Do we still buy from Boden?

[BrightnessFalls]

I havent for at least 6 months. I saw my DN's this week and I noticed the youngest is wearing Boden that her older sisters had, which is a good sign but, her older sisters have had none from there for ages. Has the chain been broken?

Yes. I buy comparatively little lately.

Familiar old story of declining quality and its ubiquity.

I went to a clearance sale two weeks ago and people had armfuls of the stuff. It was carnage.

Well, I am sat here in a Boden dress ready for work. But it is last years. And it is from the winter range given that it still feels like winter!

My DC have had a few bits from there recently, but I'm not sure that they are going to last as well as I hoped.

We haven't started buying from Boden! Not my cup of tea.

I don't buy as much as I used to for myself, it has got really expensive and lots of it is so fussy.

I do buy for my boys though, especially summer things. Very hard to find boys clothes as nice and as good quality anywhere else IMO.

I got given some vouchers recently and I have ordered some things for myself, just breton-type basics for summer though - none of the dresses appealed.

Nope. Stopped this season. Prices too high for stuff I was seeing on every other person, or so it seemed. Also, as mentioned before, the quality just wasn't worth it.

Not as much - don't really like their current range and the few items I do like are far too expensive or have ridiculously long waiting times.

My DCs now refuse to wear boden - say it makes them look 6 years old. I think you can get similar quality clothes from H&M and TU.

Yes I agree I've not bought anything for ages as I think the last few things were not good quality for the expensive price. I had a pair of the pumps and the rubber sole was coming off after a month! Had to glue it back but keeps coming off. M&s had similar pumps for lest than half the price too.

Ive never bought boden took one look at the website and realized I could Feed a small country for the price of one pair of jeans. :)

So funny everyone talking about the quality! I buy it for my little boy and girl occasionally because the designs are so nice and different - I love the swimsuits and the boys clothes. The colours are different, the patterns are unique. And actually the quality is great!! I live in Italy and there is nothing like it here - the mums here are always asking where I get my kids clothes from - the zebra print cardigans, the silver sparkly dresses, the t shirts with funny word on them. Quality doest come into it as they wear it for 2 seasons at the most. Nothing like what you pick up in H & M. Obviously my opinion though!

Ps buy it in the 20 per cent off preview or in the sale!

The occasional nice piece but IMO the prices are just too high for what you get in terms of quality and design. I'm not shy of spending quite a lot a bit on individual things, as I expect my clothes to last for at least 5 years, but Boden just doesn't fit the bill with me.

Even though the prices are less on the US site I've bought almost nothing for the last two years, apart from some cord trousers in the sale this spring. I will probably continue to buy things like cords or wool trousers in the sale from them because they fit me well and have so far lasted quite a long time, but I don't see myself buying anything else.

Things to be said for Boden: they do have a reasonable range of skirts and dresses which are properly knee-length; I like the free posting to the US; the trousers are OK; the jumpers have wool in them. But there is a very great preponderance of ghastly prints and yuk colours.

Personally I think they have given up on the UK and are concentrating on US sales, because that's where their growth is happening now. Unfortunately the tweeness of the catalogue and the applique and weird prints are what is distinguishing them from their competitors in the US market like J Crew etc.

I still buy for my DS; he likes the tee shirts but he is 5.

I buy selectively and mostly in the clearance. I'm a sucker for a nice pattern and a bit of colour so I'd buy 3 or 4 items in the summer and same in winter. Definitely not for my kids though - would love to but with three kids and no opportunity to pass down to younger siblings, I just can't afford it...pick up the odd bit for the kids on eBay. :)

Do you think Johnnie or hos team ever read threads like these and note the feedback?

Have bought a few things this season - jumper and a couple of t-shirts for me and a couple of things for DTs but older DSs have very much outgrown Boden at 10 and 8.

I've found the quality has declined in he last 2 years, while the prices remain prohibitively high. Still wearing and loving older Boden stuff though. I find eBay is good for 2nd hand stuff if you want a particular item.

Those of you who find the quality too low, where do you prefer to shop instead? Interested in Boden alternatives, iyswim. Fanks.

I have had an email recently asking for my feedback on the latest womenswear catalogue & the selection of clothes it contains. It asked several questions related to the degree of embellishment/patterns etc, so I think JB has got an inkling from threads such as these.

I have mainly bought for myself in sales in the past but haven't bought anything for me this season mainly because I am losing weight, & paying Boden prices for what will be a (hopefully) transitional item, would be stupid.

I do still buy things for the kids, tho dd1 is more in JohnnieB territory now & dd2 will be going that way soon. I still love that they haven't gone down the route of black/foil print favoured by so many kids clothes shops.

I tried recently to buy some summer anoraks for the boys but they were completely sold out. Somebody is buying -- alas it is not, in this case, me.

Hep, I've bought more to replace the shortfall from smaller online shops. Such as Brora, Elias and Grace (Bonton, Miller clothes and so on), Trotters, Tulip and Nettle, Sisters Guild, Ilovegorgeous, Petit Bateau, Polarn o Pyret, and other shops selling Scandinavian brands etc

I still buy a little from Boden, however, but not nearly so much. Though teenage dd is fond of the Johnnieb clothes and those have been fine on the whole.

Actually I think the quality is good, maybe we've been lucky, but the bits DH has (zip collar sweatshirts, canvas jeans, simple basic stuff) has lasted really well and although the children's things don't fit my dds all that well, they do have things that have lasted them both and then gone on to another child, which is my acid test of good quality. I also think their customer service is really great.

I bought the kids winters coats from Boden, but that was all last season.

Bought nothing from the spring range. It was absolutely hideous. The boys stuff in particular is crap - its Next for double the price. Really poor.

I buy trousers for my 4 year old from Boden. It is a struggle to find styles she deems comfortable that also stay up round her tiny waist elsewhere. I like the fact that Boden have the same styles season after season and I know they will fit and she will wear them and they are cheerful colours and age appropriate. And I comfort myself with the knowledge that I can pass things on to DD2.

Wouldn't dream of buying anything for myself from there though.

Nothing this year, despite having a huge discount code ("please come back and spend some money!"). I just couldn't find anything I liked. Too fussy, too patterned.

Only if Johnnie seduces me with 30% discounts! A combination of the credit crunch and the children getting older has reduced my Boden spending.
DS is 9 and no longer thinks Boden is cool enough
DD is 7 and still likes the stuff but I have found similar in M&S, Sainsburys and H&M for a fraction of the cost.
I'm not a big fan of large print - it wears me rather than me wearing it - so I tend to stick to plain things. The odd stripe or the odd plain jumper.
In fact DH is probably their best customer of late - he's a bugger for a sale shirt!!