A New Year and a new Toast thread 🎊

[IlovePond]

Welcome to the Toast thread where we talk about what we love, (and what drives us mad 😹), about all things Toast.

As usual, pictures are welcomed, as are comments, questions and info about Toastie topics.

@IlovePond I ordered six or seven items in the summer but returned everything except the wrap apron as it was totally my style. Since then nothing. I only liked one item in the winter (the silk Kantha top) but I’m not going to get it as even at half price its £170. Also its cream silk and lets face it, by this point in the sale things are not usually in the best condition.

Hope things get back to normal soon @Leftsidefacing 🤞

@ToastCosILoveIt please share your blue dress discoveries. I’ll be very interested.

@OftenOrange it is a Bonny skirt. I agree that sometimes clothes just need to be joyful and this skirt offers me that. It’ll be a pleasure to wear. I’m not going to baby it too much as it’ll never get put on. I think you’re right though, clothes don’t need to be workhorses. They can earn their keep by just offering joy.

Hobbies can cost money and some hobbies are way more expensive than clothes.

@OftenOrange All the usual wardrobe advice doesn’t work when clothes and clothes design are a genuine interest. I’ve got clothes that are over 20 years old that are regularly used for design and technical study, cared for properly and loved and enjoyed as much now as the day I bought them but they’ve never been worn. - and some of them are Toast, we’re not talking luxury brands.

I’ve said in the past that I feel guilty about not wearing most of my collection (I have to wear modern practical, country stuff to function out here but collect clothes I find beautiful and interesting) and my DH pointed out that it doesn’t matter that its clothes, if it was art pottery nobody would be suggesting that you should use up, wear out or donate your best pieces of Lucie Rie, Edmund de Waal or Bernard Leach, would they, and to me its the same thing.

If the new stuff coming into the Toast shops is Summer season it looks like they’re doing ‘nautical?’ My least favourite style, is it actually popular?

Yes @OftenOrange men’s dressing gown! That is exactly the vibe of that fabric from the new drop online I also saw the fabric with the cursive writing, it was a bit weird. I did like the silk linen version of that shorter stripe top, although it’s probably dry clean only again.

@Leftsidefacing nautical is my least favourite too. I like a stripe but that’s about it.

Still bumbling about the dungarees - 10 or 12 - and have the patch pocket dress in my basket too and a Reworn item
Regarding social media, I am not on Facebook (never have been) but until recently was on instagram every day. I have noticed that friends are posting fewer things and some of the people I used to follow are now doing totally different things to what they used to ie promoting products.

I recently got Substack but only because I have a child on her 3rd year of uni abroad so she posts blogs with pics every now and again.

When did they start using DHL? They're the least reliable of the couriers around here, they constantly delay things until there's enough parcels to be bothered driving out my road 😑

I think DHL is for express @Brackenfield ? It's Royal Mail here

I still like Instagram - but I only ever use it while on the treadmill so it doesn't really intrude on my life. I barely use FB anymore as it's barely usable, but I have a work page to keep an eye on and of course the Toast group.

@Leftsidefacing good luck with getting back to normal - it sounds a bit grim for you right now!

I thought there was a 'drop' online only a short while ago? Maybe it just feels like that. Barrel leg cords arriving tomorrow!

I’ve just had 2 despatched by DHL aswell. Maybe Royal Mail are struggling with the demand because of the storm? I’m peeved because they have left out the red stripe donegal tank. Assume it was out of stock but they haven’t said yet.

@Leftsidefacing I’m NE Scotland too, and yes, that’s enough snow now.

I think I’m going to have a second Christmas when the postie finally gets to us, I’m waiting for 3 Toast parcels (one placed BEFORE Christmas), 1 Brora and 1 Liberty. It will be fun!

Ah okay, maybe they're bumping up to express due to the delays perhaps. Hopefully there's a good bunch of parcels to come down our road 😅

Stuck inside with no post and food wise down to tins and dried milk I’m bored enough to go through my wardrobe and see if I can ‘style’ (Love to whoever called that wanky, it so is!) my wardrobe of mostly Toast woollies in a vaguely ‘Claudia in Traitors’ style. Also we’re moving and I have too much stuff going unworn so there’ll be no clothes shopping now until next Winter if I can help it.

Starting with this - the Toast green houndstooth coat from God knows when, its had two outings. I’ll look for things to ‘style’ (😉) it with tomorrow but I think it’ll do the job of the Brora one - still available for £745 in case anyone is interested - on Claudia.

On style icons, I realized recently the one I actually want to emulate is Diana Taverner. Maybe a slightly more Toasty version of her.

This terrifies DH.

But I reckon I can channel Taverner in the organza skirt.

@ShrankLastWinter I’ve not seen Slow Horses, but will add it to the list..for the clothes at least! I think you could so do that look with Toast.

Have you seen

I have read that, yes 😆😳! Though the clothes suggestions it makes don’t seem quite right to me. Not quite sharp enough? Not tightly matched enough?

It’s a very good series! Since you’re snowed in.

I am loving this Toast thread, it just keeps giving. Clothes are definitely my hobby, but they are more than that, they are a critical part of my life and who I am. They bring me so much joy, life would be a duller place without being able to be creative in what you wear and how you wear it. I also really appreciate that now I am at a point in my life where I can indulge my passion but I am very conscious that I couldn't have bought clothes at Toast prices (sale or otherwise) in my younger days. I don't take the privileged position I am in for granted.

I have been a Toast buyer almost since they started, way back in 1997 when they were a nightwear and lounge wear brand, with their name, Toast, conjuring up feeling toastie and comfortable at home. My, how they have grown and expanded, not always for the best and sometimes forging a dubious path in design. They had a brief foray with French Connection and I think that was a point when they went downhill and I stopped buying from them. I picked them up again after a couple of years and I have been pretty faithful since then. Having said that, I don't like everything they do, sometimes their design becomes almost a parody of itself. Their customer service is also erratic, sometimes spot on, sometimes much less so.

I am also really disappointed that they stopped the 20% off in the autumn every year for valued customers. It was a great opportunity to have a bit of a splurge. I get particularly irritated when I see reviews mentioning that they had money off - Toast (I know you are reading this), you really need to think about retaining your loyal customers, the ones that are propping you up year on year, coming back for more and spending high. The only reward for us now appears to be early access to the sale, even kindred gifts have fallen by the wayside it seems.

Shout out too to Nikki Sher, what fools Toast were to let her go. No one has lived up to the live talks like Nikki, sold the goods so well and been such an ambassador for the brand. I see she has moved on though and was delighted to see her at East which needs just the sort of revamp Nikki can deliver, as she did at Toast. Check out Grounded Magazine which she has just guest edited and which sees the transformation she is taking East clothing on. Craft Through A Modern And Feminine Lens | Grounded Magazine I follow her on LinkedIn and this popped up on my feed today, go Nikki!

My orders are still all over the place, I received one today despite no delivery notice, and one that was dispatched earlier tracked as being for delivery today, then disappeared. Plus another somewhere in transit and two unfulfilled.

I received socks (keeper obviously), the embroidered mini stripe dress and the collarless shirt in the same material. Surprisingly I really like the shirt and not so keen on the dress.

Oh in that case I’ll have another look at East. I used to have a lot of clothes from them. Not their frillier stuff, but some more classic things which were very high quality.

I wondered what had happened to Nikki Sher. I used to like her live shows. I haven’t bothered with them since life got busier again after the pandemic, but I was vaguely aware that she was no longer with Toast. I’m afraid I’ve never liked East clothing, it would have to change an awful lot for me to have another look at it. I really like heavy fabrics and oversized garments and that’s something East never seemed to do. Monsoon is similar in my mind.

@ToastCosILoveIt - yes, the 20% was a really welcome gesture wasn't it? I don't understand the logic behind losing that, especially with all the micro 'drops' (which I find annoying). Also thank you for the East info. I don't think I know that brand but I'll have a look at it now. I also miss the lives with Nikki - she was a proper asset

I do sympathise with you re dustbins! We haven't had ours collected since the day after boxing day, with a different feeble excuse every time. I got to Llandeilo perfectly easily on Wednesday to return all my sale fails (took 4 wheel drive car but the roads were all completely clear and ice free) Since then however we've had a LOT of snow here in the Marches, so I suppose deliveries may be held up now. My worst snow experience was our electricity going off at 5 yesterday morning. I feared the worst and thought we'd be found starving and frozen in a week's time, however,and happily, it came back on at 4 in the afternoon.

Things I learned

1. even a very large log burner does not heat more than 1 room adequately.

2. I need more merino tights!

The parcel mystery deepens 🙄. I now have one stuck in Swansea, two awaiting dispatch, and one showing as delivered this morning with a photo of a totally different house. DH went and found the postman and he denied delivering anything to the wrong house and said he had no parcels for us today. So on top of everything else we’ve upset the postie.

How frustrating @Theteapotsbrokenspout
Ive been ok with my parcels. Ive 2 arriving today. One got stuck in Swansea for a second day. I paid for next day delivery.
Recieved the botanical shadow print top in green and the dress in blue. Love both. The top is beautiful in colour and print. It could be a better shape but the print wins me over.
I got the barrel cords. Sadly the large are just a bit too big for me. Annoying as the mediums were in my basket and sold out as I was paying!

And omg about the postie delivering to the wrong house! Well you have proof with the picture!!
That would all stress me out!

@Theteapotsbrokenspout How stressful , this year the postal system is really challenged but hearing about this debacle puts a bit of a wait into perspective.

Most of all I’m sympathising with those in Scotland with diminishing food supplies , I do hope you get help and that the warmer temps here in the South are seeing off the snow .