Why are so many shops selling the same thing season after season?

[msfreud]

A lot of the shops/brands I like seem to either

i. offer the exact style season after season in a very similar colour
ii. offer different styles but in the exact same colour season after season

For example, I absolutely love Seasalt's Shears Skirt - fits me really well, great material etc. but having offered a navy blue last year, they are now doing it in purple and teal - different but so close in tone to the navy (in the same colour family) that I don't see any point in buying one of those. Would have loved a camel, or a red, or even a mustard.

Or White Stuff, who seem to settle on a couple of colours every season and then repeat that in several different items. A cardigan, a jumper, a jumper with pockets, a jumper dress... all in the exact same shade of grey, made of the same yarn. I might buy the different items otherwise if I really like the styles but don't really want to have more than one thing the exact same colour.

Boden is also guilty for seemingly always having the same options in their basics. When are they going to do black basic jersey tops?! It's always navy or navy/ivory stripe or grey marl... And they do it with skirts too, very similar colours every year.

We I think it's designed so that it's,easier to put outfits together and to mix and match within the colour scheme.

I don't know this for certain but my guess would be that it's partly about cost saving.

They probably have to pay a commercial pattern maker to make a pattern in the first place. Then they will have to spend money choosing a fabric that works for that pattern as well as making sure their suppliers can make that particular pattern.

So I'd imagine that it's much cheaper to simply use a different colour fabric the next season then go through that process again.

Plus they get told what the 'in' colours will be in any given season I imagine.