I think that Karen Millen are in trouble

[Iamthewombat]

I have bought many delightful garments from Karen Millen over the past 15 years, but I think that it has met its nemesis.

Many, many sales and too much polyester over the past couple of years.

I ordered a top online last week. Not up to normal standards and (unusually for Karen Millen, home of the tiny size), massive!

Invoice in the package was in FRENCH and did not contain returns label. Alarm bells ringing. Decided to return it to the store in the city I was working in today (Leeds): store - in prestigious Victoria quarter location - closed this week.

I was actually in there a couple of weeks ago: noticed that assistants were uncharacteristically surly and there wasn’t much stock. Suspicious.

Looks like they have run out of cash? Such a shame. They used to make such lovely things and still produce the odd gem.

Is it our fault that they have all gone synthetic, I wonder? Maybe not enough people want to pay for nice stuff so everybody has joined the race to the bottom.

I remember moaning in Warehouse a couple of years ago because I could not find a cotton t shirt. Every t shirt was bloody viscose and microfibre. I gave my feedback to the staff and they said, to make the t shirt in cotton would make it more expensive by a few £.

So what, was my response (it was already £18 actually, and I don’t see why you couldn’t have a cotton t shirt for that price) but maybe there is a ceiling to what people will pay in the age of Primark?

(it was already £18 actually, and I don’t see why you couldn’t have a cotton t shirt for that price) you absolutely can't have a cotton t shirt for £18 (sustainably sourced and ethically made) £40 is more like it

maybe there is a ceiling to what people will pay in the age of Primark? sadly I think there is, and your assertion above about the right price for a cotton t shirt proves it.

This isn't just about price, its about quantity and volume and choice. We don't need brands to release new lines every fortnight, we don't need pre-sales as well as sales, or constant discount codes and offers, we don't need "new-in" or "must-have" or instagram hawkers telling us they are "obsessed by" or "can't live without", stuff they get for free which in turn gives us all massive FOMO, or banner ads, and pop ups, and targeted marketing and algorithms on every piece of tech we use telling us what we NEED...that is why everything available is man made bilge for £5.50.

We all need to STOP buying from these places, start saving up and buying more expensive, well made clothes, only if and when we can afford it, or live without, and maybe then someone might start listening.

I get what you are saying, but Warehouse do not sell ethically-sourced stuff. I wish that they did, and I’d pay for it.

However, in their current circumstances, if they are selling a non-ethically sourced viscose t shirt for £18, and Sainsbury’s Tu are doing cotton for £12, say, it feels like Warehouse are taking the piss.

It’s somewhere you used to go for a wedding outfit in the early naughties if you were feeling flush and didn’t like any of the dresses in coast.

Last week I ordered a dress from KM in their sale, it was a beach type of dress, when it arrived the quality was H&M. It was reduced to £80 in the sale, sadly it went back.

I want to shop ethically and I'm trying to buy a few quality pieces per season but this was poor. It's such a shame, I've got some KM dresses that are 20 years old and still look fantastic.

KM's designs were excellent.

As someone else mentioned them I ordered some Hobbs dresses in their sale, their quality has slipped too and the sizing was all over the place.

It’s hard to get decent fabric from designer brands too. I look with horror at viscose dresses for £400 on Netaporter and think, who are you trying to kid?