Finding quality items amongst all the polyester tat

[Newmeagain]

I know this is not a new topic of this forum but I am so frustrated with how difficult it is to find decent clothes from even “higher end” high street stores. I have been thinking about this a lot and my conclusion is that there are two reasons for this - first, brands are trying to keep costs down as the “shein effect” means most people seem to prefer to buy more items for less; and second, I think a lot of people no longer seem to care or realise that a wool coat will last longer and be warmer than a polyester one.

The thing is that if the manufacturers spent just a bit more money on better fabrics there would be a market for those slightly more expensive items - not designer crazy expensive.

As an example, I have bought a lovely pure wool skirt from Sézane. It is lined and so much nicer than most of their stuff. It sold out pretty much straight away and cost £150. Me and Em have a similar skirt for twice the price and it’s a wool and polyester mix.

it just feels like yes, it is possible to find some quality items but it’s one in a hundred and becoming more difficult. I remember when Uniqlo used to have some fabulous clothes, particularly as part of their collabs - they even had silk blouses. I still buy from Uniqlo but only functional items and less and less so…

My bugbear is websites that don't allow filtering by fabric. I won't buy anything other than technical sportswear that's made from synthetic fibres, so I land up shopping from places that do have good search filtering or sell predominantly clothes made from natural fibres. I don't waste time on companies or websites that make It difficult to avoid synthetics.

It sometimes feels limiting, especially on a modest budget, but I've adjusted. Mercifully I only wear business suits occasionally as they seem to be hardest to find at a reasonable price.

JL gets a lot of my custom because of the comprehensive search filtering.

It isn’t one in a hundred - you’re, maybe, just not looking in enough of the right places.

It’s a subject discussed at length on this thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5577238-but-what-has-actually-influenced-your-wardrobe-shopping-choices?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

where the happiest people seem to be those who scarcely touch the High St.

@MsAlignment that thread you linked to was interesting but it didn’t really give any clues about where to shop.

i don’t have a wardrobe of inherited designer items unfortunately.

I just put the words ‘cotton’ and ‘linen’ into the search bar of H&M for example.
cos is usually still quite good for natural fabrics.
It’s the pricing that bothers me - Zara will charge £60 for both a wool and an acrylic jumper ! There’s no variation based on quality sometimes !

Second hand is the way to go. 100% wool coat from a charity shop for around £10.

I would say the same, except the charity shops me have started pricing such in their “designer” stuff category. Still better than what you’ll get new in the shops. I haven’t seen a nice coat on the high street in a long time…

I 100% agree OP, it’s been a bugbear of mine for years and I’ve yet to find any retailers that reliably use natural fibres in the majority of their items (although there’s plenty I can almost guarantee don’t). I think there’s a significant proportion of shoppers who agree with us as I find the natural fibre items sell out fast (like your sezane skirt) so really don’t know why they don’t do more of it.

I’ve had most success with some’M&S (more likely from autograph range), bits of sezane (but not as much as there should be for the prices) me+em (ditto comment re sezane), Palome (decent proportion), rise and fall, and very odd bits from all saints and reiss (mainly silk and cashmere/wool). Following for more suggestions from others hopefully!

edit: H&M premium range also good for cotton/silk

Yeah it's really hard if you actually want to buy something in a shop. I totally gave up in h&m in the summer. It was 35 degrees in the shade, only a lunatic would buy polyester. I was too exhausted to trawl through their vast shop feeling fabric and checking the tiny print on inner labels. It seemed so ridiculous that a shop couldn't cater for such a basic need.

Hmm … To be frank I would rather not have had to inherit the Thomas Pink shirt I’m wearing right now. It’s decades old and must have been laundered a million times but the beautiful weighty cotton twill is still wonderfully distinct, and every one of the original buttons is still in place. I was about to recommend Pink’s to you - but they don’t even offer women’s shirts any more. That’s a bit of a blow.

This shirt belonged to my mother. Thirty odd years ago my own work wardrobe progressed from Pinks to various Jermyn St men’s outfitters that also made shirts for women. They have all either ceased to do so, or raised their prices to a level that even I find inconceivable. Too little demand these days I guess. Smart casual be damned.

I find some of John Lewis’ own brands are natural fabrics, as well as Hobbs and Jaeger.
personally I buy a lot of vintage from the 1960s-1980s. The st Michael brand (old M&S) is good and you can filter by that brand on Vinted’s website.
i like their wool jumpers and coats.

(I’m sorry, @Newmeagain - I’ve been sharing links to genuinely good quality brands for years and years on S&B. People just turn angry or dismissive when they look them up - because no one actually wants to buy those things straight out of the shop. Everyone wants Margaret Howell quality at Mango prices. So now I have to qualify any suggestion with You should be able to find this brand on Vinted. )

🤷‍♀️

I feel your pain.

If it helps M&S are definitely selling lightweight merino wool jumpers at the minute. I bought two on Monday and am wearing one now. Just checked the label and definitely 100% merino.

Are Muji worth checking? On the Monday clothes hunt that ended up at M&S I thought Muji had some nice natural-looking stuff but it was a bit casual for the work event I needed to dress for. Planning on going back to look properly for myself when I have a bit of spare time.

30 years ago, right? Charity shops near me have crazy prices, they price polyester shit at crazy prices too, but anything nice and wool and cashmere is priced as if new!

If it helps, Vinted is quite good for filtering. I’ve had some nice wool and cashmere jumper from there.

For actual brands, I love knitwear so would recommend Knotty Ones, Baba, Ami Amalia, NavyGrey, Genevieve Sweeney. Rise + Fall is good for simple designs. Shops like Palome, Poetry, Toast often have cotton and linen trousers.

This is why I make some of my own clothes. The colours on the high street are hideous just now. I tried on some trousers in me&em , they were too short and felt cheap. I can make similar in 100% wool or cotton for a fraction of the price

I filter on vinted for hand knits esp if vintage - they are usually wool . My charity shops are reasonable last week I rescued a 100 % wool coat from the pound rail 😱a quick wash in the machine on a wool cycle it’s like new !

Bargain!

I agree with you, but I worry for the future - today's polyester tat is tomorrow's charity shop fodder.

I don't buy anything with polyester in it other than sports kit.

My clothes are from Cos, Arket, John Lewis and the odd thing from M&S. I've just bought a kilt from Barbour and have a coat from there. I buy stuff on vinted and like others look for St Michael, old school whistles etc.

I would never bother going in Zara, Mango, H&M etc. I didn't in my 20s as it always just felt like tat and I'm late 30s now.

I don't buy that many clothes and nothing patterned at all. I try not to buy anything that I know I won't keep for at least 5 years. People really want this stuff - I do look at M&S autograph and recently put a very nice 100% wool coal and 100% wool black trousers in the basket which were not astronomically expensive. They sold out very quickly, so everyone is looking I think.

I recently thought this about sezanne - I have always thought their clothes are expensive polyester tat and never bought anything from there but this year a lot more of it is 100% wool, so perhaps they are changing in response to people's shopping habits?

It’s supply and demand. The cost of making good quality clothes in natural fabrics has increased significantly due to material costs, labour etc. At the same time, most people in the UK are just not willing to pay these costs due to wage stagnation (our country is getting poorer) and changed priorities. This is coupled with being seduced into buying lots of cheap stuff that doesn’t last and we don’t need. Retailers have to make their clothes cheaper to survive/compete. We are now in this vicious cycle. It so depressing as good quality clothes last longer, are cooler/warmer and better for the environment. Patrick Grant’s book Less.. is a great read.
Pre-loved is the way to go as you can pick up good quality clothes and being selective in what to buy from new.
Will it change - no, I dont think so.

I think if you’re looking for all natural fabrics it maybe difficult , but polyester is added to materials for a reason and polyester comes in many different grades,

for example adding a high end polyester to a wool garment will ensure it retains its shape ans structure, and will maintain its original look as wool degrades quickly through abrasion,

so if you just wish natural fibre and don’t care about performance, appearance or longevity, then of course the pure wool is best, if you wish a higher performing item that will last and hold its shape when worn and over the years, go for me and em,

of course low end brands add polyester to manage cost, but it’s a different type of polyester and doesn’t serve the same function,

I think people are not really educated on the different grades of different materials and why they are added, and what to look out for, they just see poly ester and think it’s no different to when primark does it. That’s not the case

so when you look at the two skirts in your example, the sezanne one will not last as long, will bag out, etc, and the me and em one will hold its shape when worn and over a long time it will simply look the same as when new,

I'm gradually replacing all of my summer clothes with cotton and linen.
I buy used off ebay and have got some great bargains- especially when I don't pay postage and pick up from the local collection point.
I also know which charity shops locally have good prices - usually the ones that look and smell a bit jumble sale-y. I have a washing machine after all!