Where do you buy your good quality clothing?

[NutellaEllaElla]

I mean non-fast fashion, substantial materials etc.

I'll start:
Hobbs
Reiss
Joules
Fat Face
Tommy Hilfiger
Mint Velvet
Phase Eight
White stuff

I love Poetry and it's sister company Wrap London. I can't afford much from there, I spend a season deciding what I really like and hope it will go in the sale. I probably buy one full price piece per season but its such lovely quality they will last for years so I am slowly building a wardrobe of decent stuff. I also buy a couple of Hobbs V neck tee shirts each summer, I keep those for 'best' that year and relegate the previous year's ones to every day.

I spend a season deciding what I really like and hope it will go in the sale.

This is my usual modus operandi as well, at least for the more expensive places I listed. But one or two of my current favorite places - presumably to counter their lockdown losses - are now pre-selling their next A/W collections, with a mere 30% deposit. It does make paying for really good quality slightly less painful.

Thank you for that research into how ethical these labels are @Enko - that’s really useful. I shall be adjusting my shopping accordingly.

I really like Wolf & Badger. Lots of original stuff from small labels.

I would have to concede that I don't actually own any high street jeans. I look at them, even try them on, but never buy them, because Hiut or Gortz are better made and more flattering, and at 64, I wear jeans everyday. I blush to admit that I have about 12 pairs of jeans (between winter and summer weight). I can't bring myself to add up the cost (and I bought some in the sale). And yes, all made in Europe. T shirts mostly from Uniqlo, because I wreck them.

Fabric is expensive to buy.

This.
It's not just the fabric. If you make your own clothes you need all the extra bits like a zip, button, interfacing, thread and a pattern. And hours making the item. A dress or jumpsuit will take several yards of fabric, especially if it's checks or something that needs to match up.

I am pro making your own clothes if that's what you like doing - I certainly do, it's a great hobby. But it ain't quick, cheap or easy .

I'll have a google of Hiut and Gortz for jeans but feel it might be impossible to buy jeans online. I just need to try several on, you know? I've no idea if you can even find them in store in the UK.

Hiut stockists

I have no affiliation with them, or even their jeans, but I do like the sound of them.

Just received an order from Ted Baker. Surprisingly pleased with everything that's arrived!

Some of my favourite dresses have been French Connection. But I think they just do my size well.

Finisterre
BAM

I used to love Thought, but found that their quality is not great. Great ethical credential, but clothes I’ve had from them stretched, bobbled and wore through quickly.

Esprit also use lots of natural fabrics.

Sigh ...

It's so frustrating when no one wants to talk about the brands I want to talk about ...

Avavav make all their clothes from European deadstock.

Community Clothing is a social enterprise with impeccable community goals.

La Fetiche refashion unsold items from their previous seasons into new pieces.

I now have a million tabs open looking at so many of these suggestions!!!

Enko that is a really useful list. Might have to revisit marks and Spencer! And enjoy your order.

@BrilliantBetty

I have a beautifully cut suit jacket from French Connection that has lasted me many many years. It was my interview go-to until i put on just that bit too much weight to button it!

@LouisaMayAlcott am loving the Poetry site. Thank you

Could you tell me what the sizing is like compared to Hobbs / Jigsaw / White Company. I am a 12 in Hobbs / Jigsaw and a 10 White Company. What size would you suggest with Poetry ?

[quote inmylifeIlovedthemall]@LouisaMayAlcott am loving the Poetry site. Thank you

Could you tell me what the sizing is like compared to Hobbs / Jigsaw / White Company. I am a 12 in Hobbs / Jigsaw and a 10 White Company. What size would you suggest with Poetry ?[/quote]
@inmylifeIlovedthemall it's definitely on the generous size. I would go for a 10 if I were you. I've only got a couple of pieces from White Company but I would say they're comparable.

I'm not learning to sew to save money. I'm doing it because clothes shopping is changing and I'm not sure I like the direction it's taking. The number of brands I like and trust is shrinking all the time. Buying second hand won't work forever because the quality is starting to tank there too, plus the small local businesses I like are being taken over, and it's all shaping up to become as corporate as the high street.

I've reached a stage where, if one or two more brands go out of business or if my dress agency lady retires then I'm going to be screwed. Making my own is my Plan B.

Crew
Joules
Dubarry
Fairfax and Favour

Does anyone have any places they look more specifically for footwear? I'm looking for sandals to wear with dresses for future events. The John Lewis website has some but they're very expensive. LK Bennet sandals for £200.I don't need fancy designers but non plastic for a reasonable price would be good.

@Floisme

I'm not learning to sew to save money. I'm doing it because clothes shopping is changing and I'm not sure I like the direction it's taking. The number of brands I like and trust is shrinking all the time. Buying second hand won't work forever because the quality is starting to tank there too, plus the small local businesses I like are being taken over, and it's all shaping up to become as corporate as the high street.

I've reached a stage where, if one or two more brands go out of business or if my dress agency lady retires then I'm going to be screwed. Making my own is my Plan B.

I am seriously considering starting to make my own. I have a sewing machine and overlocker and I'm not inexperienced it's just actually doing it.

The number of brands I like and trust is shrinking all the time.

But there are always more ... It will admittedly be slightly more costly (and maybe more troublesome) to order from Europe, but even if one is determined only to shop in the U.K. you're surely never going to run out? Fashion students still graduate every year, City professionals move to villages and start businesses every month ...

I've already listed some places I know and trust, (and whose online sales I'm familiar with) but have you already tried / rejected:

Cawley Studio
Corniche
Envoy of Belfast
Mouki Mou
Old-Town

Some are weird and wonderful, others lean towards the plain and simple - as far as I'm aware all but the last have sales. (And nowadays one sale pretty much merges into the next; times being hard.) All online obviously.

Not that people shouldn't make their own clothes! But I'd be naked if I had to rely on my non-existent seamstress skills. And unhappy if there weren't endless new (to me) designers / brands / shops to discover.

(I honestly never shop at the used-to-be-High-St brands most people have suggested. Toast seems lumpen and hopeless now, and the beautiful linen t shirt I bought from Cos last summer is now mostly holes, despite careful wear.)

(I'm late middle age, btw.)

Yeah if it hadn't been for 3 lockdowns (and no small children any more) to I'd probably still just be talking about it Louisa!

@Floisme

Yeah if it hadn't been for 3 lockdowns (and no small children any more) to I'd probably still just be talking about it Louisa!

I would never have started if not for lockdown. We have a Stitch and bitch thread here which I give total credit to for getting me through my first piece of clothing. Lots of very knowledgeable and experienced sewists and hopeless newbies like me . Hope to see you there

If anyone can find me tops or t shirts in cotton, that are fitted, not boxy, so I don't look like a balloon, you get a prize.

Big busted, so need size 14/16, but small waisted, so need fitted style. All current styles sit on my boob shelf and then are designed to accommodate big bellies and long arms, neither of which I have. Makes me look twice the size I am.

That's very good advice
Pursuing except for one thing. Call me old fashioned but I like real shops. I like looking at clothes, feeling the fabrics, trying on things I'd (probably) never wear just for a laugh. I'm bored senseless with squinting at images on a screen. I'm sick of paying to try things on. I've had enough of queuing at the Hermes drop off and then waiting 4 weeks for a refund.

Even when it works out. there's little enjoyment for me in buying online any more. It's becoming as functional as buying groceries. But when I choose fabric and patterns and I start to see a garment taking shape in my very clumsy hands, then some of that old pleasure and satisfaction comes back.

It depends but Baukjen , hush ( need to look carefully), Boden ( again look closely at fabric info) FWP by Rae, I try to buy premium denim made sustainably with less water. I buy quite a bit second hand, eBay, Vinted, vestiaire, depop for premium brands once I know sizing