to love it so much?

If you search the archives you will find a million threads on this!

because you can tell a boden piece a mile off and everyone will know you are loaded (imo)

Don't get it myself. I find the quality poor

Apologises for not searching, I'm rather new and trying to get to grips with it all!
So it's more about 'look at me, I can afford a day dress that costs more than your whole outfit' then?

Never understood the obsession with Boden, although there must be something about it as the Americans love it aswell and Canadian friends have asked if I can bring it back for them from the UK (er, no).

Funny how we moan about our children insisting upon wearing the unofficial 'uniform' of Jack Wills, Abercrombie etc, and yet we do the same with Boden, White Stuff etc etc, v. amusing IMO.

some people like it, some people hate it. Meh.

i'm a fan of boden because the customer service is great, i've always been happy with the quality, things have washed really well and re-sold for a very good price on ebay. I mainly buy childrens clothes and i am often complemented on their outfits, infact all their clothes are boden with the odd character tee from next.

As for the ladies i dont really wear dresses or skirts and i'm not a fan of the patterns. I do have a few plain tees, hangbags and plimsoles oh and a black swim suit thats very flattering.

For me ordering from boden is easy, i dont have the time to go round the shops or search loads of websites and when i can find what i want at boden why look anywhere else? I always buy with a code which makes the childrens clothes more affordable.

i also think the fact they often sell out makes me more obsessed, i've ordered the kids summer clothes before xmas.

I used to find Boden very useful when not very many shops had good websites. Now all the places I would rather buy from are online I don't tend to use it much.
Also they were making colourful clothes for middle aged women when everything else was looking a bit drab, but the others have caught up now IMO.
I don't find them well cut - I bought a few dresses from them over the years and never had one that made me look good - so I tended to buy things where the cut was less crucial like skirts.

Not fussed about the ladies stuff...it looks pretty middle aged to me. the childrens stuff is cute though.

The childrens stuff is lovely - wears incredibly well. I've bought a lot on ebay and it invariably arrives looking unworn! Then my kids wear it and wear it and it still looks great!

This year I've bought tops for me and they feel nice and fit well and when I looked on the high street I couldn't find anything half as nice in my size (22)

The kids clothes are cute, I agree. It just baffles me as like I said, I had literally never even heard of it before I came on Mumsnet- I thought I was missing out on the next big revolution in fashion, or something. Is it an age thing maybe? I can imagine my mum absolutely loving the style of clothing on there- I may have to recommend it to her!

I think it is good quality and easy to wear.
The quality of the childrens clothes is better than Next/Mothercare etc. and washes very well.

It filled a gap in the market for bright fashion concious clothes for 30 something's about 8 years ago....it's grown and has become now established as one of the leading online etailers of this century.

I think although their marketing is sometimes annoying they have lead from the front in terms of e-marketing and have made an absolute killing with the immense growth of internet shopping.

I agree, the highstreet has now caught up in terms of fashion, and now other etailers are giving them a run for their money, Joules/Toast/FatFace/White Stuff...

They were new, innovative and made the most of a emerging markets (internet shopping) and a gap in the fashion market.

I buy the kids stuff, & my DH has a few bits but I find the women's range a bit frumpy tbh.

well I don't think they are pricey at all. if you compare it with Hobbs, Jigsaw, Kew, White Stuff etc it's about the same.

madamme not sure about your 30s label- I am mid 50s and a lot of my (plain) stuff is Boden!

If you look at the reviews, many of the buyers are mid 40s- 60s and above even.

To me, it's pricey, but it's all relative really to what you can afford. I can't afford to spend £85 on one item of clothing, or I would have no clothes at all!

Purple when they launched I would say they were targeting young mums, who wanted a sense of style, however nowadays I agree, they cover all age groups.

Fellationelson said "I can't wear Boden, it makes me look like a fat 5 year old"

Arf!

The women's stuff can be majorly frumpsville. Or, alternatively, a bit 'look at me, I'm so ker-ay-zee and fun in my bright green and pink spotty macintosh' batty aunty-ish.

The kids stuff is nice, but way over-priced. I get it on Ebay or in the sales.

I think the adult stuff is a bit over rated. A lot of it is a bit, dare I say, frumpy! The odd bits I tend to buy for myself are plain knits and Ts that wash and wear well.

I really like Mini Boden though. The clothes are proper kids clothes and not mini adult fashions which I hate. I tend to sell DCs old stuff on ebay and always get a good price for them.

I am buying less and less- not the staple it used to be for me.

A couple of plain knis, maybe a pair of trousers now and then and that's it. very occasionally a skirt- plain and not swishy.

never pay full price- always get 20% off preview, free P&P and wait for sales.

Agree Purple, it is never ever worth paying full price for. I tend to use the £10 off when you spend £30 and free P&P.

I like some of it, but it is waaay to expensive for me. I would buy in the sales, but only if they allowed free returns.

Ahhhh...point taken!