What's happened to Hobbs?

[florencedombey]

For the last few years Hobbs has been my "go to" shop for smart work outfits. I liked the classic styles and the fact that their suits were such good quality they lasted for years. This meant that even though they cost an arm and a leg, they were good value on a cost per wear basis.

I've just looked at the new season stuff. It's vile! Horrible colours and nasty unflattering boxy cuts. And it's all manmade fabrics. It's one thing paying £200 for a pure wool suit but I'm not paying that for polyester.

This skirt, for example, surely belongs in Per Una:

m.hobbs.co.uk/product-detail?productid=0114-7856-9085L00&productvarid=0114-7856-9085L00-DARK%20TEAL%20BLUE-16&refpage=new-arrivals/just-in&view=2&searchpage=1&pagesize=18

Quite agree with all of this. Interesting that branches are closing - I was in Kensington one the other day and they were talking about closing too...

Quite a few shops have closed on High St Ken, though - Dune, Butlers, Warehouse. I wonder how the Westfield branch does? It's so busy in Westfield sometimes, that I think the shops must all be doing well. I appreciate that's probably not the total picture re a shop's profitability, though.

So, if it's out with Hobbs, which brand is in? Gerard Darel and Massimo Dutti both use a lot of natural fibres.

& Other Stories have lots of good basics that could serve as workwear in their sake at the moment. I just got a 100% wool jumper for £12 and a pair of cotton trousers for £20. Worth a look?

Hi NotYummy! Yes, actually, & Other Stories is a good place to look. Their bags are really lovely, too.

I have been on the look out for an off white silk blouse, I realise I can be picky but it is nye impossible as even the higher end shops are mostly selling viscose blouses.

This is. Stealth inflation at its best. It's happening with a lot of consumables at the moment. Palm oil in loads of products instead of more expensive oil or butter, chocolate recipes or weights changing but prices remaining the same. It's another symptom of the false recovery!

Bunny mother, I feel your pain. I teach Textile science. I'm obsessed with natural fibres, the rest are just shite. Viscose can snag, as it is the weakest of all fibres due to the way the molecules are structured. Lots of short chains)

What gets me is so me shops referring to pure modal. What's pure about modal? It's just about the same as viscose

Blouse Any use?

Also polyester and viscose make me itch.

Thanks Remus, I had seen that but I would prefer a button front one though :)

Hello!

I used to work for Hobbs back in the day when it was owned and run by the husband and wife team, Marilyn and Yoram Anselm. The quality was second to none and Marilyn designed all the clothing and shoes. All the fabrics were excellent quality and so much care went into each collection. They sold out about 10 years ago - I won't set foot in the place now.

I got a load of merino in Other Stories. It's the only shop that seems to do 100 %wool/ silk etc for not silly money.

I bought what was sold to me as a wool dress in Hobbs for. £120. Got it home and it was 20% wool! It went back the next day.
And don't get me started on the polyester blouses.

I bought a blouse from Jaeger it was £140. Got it home and realised it was polyester! shock]

I loved, loved the Marilyn Anselm stuff. The first really good shoes I ever had, aged 22 and bought with my grown up wages, were Marilyn Anselm for Hobbs, and there was no going back!

So so agree. I. Used to buy tons of things in there every season and now I buy maybe the odd scarf or top in the sale. I bought a pair of beautiful red suede flat mules from Marilyn Anself for Hobbs back in 2000 and they were fab .... Nearly cried when they after many years of wear went to shoe heavan.

Oh I didn't know that about Hobbs. That it was husband and wife and small collection. What a shame.

Toast is ok for natural fibers -
Pretty much guaranteed but the style is just not that great. It's a bit too scandi / boating/ posing for me.

And jigsaw has a lot of silk blouse suff in their sale

I quite like the skirt although I don't really get NW3 - the skirts are all too short for your average Hobbs buyer I would have thought. I don't really have a problem with polyester - I have some lovely Jaeger things that feel like old fashioned crepe (with which I am obsessed) but are actually polyester.

What I have noticed though is that with Hobbs especially and also Jaeger I routinely have to sew on buttons and re-hem skirts - the finishing is really poorly done these days. I guess that's all the cost cutting.

Falloncolby I have this blouse from banana republic it's lovely, proper silk not something you think you're going to rip, and it's washable!!! Yes it really is !!!!! The sizes are big, I wear an 8, bought it in a 6 but probably could have had a 4

bananarepublic.gap.co.uk/browse/product.do?cid=57321&vid=1&pid=000686903J011-06132

Just popped into this old thread to say that I have just bought two lovely dresses, that are much better in the flesh than they are in the photos. The assistant in House of Fraser said they were selling really quickly as they were so flattering:

www.hobbs.co.uk/product/display?productid=0117-9818-3625K00&productvarid=0117-9818-3625K00-NAVY-12

www.hobbs.co.uk/product/display?productid=0216-5212-1926L00&productvarid=0216-5212-1926L00-BLACK-12

Oh I love the velvet one.