Quality of clothing on high street

[Neverplayleapfrogwithmrpipes]

I am in my late 40s and I have pretty much worn the same clothes for the last 20 years, maybe adding in leggings and base items. I have recently lost 4 st and I have been shopping for clothes in the sales.

It’s really struck me in most of the high street shops, that lots of the clothes are quite poor quality, threads hanging, bobbling on jumpers, snags and pulls and bits hanging off. I know the sale items do get a little pawed over but it’s really not good for sustainability for items to be so short lasting.

Zara and new look seemed to be the worst.

I still own a top and a skirt I bought in new look in 1999 and they are still going strong.
Is it just me or are clothes poor quality nowadays?

Any suggestions for long lasting clothes are v welcome x

I remember the rubbish of the 80s well (a 1984 red and black acrylic jumper from Top Shop being a particular highlight) and I wore a lot of 2nd hand clothes (mainly raided Dad's wardrobe for 60s Jaegar jackets). The East Anglian market town I lived in had a couple of very expensive 'ladies boutiques' full of dire stuff and that was it. From my late teens, went to London a couple of times a year to clothes shop (but only ever 2-3 items at a time).

I fondly remember a full length Next coat bought c1988. It was 100% wool but tightly woven so very warm but light and flowing. I'd never get the equivalent now from Next. But - it was expensive (a whole summer job's worth of saving) and, bar a raincoat, was the only coat I owned for about 5 years. If I applied the same crieria today, I'd probably be in Margaret Howell or Johnston's of Elgin territory.

I think there is a pervading mindset that you have to wear a different outfit every day eg to work. And constantly be wearing new outfits or new combinations of your clothes.

I personally find this way too tiring to engage with but still felt some pressure from my workplace, whether real or imagined.

I think it's nice to wear your best or favourite outfit a lot on repeat. I'd rather look really good consistently than look different all the time.

It is easier these days to wear clothes from years ago because fashions are way less dominant than they used to be which I think is a very good thing. And it's way easier to source second hand clothing which is another very good thing.

What I really don't understand is the logic of paying £40-£150 for a new high street item that is made of polyester or acrylic. My small city is full of this kind of clothing.

@Princessfluffy - I totally agree that we should wear our favourite outfits frequently and not worry about changing things up.

I do think that pressure to vary is entirely perceived. Never underestimate how little attention people pay to others. Unless your outfit is particularly noticeable (hot pink feather boa level) or you are much photographed/a celeb, I doubt anyone really notices what you wear (they're more likely to notice the confidence you exude when you wear what makes you feel good).

If Barrack Obama and Steve Jobs could wear the same outfit everyday to reduce decision fatigue, so can we.

I remember Next being only affordable in the sale, when their tailoring and Italian leather shoes were more ‘premium’.
I agree there’s a rose tinted view regarding the high street of the past. TopShop used to be half the quality of somewhere like Oasis or Warehouse, but improved somewhat around the Kate Moss era.
I have some older wool/silk/cashmere items from Whistles, Reiss etc. and now the equivalent is manmade.

@VirginiaCreepers I agree that others don't much notice how much we vary what we wear. However, every single magazine TV or YouTube article I've ever seen emphasises that wearing a different outfit each day is - or should be - the norm. So if you have an office job you wouldn't be repeating an outfit during the same week.

I don't think it's like this so much in France but I think there is an expectation in the UK. Not for men though!!!

I think you only need to take a look at the coat section in a charity shop in a more affluent area to see how better the quality of high street coats were in the recent past. In particular how they were 100% wool.

When I was a teenager our winter school coats always came from the charity shop. Cashmere or wool, beautiful fit and quality. There were racks full of them. And this was quite a deprived part of the country!

Just getting a little plug in for some local heroines 🙂 The styles won't set the fashion world on fire but these are locally made from excellent natural fabrics, not expensive and they will adjust the fit for you.

jumpingships.com/product-category/shop-womenswear/

The problem is that lots of people’s standards have dropped so far that they accept it/ don’t notice. I ordered a jacket from M&S a few months ago which had hundreds of rave 5 star reviews with people gushing about the quality and saying that it looked ‘much more expensive’. When it arrived it had no lining! You could literally see the inside of the pockets hanging on the inside and everything! I mean, I suppose it’s ok if you only ever wear your jacket buttoned up, but if was open, it looked awful. It was very, ‘fur coat and no knickers’ imo.

Lots of skirts and dresses also have no lining these days which is very unflattering. Particularly if you are larger than a size 8 and wearing something fitted. And don’t get me started on the clothes on the Outnet selling for hundreds of pounds that are 100% polyester. It blows my mind that people are willing to pay through the nose for this shite.

Makes me sad that standards have fallen so far that people actually consider these things ‘good quality’.

I think you are onto something there in terms of what is considered quality now and in future.