clothes going up in price - you great money saving tips

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Lots of thread on AIBU on cost of living and food shopping going up but I feel like I need a thread on clothes shopping. Been looking at AW clothes online and you can definitely tell that clothes have jumped up in prices since last year. For example - coats just seem to be ridiculously expensive now. I always thought that 250 plus on a coat was quite a lot but that now seems to be normal at &Other stories and other high street shops. I've already been buying things on Vinted and do try to get stuff in the sale but dont always find my sizes as am very petite. So does anyone have any great tips/money saving ideas for how to dress in style but not spend all your money on clothes.

As others have said..Ebay. I lost three stone laat year and had to replace pretty much everything. I just search for brands and sizes I like. Sometimes particular items. Ridiculously cheap. Lots of stuff with the tags still attached.
Everything except underwear and shoes. I bought a beautiful Jaques Vert dress for a fiver recently.

I actually think that decluttering your wardrobe can, counterintuitivelly, enhance it. I did this in several bursts in 2021 and the difference of seeing all the things I love only (instead of pile of crap that doesn't fit/i dont like/ looks dated or scruffy/ i don't have an occasion to wear) was pretty transformative. I started to dress better and actually used more of the clothes I had. Feeling like you have a wardrobe that works for you is a big factor in keeping me buy more.

You can also box up some clothes you like but are a bit bored with and then "shop" your stored items 6 months later

*keeping me FROM buying more!

Forgot to say that for anyone wanting to buy something new, there are several chrome extensions which track the price of the item you want so you'll know when that particular thing hits the sales

Buy less clothes.

It's really obvious really. We all have too many clothes. Buy less. Keep your money. Wear what you have.

If you need some new boots buy some. But only buy them if you need them, not if you just want them.

You will spend much less money on clothes and still buy and wear quality items.

Exactly this

That's the premise behind Project333 I think.

The 80/20 rule applies to wfat we wear as much as anything else.

I always find the turning the hangers round test instructive.

(Turn all your hangers around the wrong way then as you wear and wash things put them back in the right way round.

After a few months it will be very clear that you have loads of stuff that you never flipping wear.

I was going to replace my Boden smart trousers, which were starting to fade. But I looked on their website and even with a discount code and Quidco it would have been £72 for a new pair. £7 for some washing machine clothes dye and they look smart again. Obviously they won't last as long as a new pair, but I've delayed the purchase for a while.

I've also got alerts and saved searches set up on eBay, Vinted and DePop for other things I think I'll need in the next 6 months.

I've been watching some YT videos on darning jersey fabric. Will be patching up my thermals I bought last year this way, as they're a natural fiber (cotton/wool) blend and were not that cheap. Any other cotton jersey clothes with little holes in them will get repaired too, and will do as "room wear" for slobbing around the house.

There is a clothes swap going on in my city next month, and I'll use that to pick a couple of things for my two kids, and also see if there are any men's sweaters made of pure wool that are in good nick---I might take up my old hobby of unravelling and reknitting old sweaters! (seriously, it's quite fun!)

For Xmas, DH suggested I choose a few things I like as my Xmas present from him, so I've selected a couple of classic dresses and one pair of simple trousers from Seasalt that should look good for several years.

I think it's good for us all to re-examine our attitudes to clothes.

For the last few years I've hung on and bought winter boots in January - usually from somewhere like Office which offloads a lot of stock that is going out of fashion - as that doesn't really bother me. I also buy hardwearing brands like Timberland which can have a future life as gardening/walking boots when they get too scruffy to wear around town. I also review what's in my wardrobe regularly and sell anything nice that I'm really not going to wear again and then use the money I make to finance new clothes purchases.

I buy coats in sales and from low end shops such as H&M, Mango but their top range. Last year I bought three coats as I had not bought any for 3 or 4 years. £80 all in, full price would have been £220. I switch coats around depending on the occasion.

I bought two light jumpers from Next for £40. Not ultra stylish but ideal for weekends and they keep me warm.

I look after my clothes and footwear well - dry clean, mend, polish, good storage. I have a coat 16/17 years old which I wear every winter for evenings out. I have boots five years old that are in good condition - I mix and match shoes for work weekends and they last.

I have never spent more than £100 on a coat. I have admired several from Reiss, Karen Millen, Jigsaw but never taken the plunge.

90% of my clothes are bought from charity shops- mostly everything exceot underwear, a few t shirts (£2 in Primark) and socks.
I have some really good quality stuff, including 3 or 4 winter coats- none cost me more that £5.

I came on to say something like this. I think clothes got really cheap in the 90s when more started being made in terrible conditions in Bangladesh etc and British garment manufacturers had to close as a result.

I make my own clothes sourcing the fabric from shops and market stalls selling dead stock. I've never been a slave to fashion so I don't feel the need to renew my wardrobe every year or so and if I get bored with them I can often re-fashion garments into something else.

My best money saving trick is to look
at all the clothes you own with fresh eyes and spend a few hours mixing and matching items you wouldn’t normally wear together. Take photos if you need to to remind yourself of new outfits you have created.
Then work out if there are any items you could buy that would really enhance what you have, for example a new black jumper could help make lots of new outfits.
Other than suck an item don’t go clothes shopping.