The Declining Quality of Clothing & Goods

[Crying Diamonds]

For as long as I have had my own money to spend (over a decade) I have bought second hand clothes, this was convenient for my financial situation and I knew I could always get incredible quality for 1% of the original price.

This made me somewhat immune to the price of new clothing, and now I have a better income I can buy new.. often to my great disappointment.

Most of the garments COS offer are spot-on my style, and I have started buying a lot from them, but the quality varies from item to item. For instance, an unlined drop-sleeve coat with rubberised buttons - all of the buttons drop off and the rubber comes off even though I don't even fasten the coat. The hem facing is sewn up with a loose stitch that is coming undone. The fabric is a synthetic blend (something I never usually go for, but sometimes one must sacrifice for the design) it has gone shiny where i wear my bag and is constantly creased.

COS is not an inexpensive brand, and I have quickly learnt which pieces to buy and which not to buy. As only a relatively new customer I can't say how the quality has dwindled, I can only hope the quality doesn't drop to that of it's faster, cheaper sister, H&M...

I never shop in H&M but I noticed they had some t-shirts made of woven fabric instead of jersey, so I bought three different types. Each one of them now gathers so extremely around the neckline after washing that it appears to be deliberate.

I'm sticking to Oxfam, thanks. At least if it dies after one wash I only spent £3.50 on it.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Hopefully you can find a brand that's much more reliable. I hardly ever buy clothes secondhand anymore (though I did back in the day with great results), but I do buy vintage china, etc. and absolutely love the quality. Last week I dropped a huge pomelo on the counter and sent a stack of custard cups flying, most of them vintage. The only thing that broke was a Villeroy & Bosch cereal bowl made in the past few years. Not dissing their quality ... but it did break, and everything from decades earlier came through unscathed.

 

[eizhowa]

For as long as I have had my own money to spend (over a decade) I have bought second hand clothes, this was convenient for my financial situation and I knew I could always get incredible quality for 1% of the original price.

This made me somewhat immune to the price of new clothing, and now I have a better income I can buy new.. often to my great disappointment.

Most of the garments COS offer are spot-on my style, and I have started buying a lot from them, but the quality varies from item to item. For instance, an unlined drop-sleeve coat with rubberised buttons - all of the buttons drop off and the rubber comes off even though I don't even fasten the coat. The hem facing is sewn up with a loose stitch that is coming undone. The fabric is a synthetic blend (something I never usually go for, but sometimes one must sacrifice for the design) it has gone shiny where i wear my bag and is constantly creased.

COS is not an inexpensive brand, and I have quickly learnt which pieces to buy and which not to buy. As only a relatively new customer I can't say how the quality has dwindled, I can only hope the quality doesn't drop to that of it's faster, cheaper sister, H&M...

I never shop in H&M but I noticed they had some t-shirts made of woven fabric instead of jersey, so I bought three different types. Each one of them now gathers so extremely around the neckline after washing that it appears to be deliberate.

I'm sticking to Oxfam, thanks. At least if it dies after one wash I only spent £3.50 on it.

If a t-shirt (or any garment, really) wrinkles/twists after being washed like instructed, you get new t-shirts. EU says so, and you are still in the EU And when those wrinkle, you can get new ones etc etc until they are all sold out and then you get your money back. Or you can explain this to them, and they probably give you the money at once.

I have a COS coat and a wool jumper that I bought in 2013/2014 and they still look great. Sorry to hear your coat didn't work out. Buying second hand is great though, especially seeing as you have such a large second hand market in the UK/EU.

Last time I were in a COS store, everything was green and pink. It was very upsetting, because a few seasons back when everything was grey I wanted the entire store.

 

[lucy92]

if i'm buying from a cheap store like ann taylor i only buy machine washable items. 90% of their items ARE machine washable.

visose tend to not wash wall and bunch after being cleaned. H&M and COS tend to use this material in a lot of their items because its very cheap to import and profit margins are bigger.

i also think that corporations like H&M when introducing a new brand like COS and Other Stories produced better quality items their first year in business and slowly decrease quality hoping consumers won't notice.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Ann Taylor's quality has dramatically declined over the years ... I had some really nice things from there in the years when I was first working. Don't think I've bought anything there in years ...

 

[lucy92]

I used to hate Ann Taylor. Their vanity sizing was out of control. Their target market seemed to be preppy girls. Then they got Austyn Zung to design AT (She used worked for 6 years at Oscar de la Renta) I mainly buy the poly blouses there for work - and I don't pay full price. if it's not 75% off I won't bother get it. I can machine wash them on hot with no problem. They don't fall apart and don't look any worse for wear.

AT is a lot more fashion-y these days. here's an example of a look I love

Silk items on the high street or chain stores are a crapshoot. why bother? i prefer the stretchy silk blouses by Tucker by Gaby Basura (She recently resurrected her brand) or Equipments blouses. I handwash those.

Wool, denim, leather and shearling are fabrics that IMO it's worth paying for from higher end brands. not full price mind you -i think it's folly to be paying retail for anything - unless it's an exceptional item. those are few and far between.