Brands you loved which went horribly wrong

[WeDidntHaveWaterBottlesInThe80s]

I was just mourning the demise of the original iteration of Finery, when it was quirky and had great prints and interesting shapes at reasonable prices. Then it became weirdly expensive and Hobbs-esque, then cheap and dull. Any other sad losses? We can weep together.

@MorrisZapp no, I'd forgotten about Next to Nothing!
I was thinking of the store in Argyle Street, near the train station. Next were only in in for a short time but had fitted it out with steel girders and chains and a mechanism that visibly moved shoe boxes around! It was then rented out to multiple retailers including Schuh, Internationale, Pie in the Sky, and a cafe. Early/Mid 90s

I think it all went to sh*t when manufacturing went to China. M&S clothes used to made in the Midlands. Cotton clothes made in Turkey or India kept their shape, wash after wash. Leather shoes from Italy or Morocco would last forever. Now it’s all badly cut, mass produced, polyester crap from China. I just refuse to buy it.

Great though depressing thread.

Agree with all the above, esp

Ted Baker - I’m from Glasgow and quite old so remember it starting out
Karen Millen - used to do amazing quality tailoring
Reiss - I have pure wool coats from 15 yrs ago that still look brand new, now it’s overpriced polyester crap and part of the Next group.
Principles - suits that lasted me all through the 90s (worked there as a student and got a good staff discount!)
Jigsaw though they may be having a slight revival
Whistles was my fave for years
Gap for basics

also agree about Bobbi Brown and Habitat.

Sweaty Betty and Rapha (ok latter is niche!) for sportswear - big US companies churning out crap now.

Currently I’m shopping more high end but mainly via sales/eBay - though even that doesn’t guarantee quality (see Andrea Cheong on Insta). So Max Mara, Me and Em. I’m also buying Wyse, Sézane and Varley but you still have to check everything and the more successful they get the more the quality dives.

I have a healthy budget but I want my clothes to last for years and years!

Lovely description of the vibes @Sheraprincessofflower

@WeDidntHaveWaterBottlesInThe80s - where to go now...pfff. It depends where you live l think. I'm in Glasgow which should be amazing for shopping, but bar a look in Cos, which I still enjoy though the turnover of stock is too high, there's not a lot that gets me excited. John Lewis is worth a look, but it depends what brands they have in, that seems to change a lot too. Fraser's is such a disappointment now.
I was in a Toast shop elsewhere recently, and while it may not be to everyone's taste (or my budget!), it was a proper good retail experience with lovely things displayed in a thoughtful way.

Is t it our fault though?

Fast fashion, lower prices, polyester?

Presumably they sell more of what we buy?

I'm on a "no buy" this year and honestly it's been easy. Nothing in the shops is nicer than what I've already got.

@thedevilinablackdress Im in Glasgow too and it’s sad how much it’s declined isn’t it? Edin is now generally better - I saw they have a Max Mara, Toast, Me and Em (it’s a fab big shop, better than any of the London ones). More banking and tourism I guess.

Whats annoying is that the relatively more affordable high street stuff used to be so much better.

I think some of the issue is that prices now probably aren’t as high as the equivalent was 20 years or so ago (there are exceptions such as Mulberry whose prices are higher and quality lower).

Shops such as Whistles, French Connection, Ted Baker, Joules, Zara etc have tried to keep costs low by using polyester rather than silk for example. Coats have a lower wool/cashmere content and more man made fibres. Zara shoes regularly used to be leather lined but are increasingly lined with synthetic material, but I think the equivalent cost now is probably lower than it was.

A good example is the Joules field coats. 15/20 years ago, they were beautifully cut, fantastic quality wool fabric, leather collars etc. Over the years, the price hasn’t really increased very much (especially with the discount codes always available), but the quality is nowhere near the same - badly cut, thin wool, synthetic collars.

Unfortunately I think we’ve all become a bit conditioned to fast fashion - most people don’t want to spent £6/700 on one quality coat which would last years and be worn daily for example, but would rather have a selection of cheaper coats.

@hashisucks totally! I spoke to the manger in the Edinburgh Toast a while back, and they were thinking of a Glasgow store. I know Edinburgh has more £ around, but I reckon Glasgow would take a few more mid-high end retailers. There's little in between New Look and Armani these days!

@thedevilinablackdress Toast in Glasgow would be interesting, I’ve actually never been in one. There are a few nice Indy boutiques esp in the West End so hopefully they at least benefit from the lack of choice in the City Centre.

Yes!!!! I'm tall with long legs. Used to always find LTS a safe bet. Got a couple of dresses from them in the summer and it's absolutely madness... same size as each other but one fits me perfectly, the other I have to sort of hold up with my fingertips at the skirt when I walk up stairs like an Elizabethan at court! It's boho and weirdly shaped so can't really be hemmed. Annoying!

All of the above.

Went to university in the early 80’s with a wardrobe full of Benetton - the evidence suggests I looked something approaching hot.

Started first graduate job with a Next suit - I definitely looked chic and super cool.

So if everyone on this thread is in agreement about the staggering decline of legacy High St brands - why does S&B erupt in outraged horror if one suggests other, newer, probably online brands? Seriously, why?

I miss shellys shoes from the 80s/90s. They did some really quirky, quality flat shoes and boots. Now I just see brogues, loafers and ballet flats on the high street and i don't want any of them.

The high street is so crap now. I still miss Big Topshop.

Quite a few mentions of Solovair on here. I'm still breaking mine in. I think the key these days is to seek out the lesser known/less obvious brands. I think Uniqlo is brilliant for basics, although I have to shop online. I quite like Colorful Standard too. Finisterre is amazing for proper wool/merino knitwear, it's the only stuff that doesn't irritate my skin.

No idea where to shop for 'nice' stuff though.

Oh my gosh, so many brands, most of which have been mentioned already.

I'm already mourning that Baukjen, which I really liked some years back, seems to be declining. I feel like the brands feel a huge pressure to churn out more and more, and the patterns and frills are going really OTT with Baukjen now. They used to do really nice, simple, good quality stuff but their range is just too wide and random now.

Do you remember Faith shoes? I bought a pair of leather gladiator sandals in 2001 or 2002 and only, finally, binned them last year. I feel like everything I bought at the turn of the millennium lasted really well. I remember H&M tops from 1999 when I was 17 being just brilliant. They lasted for years and years. Even their socks lasted well!

Yes where can we.. I hate buying online. The high street needs to come back with a variety of shops

Oliver Bonas. I have a dress from a few years ago that I love. Decent fabric and good cut. These days, it just looks horribly cheap. I love the styles though and always go in but I'm out off, unfortunately.

They are all gradually morphing into the same shop, a shoddy lowest common denominator of polyester and viscose tat

The high street needs to come back with a variety of shops

Good luck with that - the thriving High St model is dead.

No idea where to shop for 'nice' stuff though.

Three options

1. Make a habit of browsing huge online retailers like Matches / Net-a-Porter / SSense - work out which brands you like and stalk their sales.

2. Seek out online lists of sustainable brands (which will include pretty much all of the new and emerging ‘independent’ UK brands) and take your pick.

3. Disappear down a pre-owned rabbit hole.

Or get hold of a sewing machine …

Patrick Grant was on Desert Island Discs last week saying just this. Everyone wants stuff cheaper so it's gone from the UK industry abroad, then somewhere even cheaper and the cloth gets thinner and stuff is just rubbish.

His rant was epic!

I would have liked to see Next in it's heyday, their shops stress me out because it's so much polyester packed together

It was wonderful. They put outfits together on mannequins so you could see how they worked, and they really gave M&S a fright - the latter then started arranging their clothes in the same way and paying a bit of attention to presentation instead of just slinging stuff onto racks. I loved Next in the 80s - I worked in a bank in the City of London and all my clothes came from there. Fabulous casual sweaters, as well.

I really miss 80s and 90s M&S. Collections would come out and I'd walk around mentally spending hundreds. Now I don't even bother to visit except for food and bras.

Shame his Community Clothing project just isn't great. Designs aren't quite classic, sizing wildly variable (though at least there are measurements) and orders/returns are all charged.

Agreed about Next. I had the top everyone had/wanted in the season and a great skirt. Wore them to death. I loved Benetton cardigans in the late 80s. I bought 2 and they did my university years, the elbows were threadbare in the end. Also remember spending around £100 for a wool winter coat in about 1990 from Principles. Winter boots from Clark’s at least £50 and saving up for a Laura Ashley wool cloak. I loved Laura Ashley. That was the big one for me.

Designs aren't quite classic

How d’you mean, @calyxx?

Oh this thread is brining back such wonderful shopping memories!
The city I lived in in my 20's had some of these fantastic shops, it was like a golden age of shopping.

I have no idea now how I afforded it but 99% of my wardrobe in the late 90's / early 2000's was from Jigsaw! I bought everything from there, amazing wool trousers, knitwear was exceptional, those thick jegging type trousers with the side zip, I had them in multiple colours. The fabrics were amazing and the tailoring was so good.

Like a previous poster I bought a suit there for a big presentation I had to make when I was about 25. I was attending an international conference and giving a paper. I bought a beautiful black jacket with the matching trouser and I also bought the skirt that went with the jacket too. I got so many compliments on that suit. I wore it for years in various combinations.

The attention to detail and the beautiful packaging etc. I loved it.

I also loved Whistles when it had the pink writing on the logo and I actually still have a cashmere cardigan from that era in my wardrobe.

In the 80's Benetton was THE place I coveted and my dad bought me many things from there. I remember the sheer luxury of those stacks of wool jumpers and scarves!

I bought lots of cool shoes and boots from Pied a Terre and mourned them when the shop closed down in my city.

In the 80's and early 90's I loved Part Two and In Wear and a local boutique stocked them. I had lots of lovely things from these brands.

I remember when Next opened in my city, it had an upstairs and a coffee / hot chocolate bar in the middle of the upstairs level of the shop. It was so cool to browse and then have a really good hot chocolate. I was a student and thought it was the height of sophistication . I remember buying plum coloured coulottes there in around 1990 / 1991 and brilliant knitwear.

These days I buy some things from Whistles but agree with most people's comments.

I also buy from ME+EM and I have bought from Maje, Sandro and ba&sh in recent years. But it's hard to find nice things in decent fabrics