Have you noticed how expensive clothes are now?

[higgyhog]

I don't have a bad income but recently everything from Council Tax to pension contributions has increased a lot. Browsing the shops for some summer clothes now and I'm thinking there have been massive price rises since last year. I used to buy Whistles and jigsaw, they are unaffordable now. I splashed out on some Mohedra clogs ( the green ones, they are lovely) and two T shirts at Toast last week, and that was £179! I used to buy two or three pairs of sandals each year but I think the old ones are going to have to last a bit longer. Has anyone else noticed that the things they like to buy are now unaffordable?

I have a whistles and jigsaw taste ona primark budget and I trawl eBay.

But yes, never pay full price.

I agree OP. I'm much inclined to higher end clothes (don't give a damn about MN judgement) though often in the sales - and prices seem to have rocketed.

(I really don't feel comfortable paying less for an item of clothing than the fabric alone should cost ...)

I buy bits of Boden, M&S and Hobbs, then supplement it with Ebay.

@Almahart is there anywhere that lists upcoming sample sales?

I just find out via social media with brands I follow - or sometimes just walking past (I live near a few venues that tend to do a lot of pop-ups).

But I just Googled 'sample sales' and tons of websites came up such as the one below:

www.samplesaleguide.co.uk/samplesales.html

I think the middle tier of clothing no longer exists. You can still get cheap stuff in places like primark and expensive stuff (which is often primark quality), but nothing much in between. I don’t mind paying high prices for clothes if the quality is there, but I won’t fork out a lot for bloody viscose, and I never ever buy polyester/acrylic.

I got fed up and bought a sewing machine and now spend my clothing budget on excellent fabric. I only buy knitwear and underwear in the shops.

£70 for that olive green mid-sleeve t-shirt is ridiculous.

I know that not all t-shirts are made the same. But it's Toast. £40 should buy you a very good quality, 100% cotton t-shirt that can be worn once a week all summer for 2 or 3 summers (without holes appearing around the belt buckle - bane of my life). The extra £30 is just because.

So I think I agree with you. On the one hand it's good that people can afford cheap clothing, especially for small children. People with plenty of money have always been fine. The middle ground is getting muddied though. You need to know where and when to shop. Past performance is no longer an indicator of future quality.

OP Did you look at the Moheda website? The clogs are priced between £29-49 although they don’t have that shade of green. However, they have many other colours.......

I'm wanting to know about this sample sale thing now. Where do you find out about the good London sample sales? I'm committed to few, quality clothes, but also to never paying full price.

Where do you find out about the good London sample sales?

www.samplesaleguide.co.uk/samplesales.html

I'm finding the same thing op. I used to be able to afford the odd thing from Jigsaw/Hobbs/Whistles but, although my income has increased, it doesn't seem to have increased at the same rate as the cost of clothes in these places. Hobbs used to do lovely stuff in the 80s/90s and lovely quality, but now it's just frumpsville. Jigsaw/Whistles are increasingly doing polyester blouses/shirts for £98 and the quality of their cotton t-shirts is crap - you can see through them. Even Toast - I bought one of their cashmere/wool boxy cardigans in the sale recently and am shocked at how badly it's pilled.

I think Jigsaw is not doing so well at the moment - they never used to have sales, but I noticed that they have mid-season reduced stuff at the moment. I increasingly shop from eBay these days, as I invariably get older stuff which is better quality and lasts longer.

I completely agree OP. I bought what i thought was a silk blouse from Monsoon last month but it turned out to be Polyester - it was £50! dont bother with the cheap shops any more because i always end up disappointed. No matter how nice something looks, if its cheap it’ll wash badly, bobble, fade, shrink, twist, unravel etc, I’d rather pay £100 and have something that’ll last.

Has anyone else noticed that M&S seem to have belly pooches built into their clothes these days? Also, why are Sainsburys clothes cut so badly? most look like pyjama tops - big & square!

Agree the stuff isn't great and expensive even in the sales e.g. Hobbs
It's hard to find cotton and things look shabby quickly.

I'm now getting Toast advertised to me in every thread on the site.

I agree that clothes in good quality shops are expensive. I have to say I do buy them, though - I love clothes and consider it to be a kind of hobby - I earn enough to be able to do it. I buy the odd thing from ASOS or similar to dilute it if you see what I mean. And I do look at fabric - paying a lot for polyester or a man made knitwear is crazy.

Remember when H & M stuff used to last more than a few washes? I've got a corduroy skirt that gets an outing every winter and must be 20 years old.

The last time I went into H&M it looked like a cross between a rag bag and a jumble sale.

I think you are making good wardrobe decisions, OP.

I have t-shirts from Gap and t-shirts from Toast, but the Toast t-shirts are proper tops even though they are T-shirt’s. The quality is completely different, the colour is so much nicer, the cut and fabrics better etc. And they wash well.

I agree about the general price creep upwards but I also think it’s fair if the clothes are good quality. I really don’t want my favourite brands to underprice or over price themselves and ending up getting it wrong. But I don’t need everything to be dirt cheap - I need it to look good after lots of washes And keep its shape.

H&M used to be one of my favourite shops but it's gone to the dogs.

I find with Toast it's often about the colour as well as quality. Cheaper but good quality T shirts tend to come in limited colours, often it's white, black, navy or grey. And for some people that's fine but I look shite in the first two, navy isn't always great and by the summer I'm bored senseless with grey. I'll pay if it means a better range or a more subtle shade.

"There appears to be some competition on this thread of the "I bought my knickers in 1972"

@ Remus
That said, I don't understand why so many posters have clothes that run into holes. I don't buy expensive clothes but mine just last. Maybe my washing machine is more gentle, maybe I'm not heavy on my clothes.

I agree OP clothing prices have shot up recently and in many cases the quality has actually deteriorated. I really liked the look of a dress but it was £250 and when I checked the material it was polyester, I couldn’t believe it.

There are some decent sales on the Outnet at the moment, a few Ganni dresses have somehow made their way into my basket. Ghost is also worth a gander.

I agree they are getting so expensive.
I mostly shop on asos and there were flats that looked liked you could pick them up on primark and they were 48 Euro daylight robbery.
I will be waiting for there sales and 20 percent off even then it’s pricey.
I buy carefully these days I bought a great pair of summer trousers from new look coming into their 3rd year thank god.
Even just buying some new bits for work really broke the bank and like the quality is crap.
I’m considering buying a designer shirt but il have it for years and it will get more wear than all this buying.

Thank you Hundred. I remember the days of Ghost sample sales with silk dresses at £30 a pop

Sadly Toast and Brora are frumpy.

I don’t go to high street shops anymore, the quality is the same as Primark. I’ve picked up better stuff at F&F. I do look for Oasis/Warehouse/GAP etc, from a decade ago, in charity shops. You wouldn’t get a wool suit in Oasis nowadays...
Was in a nice outlet place recently & noticed that some of the better shops - LK Bennett, Hobbs, Ted Baker, FC etc were filled with racks of v expensive polyester/ viscose.
I’ve always liked good clothes, and still have some of my old stuff. TK Maxx has always been a favourite, but even some of the stuff there isn’t the quality it used to be...

I remember seeing a tv prog. about TK Maxx where it explained that the buyer will find a very small percentage of genuine labels in each store but the majority of labels there are clothes made for TK Maxx. In order to sell them at the ‘reduced’ prices, the garments will be made with cheaper material, cheaper buttons, unlined if possible, no pockets to mention just some.

Discovered EKO (Earth Kind Originals) while in Cornwall. Really lovely, comfy, classic dresses. Also Seasalt I generally find are good quality for the price.