To be shocked...clothes prices

[fairisleknit]

Luckily I don't like any of the colours or styles at the moment so wouldn't be buying anyway but I am shocked at the prices of womenswear in Fatface! White stuff prices have also gone sky high and joules pretty pricey too. Can't believe as a middle class shopper(!) with some disposable income that I'm nearly priced out of these stores! What's the future for them?

Very interesting @OooScotland , it may well put people off donating as well .

I occasionally give bags of high end branded clothes to my local charity shop, but I also like to have a browse and buy the odd thing. Again I don't suppose they care if they lose my meagre custom, but I'm highly unlikely to buy a second hand charity item online.

I've recently discovered a local charity that takes second hand work clothes to provide interview wear for women unable to afford it. Anything that isn't good enough quality for them is given to a local charity that supports refugees. Am thinking all my donations will go there now - it just feels wrong that my stuff would be flogged on ebay although logically I shouldn't be bothered.

Wouldn’t mind if the quality was worth paying for... Remember the days when you could buy a well cut wool suit, silk dress, leather shoes / handbag or a nice coat in Oasis / Warehouse / Monsoon / Topshop?

You could go on a high street shopping spree & still have have money to treat yourself to a lovely lunch or a Saturday night out I n your new jeans & heels! With nice jewellery & accessories, as well.

I mostly do charity shops, TK Maxx, M&S Sale these days. There’s certainly no enjoyment in shopping anymore, or a thrill when I get something new. I really miss department store browsing, too...

@HelloBunny even John Lewis is like a jumble sale these days. I used to really enjoy going there and invariably would buy something from their small curated collection of clothing that seemed to be aimed at middle aged and middle sized me.
It's recently been renovated and now seems to have mostly high end very expensive brands like Weekend by Max Mara or cheap looking cut out dresses. The JL own range is good, but they never have my size 14 in stock in store.

I miss 90s Oasis, when it felt boutiquey and the quality was amazing. I now buy a lot less than I used to, and have upped my brands. I agree prices are up and quality is down. I’d rather have a little less choice, a bit more expense and better quality.

I’d still rather the charity sold them on eBay and the money went to the charity than that someone went in and stripped the rails of everything branded and put it on eBay themselves.
Most charity shops are pretty good round here for decent high street type items, some do charge more but we have others that have every item 1-2£.
I thought fatface and white stuff are tremendously overpriced even before COL hit us. And I think they strip out all the sale items and send them to the outlet stores, our local fat face had not a single sale item in it when I went in. The tourist town/holiday town ones are the worst for that!
TK max used to be good, but everything is just the same dross now as it has been for years. I like the sportswear and the homeware. There is usually one rail of interesting ladies clothes (often nice work suitable dresses) which I sometimes have a rummage through.

I think to be honest, I’m just tired of shopping. I prefer space to stuff now. But the high streets are built around consumerism and fast disposable fashion so the next thing is we’ll have empty shops when they start going bust.

Yes. I will sometimes buy refreshes of things I already have which look a bit shabby but find the replacement items aren’t such good quality. So I send the back and try to make do and mend. It’s just things like having to meet people for work again which is a problem. I buy from Vinted and Thrify but their images aren’t always clear enough to tell whether the clothes will work for me. Thrift colours are often very off, although I’ve had great bargains from them.

Some brands are holding up - River Island if you look has some gems that look more expensive. M&S has been killing it for a while. The discounts are pretty high, a lot of stuff on Boden for example goes go 50% off.

Personally I am coping by going back to good basics of a capsule wardrobe, and changing up the shoes, accessories, belts etc. and styling the same things in different ways. But agree some of the prices are crazy.

I always do a charity shop raid at least every couple of months too. That's quite an enjoyable pasttime to pop in for a look. I had my colours done two years ago which helped immensely as I can instantly discount 75% of clothes as not going to work for me. And I had my style done online so I have a better idea of what suits me, I was starting from a place of zero clue tbh.

Was out today marvelling that anyone would pay £730 for a cotton hoodie. Then I saw one for over £800 and I realised I had well and truly fallen through the looking glass

I had a rare few hours shopping on a good high street recently and couldn’t get over the prices - I went into Anthropologie (used to love their stuff) and stopped to look at a quite nice bit nothing special looking jumper. £165! It wasn’t cashmere or anything amazing.

Have you discovered Kettlewell yet ? Also Kettlewell FB page where you can buy second hand from other people? sometimes a bit keenly priced for second hand clothes but as the quality is pretty good, I've had a couple of bargains.

I give to my local homeless shelter. The clothes that would be appropriate for their service users is given directly, I don't know what they do with any other stuff but happy for them to ebay it.

Anyone who pays full price in Fat face needs their head examined. Their stuff is always reduced 50% in the sales and discount codes are often around.

I remember in the mid 00s beiaboe to buy proper leather, wool and silk garments from oasis. I refused to buy non leather there, and had some gorgeous bags.

I can't imagine buying a leather bag from an equivalent high street fashion chain these days.

Oasis was my favourite shop for many years, I've just bought a jumper dress that I originally had back in 2014 on ebay, I've been looking to replace it for a while now as I left the original at my parents house and I'm no longer living in the UK. Their clothes were wonderful quality and were always more expensive then, say, Topshop. They started to go a bit downhill after 2012 or thereabouts. A lot more polyester started to poke its head in. I'm not surprised they went bust as i don't really want to spent £50+ on a polyester dress. Their clothes always made me feel pretty and they catered for my shape really well too. I wouldn't touch the Bo Hoo version with a barge pole.

I think clothes have been a similar price for so long they had to go up. I remember having the Next directory in the 90s. I think the clothes in it were same price as now although maybe better quality. They often sold women's suits for £100+ back then......

Interesting that some charity shops no longer accept closed bag donations. I used to volunteer at a charity shop years ago and the quality of donations was atrocious - probably only one saleable item out of every six donated, at best. I’m not surprised that they’re switching up their model as it didn’t seem very sustainable.

I saw a beautiful (expensive) jumper on instagram from a high end brand (can’t remember which one now) and seriously considered buying it - then realised it was 100% acrylic. I’m much stricter about fabrics now and wouldn’t buy that at any price, let alone such a high premium. Totally agree that prices have gone up (and have been lower than they needed to be for too long) but in many cases quality hasn’t followed suit - which is frustrating as I think more and more people want to buy less and more thoughtfully, but expect those items to last.

Interesting points about charity shops as well. I still sometimes find gems near me but there’s a lot of low quality fast fashion as well. And similar to some others I don’t want to buy online from a charity shop - too much hassle unless I’m certain it will fit.

My local BHF charity shop is advertising specifically for an ‘eBay volunteer’.

Ahh, the Next Directory - a blast from the past!