Speaking primarily of work or casual clothes, as opposed to dress clothes, although the same principle might apply to both, I have always believed that it was more frugal, in the long run, to pay the money that it costs to buy durable clothing rather than buying the much cheaper stuff that you can get at Walmart, Sam's Club, Dollar General, or similar stores. I don't always have the money to do that when I need something, but I have clothing that I bought from Duluth Trading or Carhartt that show very little wear after several years, and they don't end up being two sizes smaller after they've been through the wash. On the other hand, I have shirts that I bought for $5 to $10 don't fit like they did when I bought them, and some of them look like I've burned cigarette holes in them, and I don't even smoke. My wife sometimes questions me when I spend $30-40 or more on a shirt, like why do I need anything so expensive if I'm not trying to impress anyone? However, I'm not trying to impress anyone. I can wear a $40 shirt for years before it even begins to show wear, while a shirt that I buy for less than $10 at Walmart won't fit anymore after the second or third wash, and if I buy something oversized to account for the shrinkage, it will fall apart within a year. Living on a limited budget, it is possible to go overboard, but I don't do that. I am pretty sure that I could find clothing that is more expensive than what I buy from Duluth Trading but again, I'm not trying to impress anyone. I just think that, in the long run, a $40 shirt is cheaper than a $5-10 shirt.
I've tried a couple of more expensive items, knowing I could send them back and I did send them back You can find 'good quality' clothes at a very fair price and those are for me I saw a documentary a few years back, on expensive trainers - still made in India and similar countries for silly money then a huge mark up to the public that buy them Another programme on a selection of designer jeans and 'my type' jeans. The experts tested the jeans for quality and lo and behold, the cheaper pair came out on top - oh how the experts blushed to fail on their mission. Yep - cheap and cheerful for me
It depends on what the clothing is for. For clothes that are worn to work around the farm, I want durable stuff but I don't really care what it looks like. I have found the Carhartt jeans to be the most versatile and can be worn to work or into town, and they don't fall apart. I do find they shrink when washed though, so even if they fit when new, I always buy one size larger so they can shrink comfortably. The heavy Carhartt pants (made from duck or whatever) I use when doing very heavy, dirty, or "abusive" work (especially hard of the clothes or when I need protection from thorns and such). Most of my work shirts are heavy wool shirts except on the hottest days of summer here. I have never bought any Duluth stuff, so I can't comment on it, but I can speak to Carhartt, and it meets my needs most of the time.
There are a lot of outlet stores that sell name brands, like L.L. Bean, at a discount in southern Maine, but we're too far away to make use of them often. I prefer Duluth Trading to Carhartt, but the Tractor Supply Store donates the Carhartt clothing that hasn't sold to a Catholic second-hand store, which sells them at the price of used clothes. When the Tractor Supply switched their winter line for summer clothes, I found a bunch of the Carhartt stuff at the secondhand store; unfortunately, most of it wasn't my size. I guess they donate it rather than sending them back to the warehouse.
Expensive doesn't insure quality. Well made items with good materials will look better and last longer than cheap clothing.
Yes, I am referring to good quality rather than price, but you often do have to pay for good quality, so as long as you know what you're buying, it's worth the price.
Very true. I've never worked in a clothing factory but I did work for a company that made power tools. With some exceptions, the tools that we made for a name-brand customer were no different than the ones that sold far more cheaply. Again with some exceptions, the only difference was the shell and the packaging. The only thing changed out on the production line was the cord and the casing.
My son likes the Dickies brand work clothes sold in Walmart stores, and they seem to hold up well. I don't think you need to spend a lot of money to get serviceable clothing.
Less than two hours after I mentioned Duluth Trading in this thread, the ads began to appear on Facebook. Note that I didn't even leave a link to their site; I just mentioned the name a couple of times. I have not "liked" their Facebook page and haven't visited their site in months.
When women think of expensive clothes, we're often thinking of something dressy. We're not thinking of something that is going to last us for years because we don't want to wear the same clothes for years, with some stipulations. We enjoy shopping for new clothes.
Thanks for posting. There may be something to what you say. I would rather go clothes shopping every four or five years if I could buy stuff that would last that long. It's not like they are coming up with a new style in men's fashion that I just have to have. Generally speaking, aren't women's clothes cheaper than men's?