Are More Expensive Clothes Actually Better Quality?

you get what you pay for we've all heard of this saying and that can be true for many things a higher price often comes with better service a better experience better performance or simply a better product but as I'm sure you've experienced firsthand this doesn't always apply so in today's video we're going to find out if it applies to clothing are more expensive clothes actually better quality well first off let's define what quality actually means are we talking about how the clothing looks how it feels how durable it is to make it simple there are four things that I would look at to determine the quality of a garment material construction silhouette and durability and I'm going to delve deeper into those in a minute and tell you exactly how to recognize poor quality versus good quality clothing but first let's go shopping this is Primark and it sits at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to fashion brands along with the likes of vhu and Asos these are the ultra fast fashion brands of the industry that provide the cheapest product possible so you can see already on this peac got some loose threats coming out on the lapels it's on a small hanger but it's a medium 100% cotton for only 15b it's a bargain at one step above the ultra fast fashion brands we have the mass Market High Street Brands such as H&M Zara or Unico then you have the premium High Street Brands like cause arit or mimo Duty that offer a slightly more expensive product for people who are looking for a more premium product at a reasonable price that's kind of cool that looks hella long though is going to be oversized as on me what about one of these trench coats I never wear trench coats I get them and I don't wear them then you have the accessible luxury Brands these are Brands like Ralph Lauren Amy Paris Cole buckton or Studio Nicholson they cater to people who are ready to invest more to get a luxury product without completely going into the luxury price tag at the top of the pyramid you have the luxury Brands the Pras Gucci and LVS of the world just to name a few but then you also have many that are less known to the masses such as gel sander Lam mer or to an extent fear of God these Brands carry some of the most expensive clothing possible but even Within These you can still have a widely varying range of pricing but does the quality of the clothing actually go up in direct correlation with the price of the clothing in order to find that out we got our hands on a few pieces from each of these tiers of clothing brands most of the work is done on initial inspection before you even try to clothing start by feeling the fabric how does it feel on on your skin is it smooth or rough heavy or light stretchy or stiff you want to make sure these characteristics align with the purpose of the Garment for example if you're buying a linen shirt for summer you'll want it to be lightweight relatively thin and breathable whereas if you want to Winter sweater you'll probably prefer something heavier and more insulating to sustain the colder temperatures but for some garments you can instantly tell just from feeling the fabric that it's not great quality for example this weekday sweater it feels very rough to the touch the tension of the knit is way too tight and I know it might be hard to tell on camera but it just doesn't feel premium at all next look at the stitching you want to check for tight and even stitching especially at the seams and the hems loose or uneven stitching is a sign of poor construction quality also if your garment is patterned see if the patterns line up at the seams you can see here we have a striped shirt from Primark and the pattern is completely misaligned at the shoulder seams which is what you can expect when they're selling it for 50 lb you know they're cutting Corners if your garment has buttons or Zips always double check that the zip is working properly and that there aren't any loose buttons this is another area where some Brands will cut Corners although not having lining isn't necessarily a sign of poror quality having a lining inside your jacket or coat is always a nice touch that will add structure and durability to your garment as you can see this wool Overcoat from fear of God has a lining inside made from Japanese cpro that gives the Garment more more structure and makes it a tad warmer cheaper Brands will sometimes skip the lining or go for lower quality Fabrics to cut costs the next thing you want to check is the Garment Care label but not for the care instructions you want to look at the material composition of the Garment ideally it's better to stay away from polyester and other plastic based materials like acrylic or nylon many Brands will opt for wool Blends or cotton Blends using polyester in order to cut costs because plastic based materials and blends are cheaper than going for a 100% cotton or 100% wool garment you'd be surprised at how often even luxury brands do this this L mer coat has a beautiful design and silhouette but if you look at the material composition you can see that it's made from 80% wool and 20% polyamide fear of God also do this with their sister line Essentials so a Mainline hoodie will be 100% cotton made in Italy or USA whereas an Essentials hoodie will most likely be made in China with a cotton polyester blend which makes sense in this case because Essentials is supposed to be this more accessible sub brand so they won't be able to produce at the same factories with the same materials if they want to remain profitable at lower prices once you've done the initial inspection you can try on the Garment this is when you want to pay attention to the fit and silhouette of the clothes now obviously the fit will be subjective and will vary depending on your body shape not every garment will be made to fit you perfectly but try to get the sizing right and then look at the silhouette of the Garment on you how does it drape on your body do the proportions look aesthetically pleasing something we often forget to take into account when it comes to fast fashion brands is that one of the reasons they're able to release new products at such quick pace is they don't put as much time and effort into the design of the product they will sometimes just send a picture or a rough sketch of what a product should look like and the factory will try to mimic that and have it produced in as short of a time span as possible which is why these Brands sometimes end up with products with subpar Silhouettes where the Garment just feels slightly off on your body maybe the sleeve is a little too short or too long or it just doesn't sit right on the other hand more premium Brands and luxury fashion houses will have fewer designs but devote more time and effort into perfecting each design altering small measurements to ensure that the Garment has the exact fit intended by the designer at the end of the day what matters is that the clothes look great on you regardless of the price but from my personal experience I've noticed that more expensive pieces tend to have more thoughtfully crafted designs and better Silhouettes it is definitely not always the case but it is more likely than in your average High Street fast Fashion Store the last quality check happens after you wash the Garment a little bit of shrinkage is normal if the Garment hasn't been pre-washed especially for cotton and denim but the main thing you want to watch out for is color fading and fabric deterioration so if threads go loose or the fabric starts to deteriorate or the color starts fading after a few washes that is a sign of a lower quality product with that said you do want to make sure that you're following the wash instructions on the care label because no wool sweater is going to survive a 40° machine wash on a cotton cycle at a high spin speed so does quality increase with price well as far as I've experienced paying attention to these seven things with Brands across the Spectrum I would say yes and no the answer isn't so black and white let me explain with the ultra fast fashion brands it's fair to say you shouldn't expect anything of good quality but most people know that nobody's walking into Primark expecting to find some super high quality stuff you're going in there to get the lowest price possible then from the mass Market High Street Brands all the way to the accessible luxury Brands that's where we can notice a more direct correlation between price and quality where you kind of get what you pay for Mass Market High Street Brands will often try to minimize production costs by opting for lower quality fabrics and putting less time and effort eort into the designs so you'll get more manufacturing defects and occasional construction quality issues but you can still find good products it's just a bit more hit or miss premium High Street brands are more consistent with the quality far less manufacturing defects and you tend to get more natural Fabrics it's good quality at reasonable prices accessible luxury brands are the next step up the brands in this category will tend to have a more ethical supply chain with more manufacturing done in Europe instead of Asia better quality Fabrics construction and doesn't feel like they're trying to cut Corners with the manufacturing if anything you can feel the amount of time effort and thoughtfulness put into the designs however that's roughly the stage where the direct correlation between price and quality stagnates I found that when you go beyond that into the proper luxury and Ultra Luxury Brands the significant increase in pricing is rarely justified in relation to the quality of the Garment especially with household names it often feels like you're paying more for the brand name rather than the Garment itself with all of this being said though there are definitely exceptions in every category you can find absolute gems even in the cheapest fast fashion brands just like you can find a lazy design or defects in a luxury brand so take all of this with a pinch of salt one category of fashion that I'd like to briefly touch up on is jewelry this is an area where you will often see a direct increase in the quality of the material in proportion to the price increase the cheapest jewelry will often be made for from brass and then plated to make it look like silver or gold don't be fooled though because sometimes even big luxury Brands will try to sell you a brass piece of jewelry for ridiculous price instead look for stainless steel jewelry even if it's plated gold it will still be better quality and better for your skin than brass silver tends to be a bit more expensive then you have gold which usually comes with a big price jump if it's an actual full gold piece rather than goldplated and if you want silver color jewelry the step up after sterling silver would be white gold which starts going into the very expensive territory as it's one of the most precious metals that you can have and then you have Platinum which is a whole Le ball game you'll see with certain brands the items that are made of platinum don't even have a price listed next to them and of course adding diamonds to any jewelry will also drastically increase the price one last thing I want to add about the price to Quality relationship in fashion is that there can be a placebo effect of spending more money on something making you value that item more and therefore taking better care of it so in the long run your clothes will last longer and you'll be more intentional with your purchases I'm sure you've experienced it yourself or maybe you spent a bit more than usual on an item and that made you want to take extra good care of it so I think that if you can afford it and you enjoy fashion which if you're watching this video you very likely do I would always suggest going for one more expensive higher quality item than let's say three lesser quality pieces for the same price that way you'll be more intentional with your purchases you'll take better care of your items they will last longer and you'll get to enjoy the higher end of what fashion has to offer or at least that's how I like to think about it of course with the exception of the luxury category of Brands not to say that you shouldn't ever buy luxury but if you do understand that you are probably overpaying which can be fine if you're doing it intentionally but what do you think would you ever buy from an ultra luxury brand and is it worth spending more on higher quality or is cheaper the way to go let me know in the comments I hope you enjoyed this video my friends and I wish wish you a beautiful day

Channel: Tim Dessaint

Views: 685,522

Keywords: Are expensive clothes actually better quality, are luxury clothes actually better quality, does quality increase with price in clothing, does quality increase with price, how to spot high quality clothing, how to spot quality in clothes, how to spot quality clothes, how to tell if clothing is good quality, how to recognize good quality clothing, how to recognize poor quality clothing, fashion, style, style tips, fashion advice, fashion tips, tim dessaint, tim desaint

Id: q7XDiHT35hM

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 27 2024