When you say you buy "quality" item...

[Mixtape]

...where are they from?

I have this weekend cleared out yet another massive bag of clothes from
My wardrobe. Many items have not worn well, others were impulse buys that were cheap, or have been unworn because the fabric or cut are uncomfortable (again generally cheap items)

I am thinking I really need to shop more sensibly, rather than spending £££ on lots of cheap things, especially for work. However, I don't really know where to start - I normally buy from Primark, H&M and New Look - Top Shop is expensive to me! I also get a lot of stuff from charity shops, which I will probably continue to do for some bits as it is my donation to charity, and I donate things back I don't want to the charity I work for!

Style wise, I wear mainly dresses, sometimes a skirt and top (a pencil skirt and fitted blouse) - style wise, I love the look of Modcloth dresses, although I haven't bought any from there - but I look for things that are similar.

Any suggestions where I can look to spend a little bit more money on clothes that will wear well?

i am finding Jigsaw and People Tree pretty realiable at the moment.

Maybe the solution is to shop smarter not harder. Can you ebay any of the stuff you've thrown out in order to fund the new purchases? Alternatively, try and get together a capsule wardrobe of a few nice pieces that you can reinvigorate with a cheaper belt, scarf, bag or necklace. I've pared my wardrobe down to mainly neutrals in fabrics that don't need dry cleaning but are maintenance friendly, like modal and wool mixes and then ring the changes with really pretty vintage scarves, bright belts, coloured tights and vintage jewellery from charity shops. Although it may seem expensive spending a little more at the outset really does make sense in terms of how long you can keep pieces as long as you can be disciplined and not become a slave to the constant barrage of "trend" that we're beset by. Classics never date imo and you can really make an outfit your own.
In terms of suggestions I do like places like Baukjen and Me&Em for their fabrics, but I only buy in the sales which seem to happen quite frequently these days.

How old are you? That makes a difference to where you might shop.
I'm 38 and finally have enough cash to splurge a bit. I buy my clothes from the White Company, Pure Collection, Boden (the plain stuff, plus it's fab for trousers), Banana Republic, the odd thing from Reiss and M&S Autograph collection, the odd T shirt from Jigsaw or Hobbs

Jigsaw, Cos, Hobbs, some Esprit and even some carefully chosen M&S.

Thank you for the suggestions! I am 35, I don't have a huge budget but when I add up all I have spent on cheaper stuff I am sure it more than covers a few nicer pieces, and I could then indulge my charity shopping / need to buy random things through accessories etc!

I do have to look smart for work but not in a conservative way.

I did try and ebay some things last time I cleared out but a lot of stuff wasn't in the best condition or was a "brand" enough to attract a reasonable price.

I really like the orla kiely tea dress on the people tree and the plainer black and navy dresses on jigsaw. I will have a look at some of the other suggestions.

Quality items can be hiding in the places you least expect it and there can be some polyester rubbish in the most high end of shops. I find I have to wade through crap everywhere to find a few decent items. What have designers got against cotton?

I second Me & Em and Baukjen and their sales are good.

I've just bitten the bullet and bought a couple of T shirts from Toast; the price nearly killed me but they do look good quality and they hang really nicely.

At the less spendy end, I think you can find good quality at H&M and Uniqlo - the problem is there's no consistency at all so you never really know until you've washed it.

I used to think Gap was reasonable quality for the price but I'm not sure if that's still true. (Not been recently cos they closed my local branch and I'm still sulking at them.)

I haven't looked in Gap for myself for ages, although we do have one where we live - the DS's do have quite a few bits that have lasted very well against quite hard wear!

I do buy in H&M now but have increasingly found that non polyester type items don't wash well and the others the fabric feels cheap.

The John Lewis where I live has a Hobbs and Jigsaw range so perhaps I would be better of going to look than shopping online, (although there are some nice items
In the sale online!)

YY to Me&Em and Baukjen
Noa Noa
Jackpot - both Scandanavian and tricky to find in UK though
Kaliko, but has a tendency to frumpy
Been very unimpressed with Boden recently, and their trousers just don't fit me and their tops are too short
Gap has its moments, picked up a couple of really nice, long, thick long sleeved Ts from an outlet store last week.