why are all the clothes in the shops so shoddy

[southeastastra]

and ugly at the moment!

nothing inspiring at all

too 80s and not even nice 80s

Lol at shoddy

they are! really bad seams

I am in agreement. Lots of dross. Mabe it's the credit crunch.

Oh no don't say that - I have my first shopping trip without DS in 6 months planned this week! Was hoping for something luvveryly.

You are right. I am sick of buttons hanging off, having to sew stuff, jumpers going bobbly etc. There was a (brand new) acrylic jumper in Principles last week, already pilling/bobbly. They had kindly reduced it by a fiver. I wouldn't have even donated it to a charity shop. It was in a horrible state.

I agree, the quality seems sadly lacking in most stores these days. This means either buying super expensive stuff or you may as well shop in the cheaper stores cos the mid-price is no better in terms of quality. Monsoon, Principles and M & S are massively let down by the finishing on their products, imo.

There are some lovely things in Monsoon. I did notice that there is a lot of hanging threads though.

I'm always snipping stuff off

Absolutely Laurie, I think all the stores I mentioned have some great designs but the finishing is appalling. I have found that I am now buying more expensive brands (in their sales of course ) and then getting basics from Top Shop.

TOTALLY agree with you SEA, and MrsJohnSimm. I needed some smart clothes last week and was appalled at the quality of what was on offer. Oasis, Warehouse, Zara etc used to be of a much better quality and I knew I could always trust them to provide what I needed.

I ended up buying stuff from Reiss (thankfully the sale was still on! Yay!). I think that nowadays because if you want good quality items that last and have a nice weighty feel to them you have to spend a fortune in shops like Karen Millen, Toast, LK Bennett etc. And I think the clothes from those shops are overpriced.

And don't get me started on eighties fashion - I really don't like most of it.

Sorry, gratuitous 'because' inserted in my last post.

Ooh I was going to start a thread about how hideous everything was in the shops, glad someone else beat me to it.

I even spotted jumpers with Batwing sleeves in Wallis, which took me back about 20 years. They were hideous then and even worse now.

I think it may be due to the credit crunch, but they are shooting themselves in the foot. If I'm going to spend any money at all I'd rather spend extra on stuff that will last and look good.

I know what you mean about the quality of things as well. I had been buying clothes from Phase Eight and some items were made in the UK which I was very pleased about. However their new season stuff is either vile and old ladyish or ho hum a repeat of the last 2 years with a slightly different colour of stripes.

I'm completely lost about where to shop, so might try Reiss on Moosehearts recommendation.

Reiss do have some great things and lovely quality. I have been pleasantly surprised by Jigsaw so far this year too. I've never been interested in their clothes before but they have some great items at the moment and good quality. Toast are fab in a sale but otherwise too expensive for me. Their sale ends tomorrow if anyone is still after a bargain.

Yep, vileness confirmed. I had an opportunistic scoot around H&M, Zara, Benetton and Uniqlo last week before a meeting. Uniqlo was probably about the best for quality - but horribly predictable and boring on style.

The other shops were selling cheap tat at non-cheap prices - particularly H&M where I'm normally tempted by something. Their stock was horrendous and hardly anything over a size 10.