Please tell me we're all noticing...

[summerdressing]

...the increase in prices of clothes? It's massively helping me cut down on the amount of clothes coming through my door. The cost of one item in all my usual favourites has rocketed, I'm really having to consider each purchase much more carefully. Are you?

No. I only buy what I need.

Yea absolutely - I shop mainly in M&S and have noticed a big leap. Kids clothes have creeped up, cheaper shops like H&M and TU have had a big leap and are nearly on a par with Next.

I noticed it in Fatface last weekend- £80 for a very ordinary dress and almost £50 for what was essentially a T-shirt.

Yes, it's very noticeable. So this year I've been buying things on Vinted and the odd full price thing. It's not a fool proof method because you can't send things back, but I've got some lovely things at a bargain price.

It depends …

I imagine if I had to regularly buy clothes, particularly uniforms, for growing children I would notice a steady or sudden increase in prices. But I only buy clothes for myself (and occasionally as gifts for family members) so there’s never any requirement to buy at times or prices that don’t suit me.

For myself I’d say there’s never been a time with a greater breadth of options for buying clothes. In my 20s I could browse Harvey Nichols and buy the odd thing in the sales, or scour the vintage shops in any city, or keep an eye on local charity shops - and, in addition the High Street was epic. Now (decades later!) I’m passing a closed down Top Shop, but I have pretty much every brand in the world accessible in the palm of my hand. And I can choose whether to buy new, in the sales or from a pre-worn site. The internet gives me more control over how much I decide to spend on any item.

Yes to Fatface, fairly ordinary tops nearly £50 now.
Sainsburys kids stuff seems to have crept up.
Hush prices crazy for pretty bad quality.
Boden priced me out a few years ago now.
Baukjen ditto.
White stuff now ££'s too.

I don’t shop in those places, @summerdressing. In fact I almost never buy anything from mid-range brands - and at full price their stock seems incredibly poor value. My usual MO is to stalk exceptionally lovely ‘high end’ items online, and buy when they reach an acceptable reduced price - which might be comparable to what people are paying for very average High St stuff. That could be via the sales or via a vintage / pre-worn shop - all online. And I mix those things with impulse buys from Zara, which is pretty much the only physical shop I go into nowadays …

Yes, I'm only in the UK every six months and have noticed the increase in places like White Stuff, White Co, Massimo Dutti. Jeans in particular seem to have gone up.

If I could only lose half a stone I'd never need to buy clothes again.

Same, Fat Face has got very expensive. Nearly 50 quid for a cardigan the other day

I'm the same.

I've worn the same five summer dresses and three pair of sandals for about four years now. They're all really good quality though so still look nice. The only thing I do buy each summer is a new M&S rafia bag (and I did notice it had gone up by about £10).

I could afford to buy more but I can't see anything I like enough, so I'm actually going to have a couple of copies of a favourite dress made by a local dressmaker, as it's a really simple design.

With hush and fat face I assume they are priced to reduce in the sales. So face value is high and offer prices are less wince inducing.

I have noticed but it doesn't put me off as such. I do buy more supermarket clothes and shoes now if quality is good. I like to get hush like clothes for tesco prices.

Clothes are same quality (I.e. shitty) everywhere so paying more is a mugs game.

Mint velvet is a good example of high price for terrible quality and clothes that don't wash and wear well. I won't buy at high price if I think clothes won't last.

@ZenNudist good to know, I was looking at mint velvet recently 🤐

I also tend to look more at supermarket clothes. Or vinted. I don't think I would be willing to pay 50-100 for jumper or cardigan as I used to. Everything is so expensive now, I just can't keep up with the prices.

Definitely noticing that the more expensive brands seem a lot more reasonable priced for the quality etc Vs cheaper brands which have gone up in price and the quality poorer, Primark used to be known for poor quality but a good few bits for a holiday for not much money. I've worded that atrociously hope somebody knows what I mean? 😆

Guess it's the same with everything at the moment. It is helping me with my low buy 2023 as I think prices are high but quality is low so there's not much I am that keen to buy. Most people already have plenty.

I was in C&A in France the other week and thought the prices seemed more reasonable and got a few bits. I'm also buying second hand from ebay and Vinted.

Yes, I was just thinking this the other day browsing Fatface, most of the t-shirts and tops were between €50 and €65, for very basic looking stuff - some of them are 100% linen but still...a few years ago they would have been €20 less.

I try not to buy full price because sooner or later there'll be a 20% off offer and then further reductions in the sale. I only pay full price if it's something I'd regret missing out on if it sold out by the time the offers start.

Yes, I mostly buy from Vinted and charity shops but had to buy underwear from m&s the other day. £25 for five pairs of men's pants, I think they were £18 last year. It was frustrating to think how many lovely actual clothes I could have got for that!

Yep.

Purchased a specific style of swim suit for dd 3 months ago for £17. On holiday, she sat up on some rocks and it tore. I went back to the same shop last night to replace it (unfixable), and it was £35! The exact same swimsuit. Needless to say I didn't buy it.

I try and buy my clothes from charity shops and have scored some bargains so it has to be something special or that I just, try as I might, can’t get from charity shops like a denim maxi skirt. I do like Mango and a bit of Zara ( although I look at the British Red Cross for BNWT Zara for more classic pieces like the white summer dress I bought about a month ago) to ‘jazz’ up my wardrobe. This means that it has to be something special that justifies me paying full price.

Why would that stop you noticing price increases?

I'm only buying in sales.

Ignore me, I see you were answering the second part of OP's question.

But if you need a white tshirt, surely you can still acknowledge that it's £15 now instead of £8. For example.

I think Fatface has always been overpriced for basic t shirts and tops. I never buy from there.

If I’m going to fork out that much, I’ll buy from Cos or Arket, which has better quality.

I’ve found some fantastic stuff on Vinted over the last few weeks - most I’ve paid is £12 including delivery and that was for a brand new with tags linen skirt from Laura Ashley.

Bit addicted tbh.