Why is the quality of everything so shit?

[Notcontent]

So tired of this. For example, recently bought sine flannel pyjamas from Hush. They arrived and looked lovely and cosy - great, these will last me for years, I thought... I look after my clothes - wash at low temperature, low spin and air dry. I have washed these 3 or 4 times and the fabric has become really rough and slightly bobbled - they look like I have washed and tumble dried them about 100 times.... Same with a jumper I bought in uniqlo.

This did not happen with clothes I bought 20 years ago. I know it’s the quality of the fabric. Grrr...

I agree with the shareholder issue. They put so much pressure for an increased profit every year. It's also what ruined Etsy. What used to be a platform for genuine handmade small businesses, then it was floated and now the sellers are under a huge pressure to offer free shipping and discounts. It's also full of shite and tat now too.

I've also been disappointed with the increasing poor clothing quality over the last few years. I have a rib cotton tank top from Levi's I bought in 1989 and I still use it. The material is thick and has a good weight. The seams are starting to fray now but it's still usable at home.

Hush is terrible. I have a dress that I need to return, the material is so thin and the bottom part stick out like a cone rather than drape nicely. I haven't ordered anything from Hush for a good while and now remember why.

In the last few months I've ordered some tops from Kettlewell colours, a British privately owned company who manufactures their clothing in Europe. At first glance it looks a little frumpy, their USP is the offer a vast range of colours to suit your colour season. But the there are some very good basics and I've be very pleased with the quality.

Totally agree. I won't buy anything manmade. So much high street stuff just falls apart. Bamboo is a good alternative for some things. It's thick, feels luxurious and washes well bambooclothing.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAjw6qqDBhB-EiwACBs6x4ZUrbOuz-tL9i8l4Ii5tJYIJjBnrqkNEBl4dlRI-Dz8xbfmAsrsiRoC_hMQAvD_BwE
Range is somewhat limited - no day dresses there! Good undies though.
Buying at ethical companies also seems to help with quality. I find Mistral and People Tree both to be pretty good in terms of quality. Rapanui or Howies for basic t-shirts (not bought from either for a while, to be fair, as previous stuff has lasted!)
I'm tall, though and none of these places seem to do longer length. I'm a bit stuck as far as trousers go.

It’s quite depressing, I’ve finally got some money to spend on clothes and want a few t-shirts both short and long sleeves. Proving impossible to get ones that you can’t spit through.

I used to buy loads in French Connection, silk, quality wools, coats with cashmere. Beautiful cuts and quality. Last time I checked the high end high street prices point was still in place but not the quality. Mike Ashley in full force. Reiss used to be good in the sales. I miss Warehouse from that era too. Weirdly a lot of my older stuff that still comes out is from Kookai. So mid 90s

@SaintReatham

About ten years ago (?) M&S had a Best of British line, specifically sourced from UK mills and factories. It was expensive but decent quality, and I just wish the styles had suited me better - I'd have bought more.

Massive missed opportunity. They got the designs wrong. Beautiful fabric, great finish, brilliant USP but eg skirts too short for the women who could afford to buy them and for the occasions on which the clothes would be worn. I returned a circle skirt made from beautiful lightweight wool, fine windowpane check, because it was 3 inches too short for me to wear to work with a smart top and heels.

I've also had some really good quality underwear from Lidl. Their esmara organic cotton briefs are £2.99 for 2 pairs. I have their organic vests and they're good as new 5 years on.

Totally making the move to bamboo and organic for the basics. Slowly building up my collection. Fed up of cheap leggings going baggy and scratchy underwear.

What I don’t get is, not so long ago there must have been a real appetite for well made clothes, designer feel at top of the high street prices. Has that demand vanished?

That was how Next got going in the early 80s: people wanted good fabrics and good cuts and were prepared to pay for them. Next clothes were relatively expensive then, but the demand was there. Their clothes are now awful, saggy and cheap looking.

Ditto Jigsaw in the 1990s for good, chic work gear, Karen Millen for the Versace on the high street look and French Connection for great fabrics and classy styles. People were prepared to pay for good, stylish distinctive clothes.

I can’t believe that that demand has vanished. I still want good, well made clothes but they are so hard to find. Even designer brands are made of crap fabrics: a poster upthread mentioned Theory and I had a similar experience.

Surely not everyone has been so dazzled by cheap fast fashion that it’s impossible to sell real clothes? I agree that Hush quality is terrible. Why is nobody stealing a march on them, Joules, White Stuff and everybody else churning out cheap fabric at big prices, by producing good quality clothes for the same price?

I think we have become accustomed to cheap fashion
I’m 57 and can remember lusting after a pair of shoes over 40 years ago - they were £30 and I saved for ages to buy them
A similar pair are now £90
www.kickers.co.uk/women-c3/womens-kick-hi-classic-p5353
At £30 long ago I saved for months

Community clothing are a British made basics brand, they come up on my Facebook feed and all the comments are like “what idiot pays £45 for a sweatshirt?” It’s like we know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Even Reiss is full of wretched polyester now. They used to do loads of silk. Who wants to pay £300 for a polyester dress?

I’ve noticed that when a garment is made of a natural fibre, the website on which it is sold is desperate to tell you in the description by the thumbnail: ‘COTTON t shirt’. As if it were such a big wow to sell a t shirt made of cotton that they have to boast about it: twenty years ago it would have been a shock if a t shirt wasn’t made of cotton. Now it’s all dreary viscose blends and it’s a certainty that if the natural fibre isn’t mentioned in the headline description, the garment is synthetic.

Well you've all just made me do a Cos order. I've sized down in the hope they won't swamp me line they have in the past. I know that's the point of many of their clothes!

I’m so glad so many people have mentioned synthetic fabrics as this has been bothering me for SO long. Why on earth do clothing companies think they can get away with charging lots of money for viscose, polyester etc? It’s absolutely mad. And some people must actually pay it, which is madder.

Totally agree.

On the PJ side though I bought some flannel pjs from Cyberjammies in Dec in the sale. Super soft flannel, have washed a few times and doing ok.

I'm buying second hand clothes and finding they're better quality than new stuff on the hugh street.

@DinosaurDiana

I agree. I bought some socks off Next, usually decent quality, now there’s holes where the fabric meets at the toes within a couple of wears.

I’m also finding this with socks, holes are appearing very quickly due to poor material whereas previously they’d have lasted for years. I’ve tried a few brands too.

Thanks to the poster upthread who mentioned Community Clothing. I just looked at their website. Lovely stuff.

Someone mentioned t shirts - Michael Stars are amazing luxury quality, and Majestic Filatures.
Not cheap options but very good quality.

I check fabric content before I buy and stick to natural fibres where possible. I try to avoid viscose too. Using a non-bio washing powder helps for clothes (bio for sheets/towels), and hand wash with soap flakes for silk and wool knits.

I avoid cashmere because most of it is cheap short fibre blend and it sheds dreadfully.

But it's getting harder to find decent stuff. Small independents are better but very expensive, so I buy the best I can find and wear it for years.

Not RTFT

the answer is capitalism.

I am pissed off with this too. Pretty much everything is just shit quality now.

I'm having a lot of trouble with bin bags at the mo.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56630546

I've not read every page but wondered if you've seen this? Price and quality issues collide to give us an ever decreasing set of brands we can rely on. This talks about a labelling scandal within a retail group.

Everything seems to be Primark quality now if it's from a high street retailer.

Saying that I am really impressed with some new Primark stuff I got.

I was buying £40 jumpers and £60 bloody leggings and trackie bottoms. Thought fuck this - went to Primark and a load of stuff for £5 each. I actually think its better than Nike and other Mainstream brands. Its softer, its washing better, and its a fiver - so whatever!

@JackieWeaverFever

I agree. If you think it's bad here don't shop in Australia or US. Other than buying crazy expensive Nordic French and German brands I haven't found the answer.

Smitten from Tasmania is amazing - very expensive, but great quality.

Because people accept it and buy their stuff again and again to replace the old one. Lots of shitty quality things, I agree

@LemonSwan I live in Primark jeans, they cost about £13 and I have loads of styles/colours. They wash brilliantly and I've had some for years with no problems.
I've had some terrible things from more expensive stores and to be honest I can't afford to risk spending £60 plus on a sweater for it to fall apart when I can get two outfits for the same price.

Nice - we have had capitalism forever in the uk! The reasons are more complicated imo. I’d suggest it’s our increased incomes meaning that we can afford to replace stuff, we also have far more clothes now. Pre ww 2 and in the 50s and 60s even affluent middle class families would have very few clothes - a child would have a pair of shorts and a air of trousers, some shirts and a sweater, a vest or two and some pants and socks. One pair of shoes. Every item was looked after and mended if need be. It’s not so long ago that some children didn’t even have shoes! You couldn’t buy clothes in supermarkets - a mass of cheap clothes weren’t available- we weren’t shining in enormous amounts of stuff from all over the world as containerisation hadn’t really started.

Capitalism caters for demand, we are the ones demanding new clothes all the time.

I keep seeing posts here about n redingote to buy a dress for a themed hen night or some party, about MILs and mums buying tons of baby staff, I see the YouTube haul videos that are ridiculous and I think that feeds an unnecessary demand.
It’s a vicious circle because clothes that don’t last make you buy a replacement and round and round we go.