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.

In my small northern town there was a street with so many shoe shops it was known locally as "shoe shop street". This was the late 70's and early 80's.
I too rememeber Tesco cashmere, I bought all the female family members jumpers for xmas one year

@Animatic , that is unfair and untrue. Jaeger went into administration inn 2017. M&S bought the rights to the brand in 2021.

How is it unfair and untrue if posters have had this real life experience?

I love this, It’s so interesting to see signs of old shops. We look out for old Burton’s shops wherever we go, usually they have great Art Deco frontages and there’s usually a brass plaque.

Sisley I think. I have some of their jumpers

@Leteveryoneseeit , because all M&S took was the name.
I'm not sure what 'real-life experience' you have, but your comprehension is lacking.

I think it's correct that all M&S bought was the name, but as I remember, Jaeger were going bust at that point so it was hardly a hostile takeover, although I agree it's nothing like the old Jaeger.

I still see a fair bit of original Jaeger second hand. You can usually tell it by the weight - old school will probably be much heavier. If you buying from an online source I'd check the label. This article might be helpful

vintageclothingguides.com/tags-labels/how-to-tell-if-jaeger-is-vintage/

Joyce Ridings used to make wonderful clothes, but they come up small if buying on Vinted. Also a shout for Betty Jackson, who did collaborate with Designers at Debenhams. Georgina von Etzdorf for marvellous velvet stoles and occasional clothing.

My best dress is a 1960s Jaeger, bought on Ebay! I agree M&S 'destroyed the brand', as their Jaeger line comes nowhere near to reflecting what the name stood for. I still pine for an ankle-length, teal, tailored, pure wool coat I bought in their 1995 sale. Don't know where it went but I've never seen one like it.

I loved the flagship Jaeger store on Regent Street. A hope from there into Peter Jones. Also, in the late 70s, Peter Robinson on Oxford Street, was a teenage girl's dream.

I had forgotten Nicole Farhi but I agree.

It's s noteworthy though that even in the 60s/70s, it was challenging to get pure cotton and silk. That's something that has become much easier with ships like White Stuff/Seasalt/Nobody's Chilld, etc.

Yes it was Sisley. I bought one of their dresses many years ago in a Benetton branch in Paris.

I remember all the stuff my sister had then. All the dresses were pure cotton.

I inherited them all. I was a very tall 11 years old, so got them as soon as she was fed up of them. I used to play with the labels. They were all cotton.

Also all pictures of me from the 70’s show me in cotton.

Oh interesting, because every blouse I picked up in shops like M&S was polycotton and the same with their dresses. I recall buying a cream silk M&S blouse in about 1983 because it was a natural fibre. It was £25!

Yeah, at the same age l started a patchwork quilt. I used some of the dresses that didn’t fit anymore. They were definitely cotton. Nice and crisp.

Silk was expensive in the last century and the quality was much better.

Clothes were definitely very much dominated by synthetics in the 70s and 80s. I have some of my own clothes from that period from St Michael and John Lewis and they were all synthetics — polyester, polycotton and acrylic — even the newborn baby clothes. It was in the 90s, 2000s and early 2010s that natural fibres became cheaper and indeed pretty much ubiquitous — presumably the result of outsourcing to Asia. But it became totally normal to have nearly all natural fibre clothes at that point. You could buy linen, cotton, wool, silk and cashmere cheaply pretty much everywhere — as the Tesco £35 cashmere shows!

DD was born in the early 2010s and all the baby and children’s clothes were 100% cotton and wool. I really noticed a definite change around 2019-ish, when suddenly you couldn’t get a kids’ jumper that wasn’t acrylic, even from Boden. Previously it was no problem at all. And suddenly around then lots of bedding went back to being polycotton rather than pure cotton, even in the White Company which really didn’t sell synthetics before then. Whether it’s that natural fibres had suddenly got much more expensive, or changes in the world economy, or whatever, I don’t know — but I really noticed the difference.

I remember Escada, Max Mara, Mondi, Lauren and Jaegar (proper Jaegar, not the current travesty) from the 80s/90s - work clothes mostly and some casuals. Austin Reed started doing styles for women at some point and I added them to the work mix. I remember liking Episode but I’m tall and it wasn’t a good brand for tall women.

Guess, Ghost, Red or Dead, Calvin Klein, Benetton and a number of small forgotten brands for other casuals.

I always preferred natural fibres, especially for day to day wear and I’m not a “flowery” type - these brands had more natural fibres and less fussy designs than most of the high street at that time.

I also remember cutting shoulder pads out of nearly everything to avoid looking like an American footballer.

This made me look at some vintage pictures - the difference between some of the big name brands in their hey day and the versions now they have been sold off to high street stores is stark. I had a couple of lovely Karen Millen silk print evening dresses which have nothing in comment with the knock off footballer’s wives styles of more recent ranges.

Not a defunct brand but I'm wearing a belt today that has reminded me if this thread. Bought from GAP c.2000, back when as a teen I used to covet so many of their lovely clothes. The belt is suede and such lovely quality - similar to styles sold by Sezane now. I remember it wasn't cheap at the time but price per wear must be approaching single digit pennies by now!

This thread has made me so nostalgic.

Remembering shoe shopping in Dolcis and Freeman Hardy Willis in my teens.

At uni walking down to the big Topshop in Oxford Circus. That basement was such a treasure trove of excitement.

I went to France recently and dragged my daughter around C and A, Etam, Kookai and Morgan for nostalgia.

I used to buy wedding guest outfits from Fenn Wright Manson.

I miss that Topshop so much. When I go to oxford st I yearn for the old days. Including BHS and DH Evans!

Selfridges was more fun then. With the oasis and warehouse concessions. And the hair accessories brand Cherry Chau??

What was the name of that clothes shop in the Plaza in Oxford St (now the pantheon with hideous Sports Direct)? It was called Jeffrey something. Loved that!

Was it Jeff Banks?

I don’t think so. Am pretty sure it was the whole Jeffrey!

Simon Jeffrey?

I bought some lovely hair accessories for weddings from Cherry Chau in Selfridges

I like to get the old Bravissimo Pepperberry clothes, as they are designed for my large boobs.

I don’t think so. Maybe I’m going mad! But it was next to the Morgan in the plaza on Oxford Street…