Quality clothes that won’t break the bank?

[Conniethesensible]

I’m done with fast fashion
BooHoo, H&M, SHEIN, Primark. I want clothes that will last longer than a year which are proper worth investing in!

What are your brands you swear by?

I like;
Monsoon
Boden (for dresses, jumpsuits and pyjamas)
Baukjen
Hush

Brakeburn

I'm the save, have given up on H&M after a few disastrous top-shrinking-after-one-wash episodes. I'd never heard of Me+Em before this thread. It doesn't look like they do over a size 16 anyway.

At size 18, I go for Hobbs, always superbly cut and finished. I still like Boden for thick fabrics and good design, although they have become less of a must have for me lately.

I like Phase Eight clothes, plus Coast. Monsoon used to be good, pre-liquidation.

Recently I've bought some stuff from La Redoute which seems to have potential. I've tried Uniqlo, am undecided on them.

I am usually quite pleasantly surprised by Next quality/price ratio, especially in the sale.

I try to stick to ethical clothing brands for non-work clothing, esp Thought, Nomad, Lily&Me.

I've bought a few sort of mid range things recently and I have noticed the quality is better.

I've recently got:

• a beautiful dress from Sezane
• a very classic houdstooth type wool blend blazer from Gant (not to everyone's taste, but I love it)
• two handbags by Matt & Nat
• a Kemi Telford skirt
• camel trench from Cos

They were all a bit more expensive than fast fashion, but also not super high end prices. Around the £100 mark.

Also like Ganni which you can get quite cheaply on Outnet.

@anon666 What happened to Monsoon? I still really like their stuff. I hope they don’t become just another crappy brand 😮

Some bargains in Whistles sale atm
JL sale is good to look at a range of decent brands

@AnnieSnap they went into liquidation. I'm not sure whether they were bought out though - sometimes established brands reappear with a new owner. But what a shame. 😔

Hobbs
Seasalt for casual dresses and coats
Jigsaw sometimes
Monsoon
Boden
A trawl of John Lewis for work clothes,
Woolovers knitwear

Occasionally ‘younger’ shops but I have a hatred of mutton dressed as lamb dressed

I just got a lovely dress from Seasalt. First time getting something from them.

Some M&S, as above, it's worth a look as you can get quality pieces.
Toast, Reiss, Jigsaw, Kiin at John Lewis.
Not H&M or Monki, if you're looking for quality generally speaking.

My quality pieces come from Cefinn, Arket, Comptoir Cottoniere and Mint Velvet. I have other good brands which would have been expensive at full price but found very reduced in Tk Maxx.

I tend to go into TKMaxx in High Street Kensington (London) about once a month and just spend a few hours browsing. For me the key is to go with plenty of time and an open mind about what's missing in your wardrobe.

I bought 3 jumpers and some cotton t-shirts from Esprit last year. All seem good quality for the price point. I can't comment on anything else from the yet.

I think this 'fast fashion' jibe is a load of elitist nonsense, personally. Another stick to hit people with less money with. I have things which I bought from H&M and the like still in my wardrobe from 20 years ago. Still very wearable. I do wear clothes out completely occasionally from very frequent wearing but they would have worn out whatever retailer they were from. Jeans used to go on the knees, for example, when I was crawling on the ground playing with my toddler. Dresses tend to last longer, decades in fact. If you are worried why not wear overalls and aprons when doing messy work?

I agree with pp about Monsoon, they used to have lovely quality stuff.
Another fan of Kemi Telford! Skirts and dresses made of cotton, not see through..

I have a dressing gown from primark that's 15 years old, tops from h&m that are over 5 and primark clothing that has been going indefinitely.

You can get long lasting from the budget shops too.

Following.

Finisterre - ££ but we’ll worth it. Superb quality. I have 4 pairs of trousers from them and get compliments every time I wear them.

Howies and Hiut for jeans

@grasstreeleaf - but companies like H&M source from factories with terrible working conditions - last year they were in the news because their factories use slave labour. I know the OP was asking about quality rather than ethics - but many of us are just trying to avoid companies that fail to protect the poorest and most vulnerable workers and that is hardly elitist.

Furthermore these companies encourage rapid consumption which is fuelling the climate emergency - fashion accounts for 10% of carbon dioxide emissions.

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/07/fast-fashion-speeding-toward-environmental-disaster-report-warns

Companies like H&M are possibly starting to move in the right direction, but there’s a long way to go.

goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-hm/

Apologies for going off topic.

[quote lindyloo57]@Greamhradh are you in the UK as I can't find them on UK m&s Web page there doesn't seem to be any wide leg trousers for £20.[/quote]
They are 15 quid in the UK. I have them in black and Navy

@Salanda
I think when you look at some of the other more expensive retailers they are just as bad. They use 'greenwashing' as a marketing tool. Justine Leconte on YouTube talks about this.

The 'greenest' thing to do is only buy stuff you need. Don't bemoan that some things are dated, such as 'skinny jeans'. Wear what suits you. Buy second hand and keep your own stuff until it falls apart or doesn't fit. Keep fit and healthy as possible so you'd look good in anything and don't have bits of your body you don't like and go to great lengths to disguise.

They do say that we really don't need to buy any more clothes as there are already so many in circulation. But there are may things people don't need to buy new. Eg, sports gear, bikes etc or hobby materials. Many of us (including me) could get by without a car, if push came to shove, it would just be very inconvenient. Clothes are not seen as important as cars, sports or hobbies, because fashion is traditionally seen as a female friendly expenditure. And women who don't meet certain standards are not given the time of day, so telling women they must not buy clothes or spend money on their appearance as they will harm the planet and it's all on them while also telling them that if they aren't beautiful they have no value is fucking fucked up. (That's not a comment to the pp on here. It's an observation about the narrative in the media).

Also, some brands have ethics and sustainability at their core. Some do greenwash, so you do have to do your research. The handbag brand I mentioned (Matt & Nat) are an ethical label, not a big label who talks the talk. Ditto Kemi Telford, who makes beautiful skirts.

so telling women they must not buy clothes or spend money on their appearance as they will harm the planet and it's all on them while also telling them that if they aren't beautiful they have no value is fucking fucked up. (That's not a comment to the pp on here. It's an observation about the narrative in the media).

And telling women they are buying into 'fast fashion' and responsible for slave labour (when more expensive brands use slave labour too, if they can only afford to shop at more inexpensive retailers, is elitist nonsense! Which victimises some of the most vulnerable of women!

@grasstreeleaf - agree with what you said in your second post.

What I was disagreeing with was the notion that avoiding or criticising fast fashion is elitist.

Its definitely true that some of the more expensive brands have poor working practices, which just goes to show it’s not about spending more money to be ethical. There are budget friendly ethical brands (although still quite a limited range - I have recommended Nu-In before here as a good alternative to H&M and ASOS etc) plus buying second hand/using loan sites/swap sites etc is all budget friendly.

Agree about greenwashing - interestingly H&M, which you mentioned in your first post - has come under a lot of criticism for that with its ‘Conscious Collection’.

I too am but far less but better quality. I now look at the following websites, clothes are beautiful quality

Baukjen
Brora
Whistles
Jigsaw (not knitwear!)
Boden

And being happy in your skin enough to feel good in any clothes and empowering other women towards this aim is surely a good thing!