Mid range / pricier High Street clothes shops

[ReluctantLondoners]

The prices in them are so high these days. Things like £100 for a skirt or a jumper. I don't normally buy things at that price tbh, but recently treated myself as it was my birthday and two of the things I bought started to come apart really quickly. In one case, after only one wash!

I'm beginning to wonder is there really that much difference between higher end high street shops and George at Asda or ASOS or whatever? Because the difference in the prices is huge!

Is it worth the extra money or do you need to go really, really high end before you notice a significant difference in quality?

I don't think there is .. a lot of the time you are paying for able and clever marketing .. the only time I have seen a difference lately was in mint velvet and especially jigsaw but alot of the mid range 'designer ' fashion is just the same quality but with a name on it which I personally don't like anyway

I think it depends what type of item it is. I am happy to spend out on knitwear and jeans, which for me is shopping in Arket, Cos, &OS, and Levi’s.

My knitwear washes (with care!) and wears much better than cheaper things, and the fabric composition is nicer/warmer. Jeans - I have a small waist/big arse, and Levi’s fit me best.

If I was buying something like a summer dress my go-to would be Monki or H&M, and I wouldn’t expect much difference in quality compared to a similar dress from Cos.

Like @Judystilldreamsofhorses I really only spend a lot on great jeans that fit perfectly and knitwear, because I wear them 300/365 days a year. But I buy one or two of each a year plus T shirts, in useful/boring (green/black/navy/grey) colours and I ring changes with accessories. Buying clothes is dull but exacting. It sounds desperate, but all sorts of people from my son's age plus have commented kindly.

Look at what the clothing is made from. Look at the seams and zip installation.

ASOS doesn’t have shops. Other brands maintain shops. Some shops do have high design standards and higher costs due to lower sales. Not exactly exclusive, but overall classier. However you pays your money and you takes your choice!

I think mix and match is best.

Really noticed that my hush tops and jumpers are wearing better than my H&M ones and they hang better too. They aren't worth £100 a jumper/£50 a top though. It's a tricky one.

Knitwear I have given up on. Cheap stuff from Tesco or Primark bobbles and goes funny after a few washes, but so does stuff from Whistles and Hush.

I focus on fabrics now and avoid viscose like the plague unless it's super cheap and I know it'll shrink and go all misshapen after a wash. Merino wool is the only fabric I've found that washes perfectly - Uniqlo is good for this. Cashmere is just a faff as it shrinks and boils and goes weird if you machine wash and I cba actually handwashing or dry cleaning so just don't buy it.

@wannarunfromitall i find viscose reliable but you can only wash it at 30.

Vinted has worked for me this year. £2 to £10 per sweater, mostly M n S, but a couple of Cos as well. I rarely buy new in shops these days, partly because I struggle to find anything of decent quality. I don't mind paying £100 for a sweater if it wears well, but the issue is the higher end sweaters pill after only a couple of wears!

I personally agree that mid range shops now tend to be quite poor quality and often no better than supermarkets. But I’ve always found it a little random.

If there was a clear provenance with clothes where mid range were paying the workers more or had more environmentally friendly production techniques, that might be a good argument to pay more but you don’t necessarily have all this info available.

COS is one of the best options on the high street. Quality way better than supermarket clothing ranges.

I buy a lot from Seasalt, mostly from their outlet on eBay as it is a bit cheaper than the shop

i used to think like you. Used to shop at h&m, I thought there is no difference. It turns out i’m wrong.

now i shop mainly at reiss. It does look better on your body, the cutting more flattering and it washes better. Not easily booble up. It just more elegant and look better on your body.

I agree that the cut is much better in mid range or pricier shops, particularly for the middle aged body! I have some lovely jumpers from Seasalt this year, mostly wool - yes they pill and you need to remove them, but that's what you get if you want wool. Though I've also got quite a bit from M&S this year, which is a bit cheaper.

IMO the only thing you are paying for with some brands is they don't make as many and are less likely to see someone else wearing it. (Thinking of Jigsaw, perhaps.)

The mark up on clothes is huge and I buy mainly in the sales.

The only things I get value for money for are cashmere jumpers (Boden, J Lewis) which last for years.

I'm not a massive fan of Seasalt, but actually, now it's been mentioned on here, I think I have tried stuff ok there and found it quite good quality. I did try on a big jumper there a while back and almost bought it, but then looked at the label and it was acrylic / polyester. So didn't buy it. I will look a bit more in there as I tend to associate it with prints which I don't like, so tend to steer clear, but I know they have plain things as well.

I'm quite tall and I have bought men's jumpers from M&S in the past, as they are usually longer and also come in nicer fabrics. I've got a couple of them which have been going strong for years. But one of their women's merino v necks I have has fallen apart within a very short space of time and careful washing.

Meanwhile, my Oliver Bonas knit dress has been destroyed after one (careful) wash. And it is polyester and viscose too! Harrumph.

@ReluctantLondoners
I think Seasalt can be very mumsy. Not really fashion. More clothing that hugs you!

Cos (H&M) are pretty good. Wait for sales. Arket and &OtherStories do have some well made pieces. Decent fabrics if you look for them.

Handwash cashmere! Some might wash in a machine but really must be on a wool setting.

I think its incredibly difficult to find good quality knitwear which lasts and doesn't bobble a lot. I know people will say that it always will do, but I'm certain that my decent and thicker jumpers and cardigans in the past never did so.

Interesting that you mention Oliver Bonas. I love that shop but have only had bad experiences with their clothing - bobbly knitwear, a (lovely) dress that split along the seams the first time it was worn, etc. I've also had terrible experiences with M&S knitwear recently, and Fat Face. I hate the horrible spongy acrylic that so much high street knitwear is made from. The best jumper I have at the moment is 100% merino from Finisterre. Way more than I would usually pay for a single item, but I like their ethical credentials and it is significantly better quality than anything I've found on the high street in recent years. I've worn it pretty much non stop in the cold weather and suspect it will last me for years!

Thanks, not just me then!

I might try Celtic and co for my next piece of knitwear. But I swear if that falls apart I will cry and shop in supermarkets for the rest of my life 😂

If higher end high street shops were literally selling the same (fabrics, quality, cut) clothing as supermarkets they’d go out of business pretty quickly. It can’t just be the posher shops you are paying a premium for, surely?

You just have to look carefully at what you are buying - as with anything. But I’d say overall, clothes should be better cut, with better fabrics and better made. Of course there will be some duds but you’re more likely to find something good.

Even better if you find it on eBay or Vinted or Depop!

My Celtic and Co knitted poncho is absolutely horrible. I also bought some boots from there too and they were stitched quite poorly.

Can't believe they've bought Frugi.

I don't know if Frugi, Seasalt and Celtic and Co will be a success or follow the same way as Joules.

My latest Seasalt jumper bobbled up after been worn twice. Awful. I've given up buying knitwear now :(

If higher end high street shops were literally selling the same (fabrics, quality, cut) clothing as supermarkets they’d go out of business pretty quickly.

I'm honestly not sure this is true! A lot of the money goes on marketing the brand and making customers believe they are getting high quality. A bit like how designers manage to get us to pay ££££££ for perfume that costs pennies to produce. Not the same, but I worked in high end hospitality for years and it isn't a case of better ingredients = higher price tag. There is a lot more to it

Damn it Rachel! Ok, won't bother with Celtic and co then FFS 😩😂

Thats why I didn’t say that higher end shops’ clothing is always better. But you aren’t seriously saying that if you walk into H&M and try on 10 random things, and then go to Reiss and try on another 10, you wouldn’t think that the average quality of the pieces and fabric and their fit was overall better at Reiss?

I don't think price or brand necessarily equates to quality anymore, just perhaps that there are more hits than misses with some labels. I think it depends what the item is, material and where produced, alongside the quality of the clothing technology of the brand, so how much input do they have over the items or indeed care that once purchased it is not returned. I have items from Primark that have worn beautifully and are always commented on, albeit with buttons changed often and then have items that were from higher end brands that look like dish rags and cost per wear were awful value. I don't think anyone has got it totally right in the middle of the fashion market and where once I relied on a few brands, now will shop very far and wide to find an item worthy of my money! Knitwear is one of the biggest problem purchases and I have second hand, high street knitwear, made of pure new wool, from shops that were considered affordable, that is brilliant and looks as good as it would have from new, something you struggle to find now. Another consideration is shape and size of our bodies and I need good construction and fabric weight and that again influences my buying patterns. Recent successes at Roman (great dupe of a very more expensive item / brand), Uniqlo, Primark, Mango and Boden, although the returns far outweigh the keepers!

I suppose that's true that you can find absolute tat in h&m and really need to hunt for the gems. However, I've also been burned when buying more expensive items from Reiss type shops. I definitely don't think you get what you pay for and a lot of it is marketing and having a really well curated selection of clothes. The problem is that when you get them home they can immediately fall to pieces. Another thing I think is that the staff tend to clothes better in the stores. They steam them to make them look better in higher end shops, so that when you try them on they automatically look better than in h&m where they have so much stock and not as many staff per square metre of shop.

Your point which I quoted said that you thought they'd go out of business if they sold pretty much the same clothes as cheaper shops. I disagree and think people would continue to shop at the nicer places because the stores are more pleasant, the clothes are set out to look nicer and people like being able to say "I got this in Reiss" and not "I got it in Asda".

There is a lot of psychology behind how shops and their stock are presented and how a brand is perceived. There is an entire industry dedicated to it. This is to make you buy things. It also costs money, so when you pay a heftier price tag, some of the cost is going towards extra staff in the stores, designers who make the stores look nicer and brand presence through social media and other marketing techniques. So, overall you are not necessarily paying for quality. You may just be paying for people to convince you you are buying quality. It's worth questioning I think - for me anyway.