There are many ways to save money on clothes, but the best way is just to buy less of better quality. It’s as simple as that. Quality clothes last longer, and when you spend more, you are also more likely to treasure the clothes you buy.
The best way to save money on clothes is to buy UK-made clothing that is good quality and lasts a long time.
Cheap fashion is cheap for a reason. It’s generally made from lower quality fabrics, and because high volumes of clothing are produced in order for stores to achieve a lower price, corners are often cut in production. So seams may not be as well sewn, and quality control checks may have been bypassed.
In comparison, UK-made clothing is usually made from better quality fabrics and in much smaller batches, so the quality is higher.
When you buy clothing that is made in the UK, it’s often sold directly to the shopper by the brands or factories themselves, cutting out the mark-up that stores add on. This means that more of the money you pay goes towards the production of the clothes themselves, rather than on the cost of stores and staffing.
Buying cheaper, lower quality clothes will only end up costing you more in the long run.
According to a study by environmental agency The First Mile, the average pair of jeans are worn only ten times before they’re chucked away. So jeans bought from a supermarket for £14 will cost you £1.40 per wear.
Compare that to UK-made jeans brand Hiut Denim, who encourage their customers to hold onto a pair of jeans for years, by offering them lifelong repairs.
At £140 a pair, Hiut jeans may seem expensive, but if you wear them every other day for a year, you’d get 182 wears out of them, making them just 78p per wear. In reality, Hiut’s customers hold on to their beloved jeans much longer than a year, making them even better value for money than the supermarket ones.
You don’t save money on clothes if you end up throwing them away.
According to a survey by Vanish, the Brits throw away a staggering £12.5 billion worth of clothes every year. The problem with buying cheap clothing is that they’re seen as disposable, so they’re often only worn a few times before being thrown away.
Simple fact, the less you spend, the less you care. We all know ‘that’ person that brags about how something only cost them a fiver in Primark so they don’t care whether they wear it more than once.
The problem with clothing from fast fashion retailers, is that it’s of such bad quality that you can’t even give it away.
Textile waste is also created by stores that place large orders of clothing with overseas factories. Yet when it arrives in stores much of it goes unsold, leaving it to be disposed of, something that’s been highlighted a lot in the press recently. A lot of this waste ends up in landfill.
The National Association of Waste Management and Recycling Organisations found that the UK sends 31% of its textile waste to landfill, a shocking statistic.
Buying clothes that are made in the UK can help reduce textile waste, not only because they are better made, but also because they have been made in much smaller quantities and not mass-produced.
Pay more for your clothing, and you’ll keep it for longer.
People looking to save money on clothes often say that they cannot afford to buy clothing that is made in the UK because it’s too expensive. But buy cheap and you buy twice, as the old adage goes.
When you pay more for something, you are much more likely to care for it because it’s an investment.
Save money on UK-made clothes by looking for them on resale and outlet sites
If you love the idea of buying UK clothing brands, but genuinely can’t afford to invest in them at full price, there are several ways you can save money on buying them.
Several UK-made clothing brands have their own outlet sites or discount sections where you can purchase great quality, end-of-season lines at affordable prices.
Jumpers from UK knitwear brand John Smedley can cost upwards of £160 at full price, but can be bought for 60% less on the John Smedley Outlet site. And organic kids clothing brand BeeBooBuzz sells their fun, bright-coloured basics in an outlet section on their site, with typical reductions of 40%.
If you know the British brands that you love, you can also search for them on resale sites such as eBay and Vinted. And because UK-made clothing is better quality, buying secondhand pieces means that you’ll still get tons of wear out of them if you choose wisely.