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'm also buying far fewer things to wear these days. Clothes that my teen DDs wear are often better quality. My DD has a Brandy Melville top that is beautiful thick cotton and has been worn and washed to death and still looks good. It cost less than £30. If I could find the same quality for that price I would be happy but I seem to be between two camps of shapeless polyester crap for £10-30 and decent tops for £50+ I'm just not someone who could spend that much on one top.

I am trying to spend more on quality classics that I will wear for years to come - work trousers, winter jumpers, sports clothing, swimwear, shoes but I have struggled to buy any nice tops for several years.

I'm so sick of shopping online. I look back nostalgically on the days I used to go shopping and I had to make difficult choices over what I couldn't buy because I wanted to buy too much. Now, I most typically come home with nothing.

I tend to look in the men's department for good quality jumpers and T-shirts. I bought a thick white men's T-shirt from Next last summer for £6.

The neckline and sleeve length on the Toast T-shirt linked before would look awful on me, not to mention the sludgy colours which just don't suit me. It would look great on DD though.

I tend to buy Whistles clothes if I do buy them, in sales! However some of their quality, design is a bit hit and miss.

Got a gorgeous blouse/shirt for SIL's birthday recently from Whistles though which seems good quality. Same with top for my mum for Mother's Day in Phase Eight, sale.

I have some great comfy leather loafers in M&S - £25 which I personally find very cheap but they're great!

I do like the Earth Kind Originals dresses, have made a diary note. For years I've had a strategy for getting what I want at the best prices, so I already buy on ebay, sell on ebay (proceeds to clothes fund) , buy in sales, get the odd bits and pieces in Primark or Sainsburys it is just a bit sad that the pleasure of shopping in the shops I've been going into for 30+ years is becoming unaffordable. It doesn't help that I'm so picky. Yes the Mohedra website has clogs at cheaper prices than toast, but on the whole the ones on their own site have staples down the sides, not the studs on the ones they do for Toast. Retirement will be a blessing for me - no more work dresses to buy.

I like the Earth Kind Originals stuff. How does the sizing come up?

I think online shopping is helping them get away with it. I can't tell the quality onscreen - even if it's a natural fabric it can still turn out to be shit - and once it arrives I'm more likely to make allowances cos I can't be arsed trekking to the post office or the Hermes drop off. It's harder to hide it in a real shop. Hush for example - I'm not sure if moving into John Lewis was the smartest of moves.

I know what you are saying Op, if o want a gorgeous going out dress I now need to think in the region of £50+ and that includes a polyester one. I shop in Oasis and Warehouse and mid range shops. A few years back these dresses would be about £40, not a huge hike but enough to make me question the purchase.
I do not like Primark much, obviously pants, tights and leggings for lounging but I'm not super slim, am over 5'9 and have massive boobs so fit is very important for me, I think slim/skinny girls look great in cheaper clothes because they naturally have a figure that makes most clothes look good.
I'm currently wearing a Monsoon chambray denim skirt that was about £40 and a Esprit cotton striped tshirt for £15, the skirt is pulling at the seam on the back even though I have a relatively small arse and the tshirt has a neck line seam which doesn't stay flat no matter how much I iron it.
I don't think clothes are made to last anymore, just like washing machines, they are made to last for a short duration than binned. I don't think a denim skirt costing £40+ should've done this after wearing it about 20 or 30 times!

Completely agree OP.

It also doesn't help that I'm a (wobbly, 2 stone overweight) hourglass, so I need things that have been tailored and have a waist, which makes them even more expensive.

I bloody hate that everything for sale on the high street seems to be square and made of polyester.

I am a huge eBayer - it's the only place I can justify buying stuff that won't disintegrate in the wash.

Thestral square boxy tops are the worst! Cheap square tshirts are the Devils work!

I personally think there's loads of choice and something to suit every pocket!! I remember in 1990 an average "going-out" top in Miss Selfridge cost £30.

Same sorts of tops (in that middle market ie Oasis, Warehouse, Miss Selfridge, Next etc) still selling at around £30 for a average going-out top today!!!

We didn't have many clothes back then though as they were so expensive. Literally when I went to uni I had about 8 things to hang up on hangers in the wardrobe and that was more or less it. (Now my wardrobe is absolutely crammed!!)

Buster I buy most of my clothes from Oasis primarily and I can say for certain that they last. I wear and wear and wear tops, jumpers and skirts, they get washed on 60 degrees like all my washing regardless of the label and they iron perfectly flat and come out like new. I've rarely seen an Oasis jumper bobble.

Today I'm wearing a casual Oasis 3/4 sleeve, loose fit Breton-type top (it feels like a slightly thicker cotton jersey but the label says 94% viscose, 6% elastane) which I've probably worn and washed, and ironed on the hottest setting (as I like perfectly flat clothes!) maybe 15 times so far and it looks like brand new and the seams are perfectly matched. Although it's viscose, it feels like thick quality cotton (maybe nicer, as it's a slightly more fluid drape than cotton jersey of the same weight would be?) and it's not in the slightest sweaty or plasticy or bobbly.

Sounds miraculous.

BusterGonad I agree with you re quality - I've seen a few reviews of Monsoon clothes (not all just some) where people have washed a top or something at correct temperature and it's shrunk or something! Makes me less likely to shop there for clothes.

Thestral - that's mine and my mum's pet peeve - nothing seems to be cut for a slimmer figure or not much anymore - Phase Eight approx. 4 years ago were doing nice tops that bunched or whatever by the bust and were stretchy but colourful but a lot of their tops are either one long rectangle or square.

Oasis aren't bad for some items - I used to work in a medium sized town that had a concession in the department store and then a shop in the shopping centre there - but have gone off them a bit now. Had a few good dresses/tops etc there especially in sales.

It's tricky isn't it? I can't bring myself to add to the cheap fashion problem - I read an article recently about how it's one of the greatest destroyers of the planet at the moment - but the mid range stuff is getting ridiculous.
IMO £5 and £50 are both ridiculous prices for a t shirt for different reasons.

It is interesting to read about Oasis. I stopped buying there many years ago when they started making everything heavily patterned/floral. I moved in to other shops and ventured into Oasis fairly recently and thought everything was so badly cut. The floral patterns are not even aligned correctly which makes an already awful pattern look even worse.

Heart Oasis is my favorite shop. 95% of my wardrobe is from there!
At the moment I'm mainly wearing H&M viscose tshirt dresses, 2 out of 5 have got holes, bought in August. Mango jeans great quality, Oasis tops (polyester mix) great but sweaty. I've got a few bits from Esprit where I've never shopped before. One dress was about £70 it's great quality except for the finish on the button holes. The fabric is lovely though.

Slipper I love Oasis for the floral patterns! I love flowers, birds, butterflies and all that stuff. For me I'll always choose a pattern over plain!

I'm about washing everything on 60 degrees but Heart's point about prices is correct. I agree about mid range high prices going up and about quality dropping but - in real terms - we're still buying more and paying less than we were pre 1990s.

You only have to go round a few antique furniture shops to see how small wardrobes used to be. I won't bore you with yet another story about my 35 year old John Lewis jumper but basically I had far fewer clothes and I had to save up to buy them.

OP I think you are being a sensible shopper - less but better quality. Those Toast t shirts will last forever! Toast has great sales. I also love Cos for the quality and style.

Actually I did have far fewer clothes when I was 18 but that's because I worked part time and went to college so even £10 was a lot for me to spend on a top.
I had a thing for Ted Baker about 15 years ago and I was spending about £60 on tops, this was a lot of money and they were gorgeous and worth it. I wonder how much those tops would be now and if they would be the same quality!

Floisme You don't get anything properly clean at 40 degrees! 60 is the way forward. So much bacteria (E coli, flu etc) at 40 degrees and with 3 young DCs in the family... I know it's a whole other topic which is hotly debated but the scientific facts are such that even a "clean" pair of knickers or pants (from being washed at 40 degrees) have an awful lot of bacteria clinging to them.

I hand wash delicate items and never use a tumble dryer (don't have one) so I like to think on balance it's worth it environmentally, through hardly ever being ill, not needing antibiotics etc etc etc... My DCs have had one set of antibiotics between them in 10 years. (as in 2 have never had them). I can't remember my own last set, it must be years and years ago. I barely get a cold. I'm convinced it's linked to washing clothes, bedding, underwear, flannels, towels, bedding and teatowels at 60 degrees (amongst other good hygiene practices).

I wash most of my stuff at 30 degrees and never wash anything except white cotton at any more than 40. Neither DH or I have had a day off work in the last 12 years, neither of us have been sick since we were married in 1984. As my granny said "you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die"

Higgy we're all different!

But 30 degrees doesn't get clothes properly clean or kill off bacteria. I have to disagree with you on that.

I wash clothes at 30 but use that Dettol washing liquid in with the powder. I find clothes shrink at 40+. I only wash sheets and towels on high temperatures these days.

Phase 8 has gone downhill. Used to have nicely tailored clothes, hate the drapes clothes that are fashionable