How can brands justify £50-200 for polyester dresses?

[Thedarklady]

Natural and natural mix is fine but not man made, hot and shedding fibres. Yes, it's tough in retail but is it too much to ask for a nice dress without having to spend £300+?

I have managed to buy a few timeless cotton dresses recently but it's hard outside of summer.

I really like viscose, it used to be called rayon. I have no problem washing it at all. Even bloody Vivienne Westwood dresses are polyester now!

I wear quite a lot of viscose and it suits me - I thought Rayon was the American word for the same stuff.

I find cotton tops and shirts quite hard to wear and they're not always flattering on me, so I try to find soft, man made fibres.

Can anyone recommend any independent, online clothing retailers? Not too expensive, maybe up to £60 or so per garment. I'm a bit sick of the usual high street online options. Recommendations would be much appreciated.

Cotton is not that environmentally sensitive either, the amount of water used to produce it is incredible. Not sure what the perfect answer is, but I don't think that all cotton is it either?

I suppose a big part of the answer is simply to consume less.

Yes it’s just using less I think. I do my bit by being v unfashionable and wearing the same dresses forever!

Agree I think linen, hemp and ramie are the most sustainable. There are some other options that will probably become more widespread like soy and seaweed fabrics. I think it’s odd that polyester is on the rise given the hugely publicised plastics issue.

This is one of the main reasons behind me getting into dressmaking. I was so sick of the terrible quality from even quite pricey shops. And I know that cotton isn't necessarily a better choice for the environment, but I just hate polyester and find it so awful to wear. I do like good quality viscose, though.
I don't particularly save money making my own clothes (I never intended to), but it is such a joy being able to make things in lovely quality fabrics!

I suppose a big part of the answer is simply to consume less.

I do think at some point in the not too distant future we will look back at the bonkers consumerism in this time period and think wtf were we thinking? It wasn't normal even in the 70s/80s to buy clothes (and other stuff) at the rate we do now.

And yes, stuff was relatively more expensive I think then, so I guess people couldn't. Maybe we have had a period of unusual cheapness for clothes and things are returning back to normal?

And I hold my hands up to being as guilty as anyone.

Yes, the greenest option is long-lasting, well-made stuff nd second-hand. eBay is also great for clothes from the days when they weren’t all polyester!

Cotton often can’t be washed at low temperatures. Also, natural materials tend to tear and fall apart quite easily - so it’s not value for money if you’re spending a lot in the first place. Know this from bitter experience through wearing Indian clothes which is nearly always made from natural materials - have several thousand pound plus silk sarees (some embroidered in real gold) which have fallen apart. The only thing you can do with them is try and salvage what you can of the material into something else. Give me a good quality viscose or polyester outfit any day of the week!

I’m annoyed when a print I like is polyester especially on NaP etc

If you buy one polyester dress (which depending on the quality and price of the polyester, seems to last and last) is that better or worse than ten cotton dresses that wash badly and look like rags in a year's time. Sick of cheap cotton, linen, cashmere etc.

You can get amazing vintage cotton and silk saris on eBay for £10-£20. I buy them to make dresses and tops. I also have cotton and linen clothes that have lasted ages, if they’re good quality.

It's all down to quality of fabric. Good quality cotton washes and irons beautifully and lasts for years.

I agree Anthony - we will look back in horror at our relentless consumerism.

And yes LadyBumckock, given that ‘sustainable’ is a current trend, it is a wonder stores and brands - Whistles Jigsaw etc aren’t jumping on that marketing bandwagon. I’d have thought they would be smart enough to jump on but it seems they’re not as quick in the uptake as I expected.

I agree I had far fewer clothes and, in real terms, paida lot more for them up until the 90s. But it wasn’t all a golden age for natural fabrics. Go to any vintage shop and check out the acrylic jumpers and bri-nylon shirts - they were popular cos they dried faster and needed less care.

And while I hold up my hands for being partial to a bit of fast fashion (although I try and keep it in check) I think it’s unfair to blame our shopping habits solely on rampant consumerism. Cheap fabrics don’t wear well so, if you’re not on a comfortable income, you can get trapped in a vicious circle of constantly having to replace cheap shit that’s falling apart with more cheap shit that will also fall apart, because that’s all you can afford.

Yes and since they charge £££ for polyester, they could charge the same for sustainable ramie or hemp, or juts good quality viscose. I’m sure it’s on the way though.

agreed - ASOS, Whistles, Oliver Bonearse. yuck, they're synthetic as hell and look as if you'd go up in flames.

I do lurve me Whistles though.

Would buy Comptoir des Cottoniers etc if I fitted into their stuff but synthetic too.

I recently bought some lovely cotton and linen dresses and tops from places like Thierry Colson, Lisa Marie Fernandez in the sale, they are all in the £150- £350 range , so on the the same level as man made fabrics from places like Sandro and whistles ,

cotton and linen fabrics are increasing in price , but they do last longer and I think it’s worth paying extra.

We are falling into the same old ‘blame the consumer’ blame game. Yes, consumers carry responsibility but so do companies. So handy for companies. Apart from a bit of moaning about quality and prices, they seem to get away scot free.

Like Floisme, I hold my hands up to Zara H+M etc but I am trying and use the ‘30 wears’ rule. Makes it easier to separate the wheat from the chaff as regards sharpening my wits about how much I really like something.

In summer I want lovely, cool, crisp, cotton. Drives me made all this polyester. Only seems to be a problem in UK though, in Italy you'd be hard pressed to find anything NOT cotton or Linen.

On another, but similar vein, DD bought some sandals yesterday. Lovely, Carvella. Reduced from £85 to £45. They are NOT leather. I couldn't believe it. Nice style, and comfy blah, blah, but man made in CHINA for £85 . Times past all shoes were leather and made in Italy or Spain. We must be mugs.

queenoffarles - I've seen the cotton labels you mentioned - are they any good?

Ethical consumption feels so impossible I sometimes wonder if going naked might not be touted as a solution in a generation or ten

TheCatThatDanced I’ve been buying Thierry Colson clothes for some years now and they are exceptional, all in light cotton , linen or Silk, it’s a very small brand with one shop in Paris and only Matches and Moda operandi stock them.
Lisa Marie Fernandez is very good too, but really expensive for summer clothes so I tend to buy on sale, NaP do have some nice ones at the moment