Boden

[runningpram]

I came across Boden via Mumsnet and assume they are aiming for women in their late 30s/40s as their target market but I’ve never met anyone in that age group who would wear anything like that and I certainly don’t surround myself with fashionistas!
it looks like stuff my 80 year old Mum might wear? Who buys this stuff and what am I missing? Why does it seem to have such a cult following?

What you are missing is that we are all individuals with our own taste and style. Your post comes across as sneering at women in their 30s/40’s who do wear Boden

Haha! Yes indeed. But I literally haven’t come across any c40 year old women wearing it and I mix in lots of different groups. Do lots of women of that age actually buy it or are the actual purchasers a bit older in reality?

Not sneering at all! Just curious.

I'm in that demographic and have een wearing Boden since my mid-thirties, amongst many other brands. If I like something, I will buy it, and some of their things are fun and good quality.

I am 39 and wore boden a lot in my early 30s. Had a break a few years ago when they lost their way a bit, but just last week, bought two tops and a skirt from them. I personally just like plain cotton / viscose clothing for work and so a lot of their basics works very well for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don't have any Boden but I can see the appeal for some of it.

The brand which mystifies me is Phase 8. It's constantly suggested on here. I never see anyone , any age group, wearing something that looks as if it came from Phase 8.

Perhaps people you know are wearing Boden and you don’t realise it. Boden do plenty of trousers, shirts, knitwear, etc that don’t scream ‘Boden’.

What brands/labels do you wear ?

I have worn bits from Boden for years. Good for work dresses for me and recently have bought a lot of cotton jumpers and cotton shirts. I am 51 now but have been wearing on and off for over a decade.

@runningpram , Boden has been around for decades, and on the whole is popular. People have different tastes, and if it doesn't appeal to you, shop elsewhere.
What are you hoping to achieve by criticising it? Other than make yourself look like a goady and sneery person

I wore a lot of Boden through my 30s. It was on the high end price wise, but it was always excellent quality, fit me well and I liked the styles/fabrics. I also bought a lot there for my kids, for the same reasons.

However I haven’t bought anything from them for around 5 years - the price went through the roof at the same time as I stopped finding anything that I liked the look of.

@IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle , church is a good place for spotting the Phase Eight or Boden ensemble.
I don't wear either of them but I don't deliberately avoid them. There's a Phase Eight shop nearby (if it's still there) but I never go in. I might if I needed an outfit for a 'do'.

15 years ago they were reliably for cut, fit, quality, natural fibres; not overtly tip top fadhion; not unfashionable. Classic designs with a bit of a twist. They covered work wear, casual wear and great party dresses; kids and mens aswell as women. Some perennials like the lambswool French collar cardigan, velvet coats, A line moleskin skirts, wool pencil skirts in non-sludgy tweeds, ski jackets for kids in bright colours. They were worth the money, but largely aspirational for me. They were high quality mail order (only mail order for ages) before the internet and before everyone had a website. They were a one stop shop for a certain sector of society. A one point a lot of their tops came in a “long” option, which was awesome for me. Their twice yearly sales were much anticipated.

They they completely lost their way, started using a lot of synthetics, started trying to follow fashion too much, and forgot that some women have boobs. Lost the quality they had previously bern known for. Lost a lot of their customer base. Too much competion. Costs too high. Put up their price madly.

They’ve been trying to atone for a few years. Some die hard customers are hanging on.

I’ve only ever bought Boden for children (who are now adults, so a while ago).

Whatever your own mother’s wardrobe choices, @runningpram, my parent, now in her 90s, has a wardrobe full of Cos, Toast, Helmut Lang, (etc), all bought while she was in her 80s.

🤷‍♀️

i wore it a lot in my mid 30s , early 40s when DC were small . At that point it fitted me consistently , was good quality and they always had good sales . Now 50+ and only buy in the sale and not that often . It served a purpose when I was time poor

I do think they have quite a distinctive style, it always looks quite middle of road and safe to me.
I tend to lump them in with Seasalt as they seem a similar vibe.
Not really my kind of thing though.

Ive ordered twice from here in the past year (since turning 40 😅) both times were autumnal coloured shift dresses. Not many places do shift dresses, and if they do, they are navy which looks terrible on me.
I dont like all the patterns they do but the T shirts and bretton tops look fairly mum/school run standard clothes.
In my 20s/early 30s I bought most of my clothes from massimo dutti or similar stores on my many travels to Europe and Asia but Massimo dutti has massively changed their style to long baggy l. I need quite fitted/tailored clothing as im petite.

Am a bit lost about where to shop for casual clothes TBH.

I have bought some bits from ralph lauren and ME+EM recently but they're not really suitable for the local playground!

Love Boden! Have worn bits from here since my mid 30’s. Am late 40’s now.
Don’t love all of it. But loads of good quality stuff in there. Admittedly they have gone a bit downhill in recent years.

@Geranium1984, have you looked at:

Community Clothing?

Perfect school run, playground clothes.

Recently bought from Boden, an olive cord blouse and a cashmere jumper in camel.

I wear it, and I’m not a Nana. The shoes are lovely and also wearable. I’ve got several Ottoman dresses for work. The swimwear is excellent.

I get a fair few work dresses from there as their petites are a perfect fit for me and actually cut as petite. Actually dread it disappearing as I manage to find a couple each season and they do last. Always the plainer stuff though.

It's quite good for work if you work in a casual but professional office (e.g. shirt dresses, smart tops). I recently got some of their jeans and liked them. I also absolutely love my Boden denim dress.

However, I agree that some of the womens stuff looks like bigger versions of the kids stuff, which is not for me.

It used to be good. Now it isn’t.

I wore it in my early 30's to the office around 20 years ago. The quality used to be excellent. It's really gone downhill.

I've got a fair bit of Boden, they are one of the few retailers where you can always get a suit from in a variety of lengths, trouser or skirt styles that doesn't look plastic and cheap.