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Warning - this is a rant from an angry over 60 gal. If you cringe when you hear "back in the day they used to . . .", you might wish to move on to the next thread - lol!
Where are the fabrics they used to make clothes out of? I mean the fabrics that weren't tissue thin, shapeless, light as air, crap! I've been changing my wardrobe lately (gee, thanks Pinterest!) and have been shopping for sweaters, t-shirts, top, jackets. Everything I seem to find, from Targets to Macys, is made of fabric I could poke a finger right through, that looks like it would snag on a cross look, that could attract static and lint in a nano-second, and that just hangs limp on the hanger. I realize that fabrics changed when layering became the fashion key (& also when the economy tanked), but the quality has suffered tremendously.
I've got my lumps and bumps like many women and these limp clothes don't help. I've been looking for what we used to call medium-weight pull-over sweaters to wear with slim jeans and boots. I've looked in every store in town and am finding the same - anemic knits with no weight, shape, or resilience. Lots of acrylic blends & boxy bodies with narrow sleeves seem to be the norm. I've watched 2 labels that I used to buy degrade so badly that I no longer even look at them. I got cheeky/desperate the other day and even checked out the men's dept. Seems they are starting to suffer the issues there, too.
Is there quality still out there & where are you finding it? If I was 20-something I would search out vintage - but that never works well on 60-something. I could knit & sew my own - no, not really lol!
Suggestions - or should I drag out the knitting needles?
Buy designer clothes. High quality, well made clothing is very very very expensive. 100% wool...LOL in a heavy fabric is almost impossible to find at a good price.
I'm one of those young people you guys are talking about. And believe me, we've noticed the quality decline too. It's no fun to blow a wad of cash on clothes and three months later notice that there is nothing to wear because that haul from three months ago has fallen apart. And it gets really annoying when a young person gets to a point where they want to do other things with their money besides clothes: marry, have kids, buy a car, pay off student loans, and are left with a wardrobe that has to be replaced because everything in it is poor quality, all of it has sprouted holes and can't be mended easily.
Problem is you really have to know what to look for to avoid buying the poor quality stuff. Because even the designer brands skimp. I've seen see-through Burberry t-shirts locally, and trench coats from Chanel with loose strings. I was in a designer Bohemian boutique recently and they had $300 blouses made entirely of polyester with acetate linings. Buying expensive clothes is not a guarantee of quality anymore.
I used to love Free People. But lately their offerings have gone bad too, with cotton and polyester blend shirts and blouses made entirely of see through rayon.
My mother made me learn to sew and mend, and I've picked that skill back up - it is the only way I've managed to avoid the fate of my coworkers and friends who can't sew and have closets full of damaged, unwearable clothes. I also avoid fast fashion stores like Forever 21 and H&M.
I used to work at Macy's back in 2006, back when there was more professional clothing and several brands for older women. The best selling clothing department in the entire store was Juniors. The quality was for the most part poor -only Roxy, Foxx, and American Rag had decent clothes - but Juniors department clothing sold like hotcakes, and to women who were far removed from being teens, who were obviously buying it for themselves. The departments aimed at women in their 20's and 30's (Style and Co, INC and the like) and the ones aimed at 40's, 50's, 60s, 70+ (Alfred Dunner, Charter Club, Liz Claiborne, etc) and the professional departments were not very well performing. It was found that women over 25 would get progressively pickier and cheaper in what they were willing to pay. A 25 year old would buy stuff at 20% off and be happy. Most of the 60+ women would only shop the penny stock racks in their section and then leave the store. Yet everyone was buying Juniors, full price. Guess what? Five years later and the departments catering to the 25+ crowd have shrunk and the Juniors department at that store has expanded. Women complain, yes, but grown women seem a lot less inclined to pay full price than women under 25 are. Under 25 is unfortunately where the money is. And that demographic isn't having kids or paying off student loans or looking at retirement, so they don't care about quality and where their money is going.
I can see the business side of it, the quality is not there because 25+ women won't pay for it, and it's okay to make cheap stuff because younger women don't care. But it is frustrating for women of any age who are tired of the endless hamster wheel of needing new clothes because the old stuff won't hold up. But American women in part created the problem - by being really cheap.
Buy designer clothes. High quality, well made clothing is very very very expensive. 100% wool...LOL in a heavy fabric is almost impossible to find at a good price.
This. Quality clothes and fabric aren't hard to find. You just have to pay the price. You have to have a more European attitude about your wardrobe; much fewer items than Americans are used to, but higher quality per item.
I used to work at Macy's back in 2006, back when there was more professional clothing and several brands for older women. The best selling clothing department in the entire store was Juniors. The quality was for the most part poor -only Roxy, Foxx, and American Rag had decent clothes - but Juniors department clothing sold like hotcakes, and to women who were far removed from being teens, who were obviously buying it for themselves. The departments aimed at women in their 20's and 30's (Style and Co, INC and the like) and the ones aimed at 40's, 50's, 60s, 70+ (Alfred Dunner, Charter Club, Liz Claiborne, etc) and the professional departments were not very well performing. It was found that women over 25 would get progressively pickier and cheaper in what they were willing to pay. A 25 year old would buy stuff at 20% off and be happy. Most of the 60+ women would only shop the penny stock racks in their section and then leave the store. Yet everyone was buying Juniors, full price. Guess what? Five years later and the departments catering to the 25+ crowd have shrunk and the Juniors department at that store has expanded. Women complain, yes, but grown women seem a lot less inclined to pay full price than women under 25 are. Under 25 is unfortunately where the money is. And that demographic isn't having kids or paying off student loans or looking at retirement, so they don't care about quality and where their money is going.
I can see the business side of it, the quality is not there because 25+ women won't pay for it, and it's okay to make cheap stuff because younger women don't care. But it is frustrating for women of any age who are tired of the endless hamster wheel of needing new clothes because the old stuff won't hold up. But American women in part created the problem - by being really cheap.
This is such an informative post! I've noticed that just in the last few years, Macy's in my area has suddenly cut out almost entirely the professional clothing lines (what you describe as being for "older" women), in favor of more cheap-looking, trendy cr@p for the teen and early 20's set. But I know women in their early-to-mid 20's who used to shop in Style & Co., Claiborne, and the other designer items. They don't want the cheap, trendy stuff, either. I still think there's a demand for the more classic styles, though I also know that women outside of "juniors" age buy "juniors". But that's for leisure wear. People need something for the office, in addition to whatever they choose for leisure wear.
Very happy with my clothes. I buy most of my clothes from Boden and Nordstrom.
I have a small wardrobe (I don't see the point of having lots of clothes that I hardly wear).
Lots of my clothes I wear over and over again and they all hold up well.
Ready to wear is awful these days. I'm definitely not a fashionista, my tastes are very simple and conservative, but if I like something, it's the kiss of death...it's yanked off of the market in favor of something that would look fabulous on a younger woman, but hideous on a woman my age (don't get me started on Levis). So I have a few things that tend to stay in style (blazers, wrap dresses, knit pants, sweaters, plain t-shirts, camel hair coat for winter, trench coat for spring and autumn, as examples).
My mother sewed and the things she made for us were beautiful and long lasting. If given the choice between a dress off the rack at a department store or one she made, my sister and I both opted for the latter. I have tried making a few things but cannot replicate her skill.
I agree with your posts and as a 64 year old woman, remember the days of fine clothing made in the USA. I grew up in southern New York state and we'd drive to PA to the clothing factories where we'd shop the outlet stores in Reading, Scranton, etc. So I grew up wearing high quality clothing. I'm not in a position to pay thousands of dollars for an outfit and it's ridiculous to do so! So.... I shop EBAY. There are several folks/companies on EBAY that sell designer high quality clothing on consignment. The only problem I have is figuring out my size. It seems each designer has a different idea of what a size 4 is. Then, there is the entire European size chart thing. So if you shop EBAY in this manner, be sure to check and see if you can return the item. I have bought some marvelous items this way.
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I'm definitely not a fashionista, my tastes are very simple and conservative, but if I like something, it's the kiss of death...it's yanked off of the market in favor of something that would look fabulous on a younger woman, but hideous on a woman my age (don't get me started on Levis). So I have a few things that tend to stay in style (blazers, wrap dresses, knit pants, sweaters, plain t-shirts, camel hair coat for winter, trench coat for spring and autumn, as examples). 
