Defunct/forgotten brands to buy secondhand

[flaks]

Most of my clothes and bags are thrifted and I recently discovered vinted. I wonder if there are brands that are particularly high quality that I am missing out on because I don't know what I am looking for. In particular I was thinking of brands that are gone (UK or abroad) that may not have been on my radar. I used to find obscure brands in charity shops but for online it would be nice to know to what search for.

LK Bennett and the pre-boohoo Karen Millen. Gorgeous well made high quality fitted clothes. (The old KM stuff fits small though so size up.)

For coats - Max Mara and House of Bruar. Got a gorgeous red HOB coat last winter for £35 which I'd admired the year before but decided you expensive at over £400 new.

I've also bought a couple of pairs of barely worn Gabor shoes as I know these are a great, comfy fit on me. (Didn't tell my podiatrist mother who is adamant that one should never buy second hand shoes!)

That’s reminded me. I had a lovely Betty Barclay wool mini skirt that I shrunk in the wash.

Ahh this is such an amazing thread. I had some fabulous French connection trousers from about 1989 and the quality was superb! Ditto Jigsaw, old Karen Millen, yy to Betty Barclay. Yes also to original Per Una, Principles and Next. I had some silk jeans from Next that cost me £60 in 1987. No idea where they went. I still have a shirt that I bought there in the same year that I've promised myself I'll never get rid of (used to be worn with aforementioned FC trousers)

Those heady, carefree late teen days when I first had money in my pocket, worked in the City centre and spent hours in Fewnick clothing department stalking for bargains and enjoying watching The Clothes Show.

Love this, RainbowZW! Shopping was so much more fun back then! And the lovely clothes weren’t even that expensive compared to now. You’d be getting something good, like a silk dress, a wool suit, leather bag, cotton shirt. Coming home with an armful of bags, and doing a fashion show for your flatmates. Then wearing your news jeans out-out on the Saturday night…

I'm so pleased I started this thread. So many brands I need to look out for and I love the nostalgia. Fashion seemed so much more fun (and less disappointing) and more colourful. Is it just me or do the colours of clothes not just the materials feel off (I tried to find a cool tone pale blue coat and kept finding sludgy muted blues last year).

Précis (petite) and Planet

I must check Precis as I am short. Thank you @CalzoneOnLegs

I have an old White Stuff sweatshirt I bought in my teens in c2000 (back when WS was a cool brand for middle class teens!) It's such good quality and still going strong!

Monsoon years ago used to have beautiful silks, linens and wools. I have a gorgeous dress from the 90s. Very bohemian style.

@flaks I’ve just seen a beautiful wool blend Précis cardigan on Vinted !

A couple of others, Kaliko, Richard shops and there was an 80s chain called Solo who did fabulous stuff.

@RobustPastry Thank you! I was desperately trying to remember KooKai... If I remember rightly, they had a shop at Covent Garden, where I bought the most beautiful cream linen dress from, it was a bugger to iron, but I have never had dress that made me feel as good as that one did...

To my eternal annoyance I can now afford the clothes I used to lust over in the 90s and 00s but they don't exist anymore! I loved browsing magazines for the latest fashion. Fashion was so exciting then, as were magazines themselves. I am so nostalgic for that era where things were beautifully made, excellent quality, and it was such a treat going shopping.

There were so many amazing brands.

Kookai, Episodes, Nine west, Faith which did great shoes, Esprit, Awear, AgnesB, Betty Barclay... I really could go on.

I have a really excellent quality pure cotton half sleeve knitted sweater from early PerUna so definitely worth a look.

Even Wallis was good then. I got a pure wool coat for my birthday, bought an amazing linen dress from there.

l remember about 2011 wanting a coat for my birthday, and then remebeeed Wallis. God it was fucking awful by then.

Late 80s Wallis was great. I had a black blazer with chiffon sleeves and a chiffon skirt from there for a Christmas do. Thought I was the bees knees.

Thing is if you're buying on Vinted or eBay, how do you tell if it's the better older stuff, or poorer quality newer?

@Fortunefavours1 yes my sentiments exactly: I saw all the amazing clothes in magazines or shop windows and thought when I grow up/when I can afford XYZ I will get them. They do not exist!

@SwallowsandAmazonians it's tricky though I have started asking for more precise details about the fabric (and measurements as sizing was different).

I’m trying to find a cotton jumper that l like. Just finding any cotton jumper is hard work.

I think back to all my nifty little Next cotton jumpers or the gorgeous red hand knit oversized cardigan from Warehpuse that l wore to death.

Nothing like that now.

I used to love Jesiree. They had a shop in Covent Garden full of gorgeous stuff. I had a long denim skirt from that shop with black lace at the bottom. My mum bought it for me as a Christmas present in, perhaps, 2001. Amazing.

And overseas brands in case anyone brought clothes back - Country Road & Witchery from australia in the 90s.

I'm a pretty classic dresser my wardrobe consists of Hobbs (for formal), Toast, Hush, Seasalt, selected Autograph pieces, a bit of Jigsaw (might be a bit too fashion forward these days) and some of the less bonkers boden stuff.

I really liked both those brands. Quality was good too. I've always preferred to buy a few quality pieces rather than faster fashions.

In the 90s/ early 2000s I also bought from many of the brands named by others and a brand that I can't remember the name of, latterly they had a shop on George St in Edinburgh on the Hanover street side of the Assembly rooms if that prompts anyone else memories.

Quite classic stuff in natural fabrics. Windsmoor and Jaeger. Pure silk (including linings) and the kind of wool fabrics that cost £300 a metre today. Often to be found at laughably low prices on Ebay.

Ossie Clark/Bus Stop, Clements Ribeiro, Miss Selfridge, and all the chains mentioned above that were much better quality in ye olden days. You'll definitely find quality classics with the St Michael label.

Remember you're two sizes bigger in old money!

... J Crew, Banana Republic. (The last two might still be going in the US, I'm not sure)... Yes, they are still going in the US! But much shifted toward their made-for-the-factory-outlet offerings, which are radically lower quality than the brand's mainstream line even within the same production year. Look for a horizontal pattern of diamonds or dots on the manufacturer's label to indicate a made-for-the-factory-outlet product. I'd put Anthropologie, Club Monaco (Canadian), Eddie Bauer, Everlane, J Jill, Talbots, LL Bean, and Madewell in the category of once great value and quality but now needing a lot of scrutiny, too. Some other older mainstream US brands I'd look for (but check the labels for fabric content!) are Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Brooks Brothers, Eileen Fisher, Elizabeth & James, Free People/We The Free, Land's End, Liz Claiborne, Rafaella, Rag & Bone, and Ralph Lauren purple label or Polo.

Maybe look for sellers who have good feedback, lots of photos and longer descriptions. I know it's not a guarantee, and it makes it harder for people starting out, but I've had decent prices for older, quality clothes. I take photos of the label if it's an older item; many have the season on them.