Clothes spending

Thanks for telling us about Otrium, Marydoll
It looks great.
I like sales too but even they are too dear most of the time.
I wish I could make my own. I have made things in the past but I'm better at children's clothes.

There was a girl at art school with me in the 1960s who used to run up a new pair of hipster flares about once a week.
She used curtain material or any scraps she could lay her hands on.
She had a hand sewing machine. I remember being so impressed by her and still am. She looked terrific.

I buy Lands End black jersey trousers for exercise and round the house. As Doodledog said, they always have sales on.

I make most of my own clothes. I have some tried and tested patterns which I know suit me and fit well. This definitely isn't the cheap option - if I'm going to spend time making something I want it to be from good quality fabric.
My main extravagance is for really well fitting bras - and I'm not going to reveal how much I spend on them!

BlueBelle

What people who don’t have to worry about dosh forget is that even ‘names* like seasalt cotton traders etc etc with sales are expensive for many of us
I love Joe Brown stuff but only get it from charity shops as even their sales are (to me) expensive to go from £68 to £48 is a good drop but still too expensive for many
Anyways I like the hunt of a bargain

Yes, I always think threads like this are divisive.

Cotton Traders clothes aren't that expensive for plain, everday basics.
What I'm wearing today and what some might call boring!

I do like a bargain too.

I've just realised that the dress is older than DD 😁

What people who don’t have to worry about dosh forget is that even ‘names* like seasalt cotton traders etc etc with sales are expensive for many of us
I love Joe Brown stuff but only get it from charity shops as even their sales are (to me) expensive to go from £68 to £48 is a good drop but still too expensive for many
Anyways I like the hunt of a bargain

Callistemon21

ronib

Wearing vintage clothes is fashionable too and have a coat bought secondhand for £50 which is about 50 years old. I think it is without doubt one of the most stylish midi coats ever. It’s good for going to art exhibitions.

DD waltzed off happily with a dress I bought over 40 years ago, I could scarcely afford it at the time but we were invited to a posh dinner.
Worn a couple of times since, no longer fitted but I couldn't bear to part with it. It fits her perfectly, she's happy and I'm happy it has a new lease of life 🙂

Our girls borrow my clothing often - great for wear per use.

Callistemon21

Land's End are good for basics, more for tops than trousers, for me anyway.

Land's End make nice t shirts, long enough not to un-tuck, slim enough to fit, not baggy. Wash and dry well, no silly ironing.

ronib

Wearing vintage clothes is fashionable too and have a coat bought secondhand for £50 which is about 50 years old. I think it is without doubt one of the most stylish midi coats ever. It’s good for going to art exhibitions.

DD waltzed off happily with a dress I bought over 40 years ago, I could scarcely afford it at the time but we were invited to a posh dinner.
Worn a couple of times since, no longer fitted but I couldn't bear to part with it. It fits her perfectly, she's happy and I'm happy it has a new lease of life 🙂

Lands End always have a sale on for something. I would never pay full price, as you just know that there will be 70% or more off very soon.

I like their pyjamas, but not at £60 a pair, or whatever they charge. I wait for the sales when they are £18 or so and buy several.

Kim19

Have to agree with Sarah72 in that I saw nothing spectacular in Schulmans look. I have it 'that's me out of bed' appearance. Absolutely fine but, oh so ordinary.

I felt the same - dog walking attire. To each their own.

On a thread of which dress to purchase - 2 of the dresses looked to be made for potato farmers to haul potatoes to market and the other, whist cut nicer was a dreadful print. Again, to each their own.

I prefer tailored, well fitting classics, cost is immaterial - they last.

Land's End are good for basics, more for tops than trousers, for me anyway.

I bought some new basics from Cotton Traders this year as I've found they're better quality than White Stuff, Joules etc.
So many firms selling good basics have closed eg Country Casuals, Penny Plain etc.
I have some pieces of 'posh stuff' which I keep for rare occasions.

What I really need are a few in between clothes - good enough for wearing out for a meal etc but not too dressy, iykwim.
I need a personal dresser.

Have to agree with Sarah72 in that I saw nothing spectacular in Schulmans look. I have it 'that's me out of bed' appearance. Absolutely fine but, oh so ordinary.

If nobody purchased anything new, how many people would be out of work, how many factories and stores would close, how many transport companies would fold, the High Street is struggling enough as it is.

Like Doodledog has posted many charities rely on selling preloved goods to keep them going.

I am happy to do my bit by buying nice things for me and my family.

If nobody bought nice things new, there would be none of them for the rest of us to buy cheaply second hand .

I was brought up to have to justify my spending - ‘you paid how much??’ and I refuse to do so now, whether to boast about a bargain or an extravagance.

I spend as little as possible, while not buying too cheap which is usually false economy and bad for the environment. Just bought a brand new midi shirt dress by M&S in the hospice charity shop for £10 ( a sensible one without all the flounces that dresses all seem to have these days!)

I like bargains so almost always shop in sales, or charity shops.
I bought two floral short sleeved polo tops in EWM last week for £15.

We all spend our money - whatever we have - on different things. I guess there are people who buy lots of new, cheap clothes regularly. But I think many folks on here are talking about buying reasonable quality clothes secondhand.

Thanks Sara. As I said it was back in my working days. The brand in question is still selling exactly the same coat for many more £££s. It was a good investment as is the twenty year old jacket which again is still being sold. Both are the sort of thing that always looks good despite being so old that they are apparently ‘not necessarily what a lot of people want’ (in which case why are the exact same styles still being sold?). The way to spend more on good quality clothes that will last is to stop buying the cheap stuff that some find so irresistible (where do you keep all this stuff ?) and save up what you would save spent for when you see a good item in the sales which will cost a fraction per wear of what fast fashion costs. Unless of course you’re the sort of person who has to be seen in different things all the time at the expense of the planet.

I haven’t read anything particularly condescending.
If it was the £750 coat, it’s proved to be very good value.
I’d have to love a coat very much to spend that, but if you can afford it, why not?

Yesterday in Tesco, I got a £22 sports top reduced to £5, then with 25% off. It cost £3,75. I was well pleased.

I agree about not keeping things for good. When I was teaching, I had lots of Boden dresses, always bought in the sale.
After I was forced to retire on ill health, they lay in the wardrobe unworn with other similar makes.
When I decided to revisit them, they no longer fitted, such a waste. They all went to the charity shop.

I don't think the comments here are intended to be condescending. My passion for nice things stems from a very underprivileged background, when I was mocked at school for having little to wear and wore cast offs.
The privileged and shallow girls in my posh grammar school looked down on me, when I turned up at the school disco in my school uniform coat. It was the only coat I had.
I swore no-one would ever do that to me again again.

I am probably as shallow as them now, thinking it is important how I look. 😉
I spend what I can afford and as I previously said, its never full price.

Allsorts

The comments made by some are very condescending. A lot of people can look very stylish on very little because just because they have very little income. You can look just as nice as someone that can go out and spend £750 on one item of clothes that will obviously last a life time due to cut and finish, it’s getting the £750 in the first place that’s the problem for many. Plus a coat that’s twenty years old is not necessarily what a lot of people want. A couple of pairs of well fitting jeans, white t shirts, can be dressed up or down, a few basic items whether from somewhere like Tui or a charity shop, will still be a look look, spend as much as you can comfortably afford, putting food on the table and looking after bills etc is challenging to lots of people.

Hear, hear

I m often complemented on my clothes which I spend very very little on, mostly others cast offs in charity shops but they were the ones who spent hundreds and I got it after wards for peanuts suits me down to the ground, my most expensive buy this year was from an alternative shop in the city and cost me £30 it’s a pair of cotton (many colours) patchwork dungarees with a white t shirt underneath I feel very comfortable
I m another who was not impressed with the ‘Shulman’ photo I d never heard of her and she looks fine but it’s only jeans and a shirt not anything I would turn my head for
Got a lovely dark blue shirt at oxfam last week £1 50 I love a bargain
I agree with you VS never keep things for best because the opportunity never arises
I m happy with my very very full wardrobe