Clothing Sales are down - No surprise

[TheSuggestedAmendment]

So the ONS data on retail is out. And sales of everything including food and leisure went up in December - except clothes.

Just a suggestion here but could it be because clothes have become wildly over priced at every level and consumers are just saying no?

I don't agree.

Look properly into the sustainability labels and you will find the majority are putting a label on their clothing while not making any other difference at all other than increasing their prices.

Shops like Oasis should have shut down years before they did. They were full of nasty, cheap clothing but with a higher price point than supermarket clothing. The fabrics and loud patterns were impossible to wear if you were older than twenty five or had any curves at all. (And I'm saying that as someone who was a slim twenty/thirty something year old and did wear Oasis clothing)

And this is an unpopular opinion but do people really think it makes a difference to the climate to reduce fast fashion when Russia and Israel are blowing countries up and cruise ships etc are offering more budget friendly options to increase their footfall?

People have less money in their pockets. That is the main reason they are spending less.. Vinted is the new eBay. Everybody wants something for less but a huge number buy from Shein and Temu too which points to budget being the primary cause of reduced spending.

That's really interesting @ItsTapasTime

I love this cotton shirt but wow, tiz not cheap. But on the rare occasion that I buy something now it tends to be something like this, that i just love.

I suppose it would be naive to think that this couldn't possibly be made in China??

i'll try againshirt

It could be made in China. Practically anything could be made in China. A lot of cheap stuff is, but a higher price tag doesn't mean it can't have been made cheaply. It's also possible for something to be made in China, but not in the cheap sweatshop exploitative manner this typically suggests. I presume the Chinese too have boutiques.

River Island still standing is a mystery to me. It's like they're designing for Atomic Kitten. It's 2003 in River Island world.

A friend's ten year old shops there. That probably IS the target market.

Combo of Vinted being cool ( environmental reasons are second to this factor I think), way less impulse buying on the high street available and lack of any new trends.
Recent years have given us, a must have massive dress with white trainers , Vampire dress and DM/clumpy boots and well as expansion of jean shapes. Last year was maybe a clumpy Chelsea boot and that was about it. The kids all wear the same stuff pretty much all year round. I think the girls are spending more on nail bars, lashes and waxing rather than experimenting with clothes.

It says it’s made in India.

I'm not in the UK. Many businesses here have outsourced their manufacturing to China, so what I am buying is from long established brands, it just isn't made here any longer - and hasn't been for a long time.

While I don't approve of cheap stuff flooding the market, I also think that people who don't have much cash to spare should be able to buy clothing. I have a friend in that situation, who also has a couple of very unwell family members - I'm certainly not going to lecture her for buying cheap clothes.

According to the Wrap London ‘Our suppliers’ page there’s an 83.2% chance that their clothes are made in China, then a smaller chance of Portugal, India, and then some, with a zero% chance of anything being made in the UK! This one….India by the looks of it.

Does it not bother you that the labour costs for a £80 sweatshirt are pennies? If that.

Its a nice shirt.

This is from the website.
Factory
The garments are sewn by our suppliers in India who are a second-generation family-owned business. Although they are a larger company than our other suppliers we have always worked together with an individual and warm approach.

Translation: This was made in a large factory in India.

Including the words 'family', 'individual' and 'warm' in this description has enabled to add £100 to the price point. I'd guess that Wrap London pay no more than a few pounds for this item. Of course, they have to import it, pay taxes and market it. You are paying for this and you are paying an even larger amount into their profit margin.

wow, love the way they list portugal in the same breath as India. One country in the EU with minimum wage and the other country..................... so an 80% chance that their clothes are made in China! I need a lie down.

India.

There is every reason for cheap clothes to be available but what people are particularly taking issue with in this thread is expensive clothes also being cheaply and even badly made.

I couldn't see whether ONS based this on consumer spending reports or retailer's sales. If the latter, a big chunk of customers' money will have gone out of the UK to Shein.

Even if it is customer spend, Shein's so cheap by comparison that people who habitually buy a lot of short-term clothing could easily have spent less while buying the same quantity.

Also true of buying from Vinted, of course - with better morals.

Tk Maxx haspushed prices up by 20 per cent in a year. I moved to buying straight from
the original brand in the sales - now much cheaper.

Of course it does - but what do you want me to do? I have to buy things (it's not just clothing, almost everything is made in China).

I realise that, but there are always people who come on these threads saying how they wouldn't buy "cheap tat" and I'm just saying that not everyone has a choice.

For what it's worth, most of the clothing I find to buy is reasonably well made - it's never going to be up to the standards of earlier decades - and while there is a sea of man made materials I have no problems finding linen and merino garments in particular, and they seem to last reasonably well. I certainly don't buy designer stuff, but if I stick to brands I know it's okay (even if they are all made in China!).

I'd guess that Wrap London pay no more than a few pounds for this item. Of course, they have to import it, pay taxes and market it. You are paying for this and you are paying an even larger amount into their profit margin.

Anything cotton & embroidered usually comes from India. I can guarantee the cost price is more than a few pounds though.

Yeh, £149 pounds, how much does the Indian seller get? That'd be fascinating.

I can’t get on with Vinted - it seems to be a dumpster fire of stuff shoved on a hanger and some bad photos taken!

I am also buying much less, because I can’t find what I want. When I do buy it’s almost always something from M&S, Uniqlo or Community Clothing.

Yeh, £149 pounds, how much does the Indian seller get? That'd be fascinating

The Indian supplier probably does quite well, the factory workers less so.

The key with Vinted is to look for stuff you already know you're going to like, whether that's by brand or a specific garment.