BODEN- I am so over them after 30 years.

[SummeryBells]

If I was married to them I'd be filing for divorce.

I loved them thirty years ago when I bought a poacher's jacket.
There was the honeymoon years when I couldn't get enough of them. Lovely knitwear, basic trousers, nice plain-ish smart dresses, great wool coat still going strong after 10 years.

And now I can't bear the sight of them.

The colours are garish, patterns headache-inducing, dresses nothing that appeals, prices- well, don't get me started on those - £80 for a pair of basic jeans? T-shirts close to £30. I could afford all of this but refuse to be ripped off.

I wonder if they will exist in a few more years?

Well, Johnnie surpassed himself today by sending me a min, mini Boden catalogue. A leaflet, really.

My children are very mature adults. I've cancelled the Mini Boden catalogue years ago and in fact it was never relevant to me as my kids were always too old for it.

Prices- I looked a frayed Chanel-type summer jacket , made mainly of cotton, more like a thick cardi. It's almost £200.

I 100% love this thread! Gor some good alternatives to try here thank you ladies!

I could have bought half of everything Boden did 10-15 years ago. Unfortunately I'm
no longer the svelte size 10 I was back then so the lovely good quality things don't fit. There is just too much in the range, it's too fussy, it's not classic enough and a lot of the patterns and colours are unwearable.

I had another look yesterday to see if I could use my £10 voucher before it expired. Nothing I fancied at all, and £10 is a drop in the ocean with their prices now.

from what I can see however, their sales are up, possibly due for the US market so presumably their former core customers in the UK are no longer a priority.

The catalogue still comes to me even though Dd is 17.

She said she’ll never forgive me for dressing her in ‘that shit’

She loved it at the time.

I remember DS used to love the Boden boys clothes as everyone of his <upper middle class private school nursery > compatriots wore them too, until he got majorly abused on a climbing frame in a less salubrious neighbourhood park we were at for wearing pjs as day wear and promptly refused to ever wear his lovely high quality tartan trousers again.

Even though the £10 vouchers have expiry dates on them, I've always managed to use them way after the date - often months afterwards. Just used 2 that supposedly ran out in December.

So hang on to all the codes until you see something you like!!!

Was in Tk Maxx yesterday and there were a few Boden dresses there. I also spotted som Body Shop White Musk spray

I ended up buying not only the square neck swingy top but a pair of cropped jeans in the sale. Both went back yesterday and I will never order from them again - the top was enormous and in a sort of heavy fabric that would feel odd to wear I think, and it generally had a fancy dress feel to it for me and the jeans didn't fit me in the right places at all, though I was pleased they were a little too big rather than too small! Never again.

I too am about to divorce Boden after abour 20 years of loyalty. I have the ottoman dresses, the richmond slim trousers, the plain (no puff sleeves ffs) cashmere sweaters, the cotton sweaters, plain shirts, the pencil skirts, 2 good wool coats, a Boden 'icons' silk dress (my fave wedding guest outfit) and many many of the plain jewel coloured suede shoes in heel and not heel. Today's Boden is tacky, wonky, ruffled floral mess and I have been forced to move on to

Saint and Sofia
Mint Velvet
John Lewis and/or and other in house brands
bits of marks and spencer autograph.
seasalt for coats.

I am very very cross about it as I spent lots with Boden but I do not want to look like a teen ho.

I attach what i want from boden and what I dont' want. guess which style I prefer!!!

That cropped halter top is not Boden of old. Horrible. I don't recognise the place now.

I think they must be struggling this season (can't imagine why...): I had an email for 25% off everything, followed by a postal flyer a day later for 20% off.

So presumably they were planning a 20% promo, but then decided to up it to 25% after the flyers had already been printed.

And now everything is 30% off. And still there is nothing that I want to buy, even at that level of discount!

Same here @RockaLock 30% offer and I can't find anything I'd buy. A stark contrast

Boden: Upgrade alert - take 30% off full-price styles for three days only boden-gb.attn.tv/l/2l

I used to go through the catalogue turning down the pages of things I liked .. I still house trousers that are in good Nick after 7/8 years and a wool jumper that’s 15 years old from Boden .. I loved the jersey dresses and tunic tops and the jeans were a perfect fit - just looked as I’ve realised I’ve not had a catalogue this year and it’s all so boring and cheap looking ..

Love Boden for their 365 days return policy, including wear and tear.

They use such shit fabrics now that everything falls apart/ goes bobbly after a few months.

So you can buy something wear it to death and get a refund or credit.

Hoist by their own petard there.

30% off is my buy price for their jeans so I hopped over there and FFS, they've stopped selling black skinny (ish) jeans.

I don't know who they're aiming at now, but it clearly isn't me, a loyal customer for 20ish years.

I just checked my old emails and in the last 3 years I've only bought 4 things plus 5 pairs of jeans so they've just lost over half my annual spend with them - and that was already massively down on previous years (before they went weird) when I got half my wardrobe from them. Back to Vinted, sigh.

I’ve just bought a lovely Boden linen dress. From the Chazzer for a fiver. I’ve also bought something from Boden in the sale which I will pick up this evening.

The last dress I sent back had to be returned within 90 days - have they changed their returns policy?

I miss: the plain or subtly patterned dresses that were a staple for work, the quality cashmere knitwear, the suede shoes, proper wool coats, those lovely cotton long sleeved tee shirts with a velvet trim v neck, the good quality tee shirts…

M&S

Yes, those ottoman dresses were great. I have about 4 in different colours. I really wanted to buy more in a bigger size after having DC but they have got rid of them. Such a shame 😫

Stopped buying for myself a couple of years ago, and now my youngest refuses to wear any Boden now, so I think that’s me lining up for a Boden divorce too.
Now buying mainly from Toast, Whistles, Cos, Anthropologie, John Lewis (esp the smaller brands that sell through them).
Their prices are silly now, the quality has gone down, and their colour palettes and patterns are jarring and unwearable.

In definitely totally unrelated news, look what just popped up in the Active list:

www.mumsnet.com/articles/mumsnet-made-me-buy-boden

Two of the dresses are quite something...

I am going to settle down and RTFT - but @SummeryBells I feel the same ☹️

In fact, I'm far sadder about my impending divorce from Boden than I was about divorcing my husband.

I am sitting here in a navy knee-length, long-sleeved skater-style Merino wool dress that I bought from Boden in about 2008. I still love it. Can you buy anything like that now? Not bloody likely.

Note to Johnnie, if you're reading:

1 women who are 5 foot tall and flat chested look like complete pillocks in ruffles and puffs.

2 I don't want to pay high prices for stuff made in China.

3 I don't want to pay high prices for stuff made from artificial fibres. Recycled polyester is all very well, but I didn't want polyester the first time round, never mind on its second outing.

4 I don't want to wear stuff that my teenage DDs would wear (only they would buy it for a fraction of the price from ASOS: I would say that ASOS is Chinese crap, but see above).

5 I hate the dismal eco-friendly catalogue, which makes everything look mushy and browny green. I want to see the good old sunshiney smiley people on beaches with white teeth and perfect children. Surely you can do this and still be eco-friendly?

It is very sad. I used to love Boden. My DC1 had a t-shirt which I have kept because I loved it so much. It was washed and worn pretty much daily, and when I find it every now and then, it reminds me of what a fabulous little person he was (he's still fabulous, obviously, but he's 21 now).

<weeps>

I made the mistake of clicking on that "Mumsnet made me buy" thing.

www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/tulle-ruffle-midi-party-dress-onyx-green/sty-d0361-grn?utm_content=mumsnet.com/content&awc=1669_1677528806_a2cf1652770d3a91000a9c07c4f2456a&tc_ch=affs&tc_ve=awuk&code=&tc_so=78888&tc_me=cr&tc_ca=na&tc_au=na&tc_cr=0&tc_campid=na&tc_adgroupid=na&tc_kwid=na&tc_matchid=na

WTAF???

You're right and there's an awful lot of polyester in that list NCagainandagainand, which doesn't strike me as good advertising for items at that price range.