Bought a few pairs of trainers at full price this last year or two but really think the quality is down . Not sure if some retailers are flogging knock offs or loss leaders etc . I know places like Schuh sell a budget range that nobody should buy . Buy Adidas golf gear and it mostly always seems well made doesn’t shrink etc It makes buying genuine stuff dodgy to me , I know there’s two v knowledgeable clothes guy on here, without giving away secrets - any thoughts or ideas . I like Boss etc but again if not from their shops I get wary
The quality in most things we buy nowadays has dropped.I buy a fair bit of under armour and Adidas sportswear and both seem to be suffering from a drop in standards...Greed in finding the cheapest components/manufacturers seem to be the main driver in my opinion.
I was told by a Hull independent that Adidas were going to restrict their dealers and that they’d lost their way , maybe covid , cheap materials etc has compromised the image of their quality .?
Under Armour have been dropping cost & quality for a while because they’ve been in bother. Profit warnings, too much stock, and a few scandals like staff using corporate credit cards at strip clubs Serves them right for sponsoring big game hunters IMO, but at least that was their original focus (technical clothing etc) whereas it looked to me like they tried to be all things to all people…and ****ed it up
As a disclaimer, I know nothing about clothing or retail.. but Under Armour do a professional range, which i get for working outside out in the north sea from work, and it's pretty good quality, but it's about four times the price of the normal sportswear that they sell in the usual high street shops.
I’ve had some cold weather stuff for golf etc that’s great , and then other stuff that seems cheap and nasty from I suppose less reputable outlets than my golf shops at clubs . Seems to me there is a volume budget range for one type of retailer and then a good quality range reserved for others .
It's highly unlikely that you'll find fake Adidas in any high street retailers in the UK, online from China or potentially at markets/car boots, but not in shops. It's generally not difficult to spot if an online retailer is genuine, just look at other brands stocked, look at the store address (check it on google) and if they're only online check the delivery times (if they take over a week to deliver, chances are they're not in the UK).
Yeah I don’t know anything either, other than what I’ve read. I had a few bits which were really good, but recently it seems tat Maybe from different outlets or different ranges then, but someone who knows more can confirm. Not that I would buy their stuff now anyway as I don’t wish to find big game hunting…
Everything these days is ironed on ****e logos which wash off easily. I bought some Gymshark shorts with an ironed on logo, after one was the logo was hanging off. They sent me a new pair free of charge with minimal questions asked which makes me think they know most of their stuff is ****e quality but is that cheap to make they can still make a profit.
Compared to food and other things, clothing prices have hardly risen over the last decade or so - I'm guessing raw materials and labour costs have risen, so cuts have had to have been made somewhere, I'm guessing. Even more expensive things havent gone up that much - I bought a off the peg kilgour suit for a wedding, the last time I was in London, and paid roughly the same I'd paid for my previous one a decade before. Wasn't aware of the hunting controversy before you mentioned it... Everyday is a school Day!
Adidas golf stuff does seem to be much better quality then their everyday stuff, the same with Nike and under armour I've found
Funnily enough, I stumbled across a press release from when I launched Lambretta in 1996 and the guide prices in that release were about the same as we were still charging until recently (costs have gone up about 10-15% in the last eighteen months, but were largely unchanged until then).
Genuine question...how have you managed it? I was only 11 in 96 so had no idea on clothes etc, was the brand able to be sold at a bigger premium back then? Where margins much bigger and have eroded since then? Or was it the Costs have been relatively stable up until the last 18months?
It was a couple of things. Firstly, I used the top end prices in the press release (rather than average prices) to make it sound as premium as possible, so our average prices then were actually a bit lower than they are now. In addition, margins are definitely lower now, on average I achieve a 25-30% lower mark-up than I managed twenty years ago.
Even after a nuclear holocaust, Murray Todd will be selling discounted Ralph Lauren shirts for £70, same deal as in 1993.
Wrangler and Levi jeans seem to be much more expensive these days, not only that they used to be like cardboard when new, now they are like tissue paper.
I'd hate to think the pair of running shorts I bought at the York outlet last Weds has contributed to the further erosion of the white rhino...
I don't live my life analysing the background of everything I eat,drink or wear.Doesn't mean I don't have ethics.
Running shorts? In other news, Duncan Goodhew has bought a comb. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
