Shopping for clothes- how to recognise good quality

[thelegohooverer]

I was ironing a t shirt this morning and the bottom seam has warped in the first wash, and it got me thinking about how to recognise good/poor quality when you’re shopping.

It’s not really as simple as you get what you pay for ime; I’ve had very poor quality on occasion from more expensive (for me) stores, and I have a sweatshirt from Lidl that is perfect after 6 years of frequent wear.

So I wondered if there were any tips or tricks for shopping?

My only tip is to scrunch the fabric in your hand for a few seconds and let go to see how much it will crease with wear.

Fabric first.

Then turn the thing inside out and check the seams. (Obvs doesn't work before you press 'Buy' but if you pay attention you'll learn which brands are reliably good quality.)

Hmm ... Struggling to find any more words! I I inherited a gimlet eye and can assess quality in a second, whatever the price.

Search for Justine Leconte on YouTube. She has a couple of how to spot good quality clothing videos.

Great tip @PoulePouletteEternellement
I’ll check that out @DelphineWalsh

Seams
Linings
Zips

Opacity
Check Armpits

If it's a stretch, give it a tug and a wobble to see how it recovers and moves.

Is it far more see through than you'd want it to be?

Is the grain true? If a t-shirt isn't cut straight, it will almost definitely twist in the wash.

Are patterns matched (hate it when even quite expensive clothes have checks that don't line up at all) or have as many pieces been cut out of the fabric as possible and no effort made in production to select a front that matches a back, for example?