hey, this is super useful, but when you're talking about half seams and blind stitches i have no clue what you're talking about. very helpful video, but a tiny more explaining or even pictures, would be immensely appreciated. you've earned a subscriber
Such wise words and I couldn't agree more. I wish everyone could see how destructive the practice of buying cheap, disposable and fast fashion is, and the impact that over consumption is having on a global level. Your channel is inspirational and I admire your motives and cause. Thank you and regards. Deb
Another good test is hold up several of the same garment in the same size. If you can see that some are much longer or larger than others (even though they are supposedly all the same size), this is a sign of poor quality control in that factory. When the stripes don't match up that makes me crazy.
What I do is buy vintage high end clothes. I haven't bought anything for a while and the clothes I have are still holding up really good. Usually, high end brands are better quality but they are expensive too. Buying thrifted is much cheaper. Of course it depends on the style you like. But I love that vintage look
I loved this video! I have been sewing since I could reach the pedal, and it always amazes me how most people cannot tell good quality from bad (even in fashion school!). From making sure the grain is straight to French seams in shear fabrics to the tip about checking out the construction of vintage clothing, this video made my day 😊
Good information. Elizabeth Cline is right. Those of us, who learned how to sew in school, have a much better sense of what quality is in clothing construction.
This is so helpful. Thank you for sharing your expertise. It feels great to finally be able to make informed choices. I can still choose something of low quality, but it will be a choice and a responsibility, not an accident out of ignorance. Thank you so much!
a beautiful poncho that I love! l plan to make more purchases slowly as I save for each item because I don't want to run myself into debt. Thank you for all you do, you truly are a inspiration for me.
Great video! I purchase clothing from a variety of places including F21 and, I guess naturally, I looked for quality clothing. I find good clothes in lots of different places, some places they're just harder to find than others.
I thought the history side of the book was a nice addition. It was interesting to learn about the many manufacturers that thrived just decades ago, and the few manufacturers that remain (at least the ones that are not based overseas). Cline's book was very informative on assessing whether a garment is of good quality, but, at the same time, she provides a reality check pertaining to how most of the garments manufactured today are clearly lacking the quality that was once expected, even in a similarly less expensive piece (as in a piece that was 'cheap' decades ago, would be considered better quality than many of the middle range-costly garments of clothing we would find today). Cline's book reinforces my intentions of shopping primarily second-hand and buying clothing from sustainable fashion brands. My absolute favourite sustainable brands of clothing include Eileen Fisher (for classic pieces in natural fabrics that last), Synergy Organic Clothing (for more contemporary pieces), and People Tree (because I love how transparent they are). I really appreciated this video, Verena, and I also really loved your video on the different kinds of fabrics (that is definitely a favourite video of mine!). Sending positivity your way from Canada
Thank you! I've learnt to see if things are cheap but not yet learnt to know when things are good quality. I'm going to put some notes in my capsule doc on my laptop to help me remember for when I go shopping for my summer capsule! I bought some things off boohoo this year, I've had them for less than 5 months and the seams are popping because I had to keep pulling it around because the sleeves often felt twisted. So happy to be entering a season where I can afford better quality clothes now!
I like to buy second hand most of the time. Even if it's not good quality, I might really like it and wear it a lot then use it as a rag. it stops things from going straight to land fill.
Watch 'The True Cost' documentary. Sadly says that many second-hand clothes end up in landfills, etc... So it's not only about only buying 2nd hand (which I do :)) But also buying good quality so they last longer and checking where the clothes are made. Unless of course you keep all your rags and never throw them away haha
Hi Verena, thank you and as always I learned something new about telling the quality of a garment. I will agree with you in that vintage clothes are of a much higher quality. It's really too bad retailers are more interested in earning money rather than saving our planet. Stay green my friend. :-)
Excellent list of tips! Most of them I had never thought to check before. Pilling fabrics are a pet peeve - wish companies would make more of an effort to create good quality jersey! Thanks for a great video
If you buy new/used clothing, some really well-made brands I know of (in the US at least) are LL Bean, Land's End, Eddie Bauer, and Talbot's. I have clothing 5+ years old that I wear almost every week and wash and dry in a dryer and they still hold up great.
This is a really helpful video! Thanks so much--I've watched a few of your sustainable clothing videos and now I've subscribed. Any chance of a video like this one, but for shoes? I'm vegan and hard to fit, so I already have a difficult time finding shoes. I would be happy to spend a lot for shoes that last, but I don't know how to tell whether shoes will last before it's too late to return them.
I have been trying to switch to buying higher quality clothing if I feel I need to replace anything now (although I am still trying to cut my wardrobe back overall). I have learned that I really DO NOT like ironing things so have been looking for fabrics that do not crease easily and we have a brand over here called HotSquash which make fairly expensive clothing that is supposed to be thermal / crease resistant / odour resistant etc so I have bought a few pieces from them as well as pieces from other brands just based on the fabrics having a bit of rayon / viscose etc blended in to make them crease less. Even when I bought clothes from super cheap brands like Primark I took care of everything I wore so for the quality I could make it last quite long and would wear everything until it just couldn't last any longer but I could get 2 or 3 years out of a Primark item. Not sure how long everything will last if I get my wardrobe down to around 100 items mind you.
good advice! I mostly buy used clothing because I don't love how quickly things end up in landfills and don't love supportng fast fashion but can't always afford to always buy nice new things from ethical companies.so I use used clothing apps like poshmark and thred up. just a tip for the poor college student :) lol! Thanks
This video was helpful but I would have loved to see examples of what you are talking about and to let us know we're you purchased your quality garmets. I would love more ideas on where I can find quality garmets that aren't super expensive if possible. All the shopping websites thay I learn about on youtube are either made for much younger teens or young adults and the quality looks bad.
Each season I share all the clothes I have in my capsule wardrobe. You can check them out here: th-cam.com/video/k7Qq0pGGOYY/w-d-xo.html The brands I buy from are usually linked in the description or a blog post will be linked. :)
Ahh you are my favourite TH-camr! This video is incredibly helpful, thank you! I keep getting the urge to go buy new clothes and then I watch some of your videos and feel reaffirmed in what I have :) I do have a question for you. My husband has a job where he has to wear suits to work. He wants to dry clean them regularly but it makes me cringe. How can you keep suits clean without dry cleaning? I know you can spot-clean but they do also get kind of smelly lol. Also, are there any good stores to buy office appropriate sustainable clothing (especially for men)? Thank you!!
Thank you so much! :) Hm dry cleaning is tricky... steaming can often help especially with wool suits. There are also 'greener' dry cleaners that supposedly use less harmful chemicals, might be worth seeing if there are any in your area. A lot of the sustainable menswear I see is pretty casual, Three Leaves www.wethreeleaves.com/ is unfortunately closing but I think they might be good to check out- just do it soon! Zady also has some more office appropriate men's clothing zady.com/men and Modavanti modavanti.com/men/ might have some stuff too. I can't recall seeing sustainable men's suits anywhere though.
Thanks so much!! I will definitely check out the stores, and steaming is a great idea!! We live in a really small town so there is nothing like that nearby, unfortunately!
I've had a good experience with buying second hand 'Fat Face' garments. They are a company that usually make their clothing very well and if you can find their clothing second hand providing it's previous owner treated the garment well and it isn't several years old, you should get a lot more wear out of it yet.
We have Primark here in Britain that sells clothes so cheaply but they do not last. They make their clothes in all kinds of dreadful sweat shop countries which is how they can make their clothes so cheap. The clothes don`t last very long so it is a false economy to buy them so cheaply because you have to buy them more often.
Primark is terrible. The first time I went in one I was completely shocked both at the clothes/prices and the insane quantity of stuff people were buying :(
The reason the seams on a garment would twist is not because it was cut wrong. The manufacturer of the item did not preshrink the fabric before it was made in to a piece of clothing. If someone has already mentioned this then ignore my comment. Good video nonetheless.
I thrift a lot, so I look up the brand on the tag while I'm in the store. If it's an older brand and the garment doesn't look very worn, I'll assume the quality is good c:
+Hayley Pflug Have you heard about Sweater Stones? It's a 100% natural pumice stone that gets rid of those pesky little balls on sweaters. I've seen them at The Container Store, Nordstrom, and Eileen Fisher. Oh! AND they are made in the USA. :) Even better.
+Hayley Pflug It usually happens when there are blends that don't really work that well together. It also happens if the fibers are just extremely loose. There are sweater stones, or an old razor will work, just make sure its on a flat surface as you can nick or wear holes in your clothes.
Now, it's mostly thin, jegging-type jeans. I've been on the hunt for old school type denim. Even Levi's had thinner denim. What thick/raw denim brands do you recommend?
Are there any other high quality brands comparable to Synergy Organic (I love them!) you could recommend. I just went through my closet and was so upset in the amount of pilling and seam ripping in my most worn dresses that I bought within the last few years. The only dresses that held up were my Synergy ones! They have a lifetime customer now, but I would like to have a few other brands that I feel good about investing in because of both ethics AND quality.
What are good quality clothes? Clothes that feel comfortable for you to wear, people ask me what are the nicest clothes you have and my answer is my addidas tracksuit because all I have is sweatpants and long sleeve shirts
Hello I was just wondering if anybody knows where to get colourful ethically made tights? I don't live in the US so it would have to be international shipping. Thanks
Check out Braintree! They have lots of colours and prints :) www.braintreeclothing.com/accessories/bamboo-tights.html They are based in the UK and I believe ship international. I haven't tried their tights though so can't speak to the quality.
Hi i don't know anything about clothing or fashion I'm learning business and management but I imagine some clothes I'm 19 years old and I want to launch a company so I need a help from people who know somethings about fashion sooo anyone?
hi, was wondering if you have ever heard of 'pineapple leather'? i saw a reference to it on a vegan site that i follow: th-cam.com/video/WXvzUrGMNPM/w-d-xo.html i've been looking for non-cruelty sandals, which aren't made of plastic; and it seems like the only ones made of rubber are for men. would you know of a source?
You're wrong on the fabric direction. Any twill fabric will be on the diagonal axis and they will twist over time. It's not a sign of poor quality, merely a characteristic of the fabric.
Twill isn't cut on the bias (diagonal) though. It's still cut on grain with the warp thread, it only looks diagonal because of the twill weave but it still should always be cut on the straight grain and shouldn't twist.
I think that even a tiny bit of sewing, for yourself, or taking sewing lessons, can be enormously enlightening about how clothing is made!
+Linda S. I agree!
Definitely!
hey, this is super useful, but when you're talking about half seams and blind stitches i have no clue what you're talking about.
very helpful video, but a tiny more explaining or even pictures, would be immensely appreciated.
you've earned a subscriber
Really helpful tips when deciding on vintage purchases - since the garments are already old, you want to be able to get more use out of them. Thanks!
Such wise words and I couldn't agree more. I wish everyone could see how destructive the practice of buying cheap, disposable and fast fashion is, and the impact that over consumption is having on a global level. Your channel is inspirational and I admire your motives and cause. Thank you and regards. Deb
Another good test is hold up several of the same garment in the same size. If you can see that some are much longer or larger than others (even though they are supposedly all the same size), this is a sign of poor quality control in that factory.
When the stripes don't match up that makes me crazy.
What I do is buy vintage high end clothes. I haven't bought anything for a while and the clothes I have are still holding up really good. Usually, high end brands are better quality but they are expensive too. Buying thrifted is much cheaper. Of course it depends on the style you like. But I love that vintage look
I loved this video! I have been sewing since I could reach the pedal, and it always amazes me how most people cannot tell good quality from bad (even in fashion school!). From making sure the grain is straight to French seams in shear fabrics to the tip about checking out the construction of vintage clothing, this video made my day 😊
Yay! Knowing how to sew definitely helps a lot :)
Good information. Elizabeth Cline is right. Those of us, who learned how to sew in school, have a much better sense of what quality is in clothing construction.
This is so helpful. Thank you for sharing your expertise. It feels great to finally be able to make informed choices. I can still choose something of low quality, but it will be a choice and a responsibility, not an accident out of ignorance. Thank you so much!
a beautiful poncho that I love! l plan to make more purchases slowly as I save for each item because I don't want to run myself into debt. Thank you for all you do, you truly are a inspiration for me.
Great video! I purchase clothing from a variety of places including F21 and, I guess naturally, I looked for quality clothing. I find good clothes in lots of different places, some places they're just harder to find than others.
I read Cline's book upon your recommendation and I'm so glad you made this video
Nice! What did you think of it??
I thought the history side of the book was a nice addition. It was interesting to learn about the many manufacturers that thrived just decades ago, and the few manufacturers that remain (at least the ones that are not based overseas). Cline's book was very informative on assessing whether a garment is of good quality, but, at the same time, she provides a reality check pertaining to how most of the garments manufactured today are clearly lacking the quality that was once expected, even in a similarly less expensive piece (as in a piece that was 'cheap' decades ago, would be considered better quality than many of the middle range-costly garments of clothing we would find today). Cline's book reinforces my intentions of shopping primarily second-hand and buying clothing from sustainable fashion brands. My absolute favourite sustainable brands of clothing include Eileen Fisher (for classic pieces in natural fabrics that last), Synergy Organic Clothing (for more contemporary pieces), and People Tree (because I love how transparent they are). I really appreciated this video, Verena, and I also really loved your video on the different kinds of fabrics (that is definitely a favourite video of mine!). Sending positivity your way from Canada
Thank you!!
Thank you! I've learnt to see if things are cheap but not yet learnt to know when things are good quality. I'm going to put some notes in my capsule doc on my laptop to help me remember for when I go shopping for my summer capsule! I bought some things off boohoo this year, I've had them for less than 5 months and the seams are popping because I had to keep pulling it around because the sleeves often felt twisted. So happy to be entering a season where I can afford better quality clothes now!
I find it ironic that my "watch next" video advertises "super cheap clothes."
I like to buy second hand most of the time. Even if it's not good quality, I might really like it and wear it a lot then use it as a rag. it stops things from going straight to land fill.
Watch 'The True Cost' documentary.
Sadly says that many second-hand clothes end up in landfills, etc...
So it's not only about only buying 2nd hand (which I do :)) But also buying good quality so they last longer and checking where the clothes are made.
Unless of course you keep all your rags and never throw them away haha
Your channel was recommended to me. This was super useful information. Thanks.
Hi Verena, thank you and as always I learned something new about telling the quality of a garment. I will agree with you in that vintage clothes are of a much higher quality. It's really too bad retailers are more interested in earning money rather than saving our planet. Stay green my friend. :-)
Great video! Super informative, though I wish there were more visual examples!
Excellent list of tips! Most of them I had never thought to check before. Pilling fabrics are a pet peeve - wish companies would make more of an effort to create good quality jersey! Thanks for a great video
that's really helpful now I have actual things to look at while shopping not only some unspecific idea in my head
If you buy new/used clothing, some really well-made brands I know of (in the US at least) are LL Bean, Land's End, Eddie Bauer, and Talbot's. I have clothing 5+ years old that I wear almost every week and wash and dry in a dryer and they still hold up great.
would love you too do a video on vintage clothing. it's quality, materials and pros and cons. also how much they used to have back then.
thanks
This is a great video, I so agree with this! Cheap clothing is not worth it!
Thank you for this video, I found it very helpful.
Your channel is what Ive been looking for!!!! Thank you for great contents!
i absolutely love this. Thank you for sharing. This will help with my next closet purge!
This is a really helpful video! Thanks so much--I've watched a few of your sustainable clothing videos and now I've subscribed.
Any chance of a video like this one, but for shoes? I'm vegan and hard to fit, so I already have a difficult time finding shoes. I would be happy to spend a lot for shoes that last, but I don't know how to tell whether shoes will last before it's too late to return them.
I think this is a very helpful video, but for me being not English native, some vocabulary is hard! Im glad you showed pictures!
Awesome, will share this!
Thanks!
Thank you for this wonderful series!
This was so helpful. Thank you very much.
I have been trying to switch to buying higher quality clothing if I feel I need to replace anything now (although I am still trying to cut my wardrobe back overall). I have learned that I really DO NOT like ironing things so have been looking for fabrics that do not crease easily and we have a brand over here called HotSquash which make fairly expensive clothing that is supposed to be thermal / crease resistant / odour resistant etc so I have bought a few pieces from them as well as pieces from other brands just based on the fabrics having a bit of rayon / viscose etc blended in to make them crease less. Even when I bought clothes from super cheap brands like Primark I took care of everything I wore so for the quality I could make it last quite long and would wear everything until it just couldn't last any longer but I could get 2 or 3 years out of a Primark item. Not sure how long everything will last if I get my wardrobe down to around 100 items mind you.
good advice! I mostly buy used clothing because I don't love how quickly things end up in landfills and don't love supportng fast fashion but can't always afford to always buy nice new things from ethical companies.so I use used clothing apps like poshmark and thred up. just a tip for the poor college student :) lol! Thanks
This video was helpful but I would have loved to see examples of what you are talking about and to let us know we're you purchased your quality garmets. I would love more ideas on where I can find quality garmets that aren't super expensive if possible. All the shopping websites thay I learn about on youtube are either made for much younger teens or young adults and the quality looks bad.
Each season I share all the clothes I have in my capsule wardrobe. You can check them out here: th-cam.com/video/k7Qq0pGGOYY/w-d-xo.html The brands I buy from are usually linked in the description or a blog post will be linked. :)
reene
Thanks! Any recommendations on stores to buy from?
Ahh you are my favourite TH-camr! This video is incredibly helpful, thank you! I keep getting the urge to go buy new clothes and then I watch some of your videos and feel reaffirmed in what I have :) I do have a question for you. My husband has a job where he has to wear suits to work. He wants to dry clean them regularly but it makes me cringe. How can you keep suits clean without dry cleaning? I know you can spot-clean but they do also get kind of smelly lol. Also, are there any good stores to buy office appropriate sustainable clothing (especially for men)? Thank you!!
Thank you so much! :)
Hm dry cleaning is tricky... steaming can often help especially with wool suits. There are also 'greener' dry cleaners that supposedly use less harmful chemicals, might be worth seeing if there are any in your area.
A lot of the sustainable menswear I see is pretty casual, Three Leaves www.wethreeleaves.com/ is unfortunately closing but I think they might be good to check out- just do it soon! Zady also has some more office appropriate men's clothing zady.com/men and Modavanti modavanti.com/men/ might have some stuff too. I can't recall seeing sustainable men's suits anywhere though.
Thanks so much!! I will definitely check out the stores, and steaming is a great idea!! We live in a really small town so there is nothing like that nearby, unfortunately!
I've had a good experience with buying second hand 'Fat Face' garments. They are a company that usually make their clothing very well and if you can find their clothing second hand providing it's previous owner treated the garment well and it isn't several years old, you should get a lot more wear out of it yet.
We have Primark here in Britain that sells clothes so cheaply but they do not last. They make their clothes in all kinds of dreadful sweat shop countries which is how they can make their clothes so cheap. The clothes don`t last very long so it is a false economy to buy them so cheaply because you have to buy them more often.
Primark is terrible. The first time I went in one I was completely shocked both at the clothes/prices and the insane quantity of stuff people were buying :(
Your videos are so always interesting| thank you for all your researches ;)
Marjorie
The wider seams omg, I never ever see them on a non vintage piece of clothing these days!
It's unfortunately really rare now :(
So SO helpful, thank you!
The reason the seams on a garment would twist is not because it was cut wrong. The manufacturer of the item did not preshrink the fabric before it was made in to a piece of clothing. If someone has already mentioned this then ignore my comment. Good video nonetheless.
Could be a reason also, a lot of fabric isn't pre-shrunk though. I've found any twisting issues mainly had to do with the grain line being off.
I thrift a lot, so I look up the brand on the tag while I'm in the store. If it's an older brand and the garment doesn't look very worn, I'll assume the quality is good c:
Lithostoic i research before a purchase too. what did we do before cell phones, ya know?!
Is fabric that "pills" quite easily a sign of poor quality? Is there a way to save a garment that has pilled?
I use a blunt razor and it gets rid and saves the garment
+Hayley Pflug Have you heard about Sweater Stones? It's a 100% natural pumice stone that gets rid of those pesky little balls on sweaters. I've seen them at The Container Store, Nordstrom, and Eileen Fisher. Oh! AND they are made in the USA. :) Even better.
+Hayley Pflug It usually happens when there are blends that don't really work that well together. It also happens if the fibers are just extremely loose. There are sweater stones, or an old razor will work, just make sure its on a flat surface as you can nick or wear holes in your clothes.
Great tips thank you 😊
This is great. So many great tips.
Nicely done. Thank you!
Thank you for share it!!!😉
What is the knit sweater you are wearing? I would like to get one similar.
Now, it's mostly thin, jegging-type jeans. I've been on the hunt for old school type denim. Even Levi's had thinner denim. What thick/raw denim brands do you recommend?
The jeans I own are from Naked & Famous Denim, I've also heard great things about Nudie Jeans. :)
+My Green Closet awesome! Thank you!
I LOVE your videos. Thank you ☺
Thank you so much for making this video
It was very helpful :)
There aren't many videos like this on TH-cam
awesome video! Thanks for sharing!
I just made my first sustainable living fashion purchase.
Yay!! What did you get?
very helpful video! Thanks
Could you please tell me where you buy your from because I have been searching for quality but affordable denim! :)
The jeans I have are from Naked & Famous Denim :)
Great video! Thanks! I am a curvy woman (size 46) In second hand shops big size are hart to get. Do you have a tip where i can get good clothes??
How can you tell good quality shoes? I've been trying to thrift some good shoes, but I also want to find a pair that will last.
this is such a helpful video.
This is very useful, thanks! :)
thanks for sharing, good tips
Very informative video. Thank YOU! xo
Are there any other high quality brands comparable to Synergy Organic (I love them!) you could recommend. I just went through my closet and was so upset in the amount of pilling and seam ripping in my most worn dresses that I bought within the last few years. The only dresses that held up were my Synergy ones! They have a lifetime customer now, but I would like to have a few other brands that I feel good about investing in because of both ethics AND quality.
love this video! totally agree with all of it. thank you!! have a beautiful day :) xxx
Where do you purchase jeans? Or do you thrift them?
I have one pair and they're Mud Jeans mudjeans.eu/
What are good quality clothes? Clothes that feel comfortable for you to wear, people ask me what are the nicest clothes you have and my answer is my addidas tracksuit because all I have is sweatpants and long sleeve shirts
great tips!
'BAM' make excellent ethical sports and casual clothes for men and women. Especially, good if you catch one of their sales
You should show examples...
Hello I was just wondering if anybody knows where to get colourful ethically made tights? I don't live in the US so it would have to be international shipping. Thanks
Check out Braintree! They have lots of colours and prints :) www.braintreeclothing.com/accessories/bamboo-tights.html
They are based in the UK and I believe ship international. I haven't tried their tights though so can't speak to the quality.
thankyou! so helpful :)
Hi i don't know anything about clothing or fashion I'm learning business and management but I imagine some clothes I'm 19 years old and I want to launch a company so I need a help from people who know somethings about fashion sooo anyone?
helpful!
hi, was wondering if you have ever heard of 'pineapple leather'? i saw a reference to it on a vegan site that i follow: th-cam.com/video/WXvzUrGMNPM/w-d-xo.html i've been looking for non-cruelty sandals, which aren't made of plastic; and it seems like the only ones made of rubber are for men. would you know of a source?
Very informative video,
I was wondering if you were vegan?
Thanks!
No, I eat a primarily vegan, plant-based diet but don't follow a strictly vegan lifestyle.
Go to Goodwill and play the game, "find the clothes made in USA." You will win when you find one, because the clothes are heavier and better made.
You're wrong on the fabric direction. Any twill fabric will be on the diagonal axis and they will twist over time. It's not a sign of poor quality, merely a characteristic of the fabric.
Twill isn't cut on the bias (diagonal) though. It's still cut on grain with the warp thread, it only looks diagonal because of the twill weave but it still should always be cut on the straight grain and shouldn't twist.
beautful girle
Basic knowledge. Brand names would help more.
I don't think you speak French, but just in case, an interesting page: www.loom.fr/tshirt-histoire-de-ouf
I like what you are saying but it sounds like a 60s ad.
Dominique, the 60s are back in!