‘Bargains’ that are fit for the dustbin
HAVING read reports about the amount of sale stock on the High Street, I went to Bristol in search of bargains, but what struck me was the sheer ugliness of much that was on offer in women’s fashion in Debenhams and Marks & Spencer. As I trawled the rails and racks without success, I thought to myself that had the stores asked focus groups about their products, a lot of goods in the sales would never have made it to the shop floor. Synthetics abound and I wonder how many of these fabrics will languish in landfill long after we have departed the planet. I struggled to find a single item made of 100 per cent wool or cotton — it’s all acrylics and materials with unpronounceable names, which are hopeless at keeping us warm or allowing bodies to breathe. Do shops just trust their fashion buyers to have the taste and foresight to offer us clothes we might want to buy, or do they ask customers such as me for their opinions on designs, colours and materials? Why does M&S have so many different jean designs, and what’s with the fashion for flares stuck on the end of every sleeve? Ugh! The sale racks are heaving with unwearable clothes. There are few good jackets and no fine wool trousers or classic sweaters in natural fibres. If you compare the shop stock to what’s available online at these two stores, you could be forgiven for thinking you were dealing with different companies. If High Street shops are not to go to the wall, they need to consolidate, refine and rethink their merchandise. And they have to ask their customers what they want to buy before pressing the button to manufacture stuff that will only end up on a sale rack. It really isn’t rocket science.
EVELYN EVANS, Evercreech, Somerset.