Do you pay more for certain brands when you can get a similar item cheaper?

[Lan2020]

I'm just curious as to whether people tend to stick to cheaper/more expensive brands or mix and match? I mean generally as I know affordability and cost is relative and a £100 dress could be expensive for some and too cheap for others.

I'm updating my wardrobe and trying to downsize. So I'm now looking at more expensive items. However,.it often sea that clothes are made from the same material, even with a huge price difference.
Would you buy something you like if it's cheaper? Or just stick with higher end brands?

For example. I love the below skirt from Sezane. However Monki also has a similar polka dot skirt, that with a 20% discount would be £75 cheaper than Sezane! Also, they are both made from polyester. Maybe I'm more sold by the French styling, whilst to me the Monki skirt looks a lot cheaper.

Only asking because in my quest to buy higher quality items, I often feeling I'm spending a lot more money because an item is a particular brand when I could get it cheaper for the same material.

I used to, but with age, I have come to realise that pricierbutens are usually better quality and better cut. I have two very similar looking pairs of summer culottes. Both cotton. One pair came from Asda and cost £15, one pair came from Finisterre and cost £70. The cheap ones look awful after 2 mins and hang badly. The expensive ones always get compliments!!

I think I would pay more if I wanted it for a special occasion, but if I just fancied a spotty skirt I'd get the cheaper one.

My motto is ‘buy cheap buy twice’

There can be subtle differences in how clothes look and fit when you try them on, so I take each item based on its merits. I will buy whatever item makes me look and feel best in it and sometimes that has been a cheaper item.

I actually think the skirts you have linked aren't that similar and would suit different body shapes and styles. I don't think you can compare them.

Thank you all for the responses. I was just curious. I tend to do most of my shopping online (as I'm sure many people do, especially with lockdown) and some brands are new to me and I'm unable to assess the quality. I tend to be leaning towards wanting to buy more expensive items in the hope I have quality rather than quality.

@purpledagger out of interest, which skirt do.you think will best suit a size 6/8 5ft 2? I can't help but prefer the more expensive one!

I prefer the monki one.

I also think I judge clothes based on how they look and feel, rather than the brand. Usually the pricier ones look, feel, hang and last better, but that isn't always the case.

The other thing to bear in mind is with expensive option- anything happens to the item the company are usually happy to replace or refund the item because they promise to offer a quality thy shouldn't need refunding or replacing. I find higher end product companies have always responded to damaged goods really well

I always buy cheap. There is a possibility that you'll have to buy twice but sometimes the cheap item is just as good as the more expensive item and I'd rather have the cash tbh.

No. For me personally I would never be happy with the knock off item & my heart would always want the original of whatever i'd seen. That goes for clothes / perfume etc

I buy good quality & ever since I was v young I've always valued quality over quantity. So for me i'd far far prefer the one lovely Sezane skirt than 3 from monki etc

I don't do it to impress anyone else but it gives me quiet pleasure when I wear them

I also v v rarely wear costume jewellery for the same reason.

My mother is almost the opposite. She has a wardrobe of lovely leather bags in every colour you could think of, many of them bought as gifts by me! And yet she'll fekifyt in carrying a cheap Spanish market fake Burberry plastic tacky bag. I can never understand it. Or again a wardrobe bursting with lovely clothes she never wears & she'd rather wear a flimsy jumper from Primark..

My clothes & make up & jewellery & perfume give me a lot of pleasure each day & even in lock down I wore makeup & perfume & jewellery every day..

It depends. Is is a fleeting fashion item that I may well go off? Or is it something I'd want to have in my wardrobe for years?
Also, just because they're both the same fabric doesn't mean they'll be the same. There are different grades of almost every fabric I can think of, including polyester.

Great post @UnreasonablyPissedOff. I do mix high and low end, due to restrictive budget and a love of clothes , but agree, even if nobody else knows, I feel better in better quality.

Lan2020 Im slightly shorter than you and more ahem, curvy, so I think the monki one may swamp you, as there is lots of material. The sezane one may suit you better as the material is thinner and the cut is more narrow. There will be lots of other people who suit the monki skirt better.

I think there is a big difference between buying cheaper high street items, and buying knock-offs and dupes. I would happily buy/wear the Monki skirt, particularly given that we have a short summer with possibly few chances to wear the Sezane one. I would never buy a fake bag, or perfume though!

I tend to spend more on things like jeans and trousers because I am quite hippy and cheap ones look crap, and on knitwear as I like it to be properly warm. I am less likely to pay a lot for things like t-shirts and summer dresses.

A priority for me is to avoid clothes made, or possibly made in sweatshops and where possible to buy clothes made in the UK or the EU. Two of my favourites for dresses are Palava and &Daughter for dresses and Eribé and Brora for knitwear. I occasionally buy made to measure dresses from a designer in London who uses UK seamstresses.

There are cheaper versions of what Palava and &Daughter do but I think they lack their finishing details (well I suppose I would think that, given their prices) but they are very unlikely to meet the made in UK or EU criteria.

When I was a nanny, the mum worked at Yves Saint Laurent. She was clearing out her wardrobe and had a suit that was my size so offered it to me. I swear to God it was magical. I'm 5ft 2 and suddenly my legs looked six inches longer and I looked a size smaller. The tailoring was a world apart from any other suit I've ever owned. When I later got a job in an office I wore it twice a week for 8 years before I finally had to admit it was past it's best (the material started to be a little shiny on the legs) . She said it was about 5 years old when she gave it to me. Sadly I can't afford another one but if I could, I would spend the money in a heartbeat.

I do a combination of the two. I buy expensive Winter Clothes - wool/cashmere coats and cashmere jumpers and silk trousers, skirts and tops. For summer wear however my priority is natural fabrics so I will buy linen/cotton dresses from M&S, Monsoon & Oysho.
Plus H&M's crinkled cotton & linen t shirts ( shrunk on the first wash!).

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It does seem, with everything not just clothes, that you need to pay a lot more for quite a small increase in quality, but IMO there's much more pleasure in having fewer better quality things.

I do buy some cheaper things, but unless it's something that will only be very lightly used (which I try not to buy at all) I almost always regret it.

I does frustrate me that expensive doesn't necessarily mean good quality though. Lots of things that cost a lot are still "cheap" iyswim