Why fashion has gone off the rails

Nothing bland about Tano Bags!

Sarah Mower, Telegraph UK

Never mind the credit crunch, high street retailers are in a bad way because their clothes are bland and badly made from poor fabrics, says Sarah Mower. Has fashion apocalypse hit the high street?

You scarcely need to listen to the biblical chorus of retailers blaming the credit crunch, the weather, energy bills (anything but themselves) to see the evidence that this spring women have risen up, taken a look round the shops, pulled a face - and kept their plastic in their purses.

Clock the fact that the "mid-season sale" has arrived in so many places before the "season" has even got going (with barely a moment to clear winter's discounted leftovers) and there's only one thing to conclude: sorry, but we just don't like these clothes that much.

As Womenswear Daily, the trade oracle of US fashion, put it last week: "fashion had it coming". In an industry that is usually so supportive of its own (often to the point of sycophancy), you don't normally hear this kind of talk. Actually, make that never. But, at the designer level, buyers have finally broken ranks, criticising insane prices, drab colour, the wrong fabrics, deliveries of coats in high summer and bikinis in January, plus the fact that women are "programmed to wait for sales".

Most devastatingly to my mind, though, is the pointing of fingers at the lack of a general trend that is powerful enough to override all external constraints and make us run to the shops.

It's as simple as this: unseasonal weather and financial panic apart, these days you have to be in love with something to want to buy it. That applies as much to the merchandise on the high street as it does to the contents of department stores, where price tags for not-even-that-special dresses broke into four figures ages ago. And much as our high street giants keen and wail about plunging consumer confidence, rising mortgage rates and monumental credit card debt, they are failing on that front.

A horrible combination of bland styles (they're terrified to commit to anything "extreme") and the flimsiest, worst-quality fabrics that I have ever seen (blame China) has swept the stores. Frankly, in some cases, I'll be surprised if they're able to give the stuff away.

I know this because last week, with a light step, I set out with my daughters, aged 14 and 12, for an Easter holiday spree in the West End. OK, I am not that much in the mood for spending, but even fear of bank statements has to be reined in when two girls have grown out of most of their clothes.

So we did Zara, H&M, Gap, Warehouse, Uniqlo, Miss Selfridge and Topshop. When I say that after four hours we returned with a solitary sleeveless sweater found in the back of the Regent Street Gap, you can judge just how bad it was.

It was not that I was saying "no" to them. As we dragged ourselves ever more despondently from shop to shop, there were no hissy fits, only ineffable teenage sneers as they rejected tacky dresses in see-through fabrics, badly made jackets, limp knitwear, nasty jeans and miles of last season's smock tops and boring T-shirts - dozens of which are already stuffed in their cupboards.

In the end, I was the one trying to herd them into changing rooms with arms full of not-quite-right stuff that might turn out to be just this side of OK when tried on. Nothing worked.

We'd have all gone home in tears were it not for the fact that the 14-year-old insisted we went to Abercrombie & Fitch, where you do at least get a good gander at "fit" boy sales assistants with their shirts off. When it came down to it, she didn't love anything there, either, but it cheered us up a bit.


Front runner: Carla Bruni should invest in McQueen's sequinned slippers. I was so disturbed by this experience that I went back to check other stores. I found a couple of spots of brightness: Reiss looked confident, French Connection vastly improved; I liked the little black dress collection at Oasis, and a couple of Osman Yousefzada's limited-edition pieces for Mango.

I could also understand why Inditex, the parent company of Zara, is reporting strong sales in the teeth of the downturn. Zara has always left me cold, but Inditex also owns Massimo Dutti, which does grown-up Euro-smart well, and it's opening hundreds of stores globally, an accounting fact that makes its figures look good.

Otherwise - since we are now in the mood for plain-speaking - I must be honest. From M&S on, most of the high street is now one long drag of clothes that insultingly underestimate a woman's taste, self-esteem and tolerance of rubbish fabrics and terrible fit. The phrase "the race to the bottom" - that thing retailers have been calling rampant price deflation ever since Chinese cheapo manufacturers came on the scene - kept coming to mind as I looked around.

Well, the bottom's been hit. And the ones who have "won" that race - all those greedy, cynical retailers who have lost touch with the value of great shop-keeping and what makes women love fashion - are, when the figures come out, about to be proved the biggest losers.

• I know it's about time we all shut up about Madame C B-S, but I can't help putting my two ha'p'worth in about her crying need for no-heel footwear.

Frankly, she hasn't sorted it out for evening - peep-toed ballerinas just don't do it with a state-occasion gown - but the solution is staring her in the face: Alexander McQueen's embroidered and bejewelled slippers (above left), shown in Paris a few weeks ago.

Oh, and why doesn't she get one of his white muslin directoire dresses while she's at it? Couldn't be more perfect for playing Josephine to her little Napoleon.

• Since "low-ticket" items - things that give a practical buzz for little outlay - are said to be the ones that will keep selling even in a depression, I've put myself on alert to track down fashion bits and pieces that qualify.

Here's the first: a custom-made pair of Nike trainers, a little piece of up-cheering bespoke footwear. When put to their intended use, they will a) save money when you run everywhere instead of taking public transport or driving; b) help the planet by cutting carbon emissions; and c) help release mood-enhancing endorphins to fight off depression.

Amazingly, this virtuous package costs a mere £90, after you make an appointment at the design studio at Niketown in Oxford Circus to conjure up your own pair on screen. You get to play with a fantastically vibrant range of summer colours and the shoes get delivered in two to three weeks. Being phobic about hi-tech trainer culture, I "made" a classic Dunk Lo, coloured it turquoise, purple, green and white, and had my name embroidered in red on the back. Good run for your money, I'd say.

Designer Fashion & Designer Handbags Online Shopping

Limitless possibilities of shopping online might soon be over
Maggie Clark, aka Shopaholic

The Internet creates the idea of endless freedom and convenience for the shopping world.

Whether you are purchasing clothes, electronics or vacations the Internet allows you to comparison shop and purchase from home. However, there are purchasing restrictions that one faces while shopping on the Web.

When you buy tickets to a sporting event, concert or other high-demand event, it is common to see a restriction on the number of tickets one customer can purchase.

When shopping for tickets such as the Rockies World Series tickets, there typically is a maximum ticket per purchaser. Is this really necessary? Venue holders fear that one customer purchasing more than 10 tickets to a single event may be trying to make a profit from them. Most events have a limit of eight tickets per single purchaser; very high-demand events might have an even lower maximum buy. This is to help regulate ticket scalping.

This policy now is extending to luxury accessories.

While the Web gives the impression of endless opportunity, our weak dollar has many luxury stores feeling threatened. This is causing some stores to take precautionary measures.

High-end shoppers may be in for a surprise when they go to purchase multiple colors or styles of one designer item. The high price tag on a designer item might restrict the typical shopper to only one luxury item. However, there is a restriction that even endless money cannot bypass. Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman now have a policy that applies to designer handbags, like Prada's latest ruched nylon styles that cost $1,290, Bottega Veneta's signature woven leather hobos at $1,490 and the new rectangular Yves Saint Laurent clutch that goes for $1,395.

Do these restrictions keep the exclusiveness of the product? This might be the case but there is an ulterior motive to these policies as well. Their motivation stems back to the current status of our U.S. dollar. There is fear that foreign buyers will hoard the bags then resell them in Europe or Asia where the same items in Prada and Gucci stores typically cost 20 percent to 40 percent more. The popular Yves Saint Laurent Downtown bag, which is restricted to three per customer at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, costs roughly $300 less (900 pounds) at Harvey Nichols in London.

While foreign shoppers warmly were welcomed by many retailers last month, it is a slightly different story for luxury stores. Gucci and Prada have spent the last decade trying to reach those customers in their own countries by opening expensive new shops throughout Asia and Europe. An online researcher searching for a high-end bargain might be costing these select stores.

For now, the policies at Saks, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman apply to online sales only of handbags and shoes. Many foreign shoppers were boarding planes to the United States with the intent to bargain shop less than one month ago. This may result in these policies losing 100 percent effectiveness.

Maggie Clark, aka Shopaholic, is a Coloradoan advertising sales executive. She does not write about her clients. She never met a bargain she could pass up and she always can find room in her closet for another pair of shoes.


Case-by-case basis for designer bags
Eric Wilson

FOR products that are truly in demand, it may seem reasonable to limit the number a customer can buy at one time.

Now readers of the fine print on the websites of luxury retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman are discovering that such a policy also applies to designer handbags such as Prada's latest ruched nylon styles, which cost $US1290 ($A1442); Bottega Veneta's signature woven leather hobos, at $US1490; and the new rectangular Yves Saint Laurent clutch, which looks like a postcard addressed to the designer (with a $US1395 stamp).

"Due to popular demand," potential shoppers are warned, "a customer may order no more than three units of these items every 30 days."

The bags may be popular, but how many customers who can afford them really want more than one?

On its face, the policy sounds odd; that is, because it really doesn't have anything to do with popular demand. Rather, it is the fear that foreign buyers, taking advantage of the severely weakened US dollar, will hoard the bags, then resell them in Europe or Asia, where the same items in Prada and Gucci stores typically cost 20 to 40% more.

The popular Yves Saint Laurent Downtown bag, restricted to three per customer at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, costs $US1495. At Harvey Nichols in London, the same bag is £910 (about $US1796).

Foreign tourists who are treating American department stores like a nationwide outlet sale have largely been viewed as beneficial to retailers, and by some estimates, those shoppers were the only bright spot in what was a feeble holiday sales season.

But that spending power has not been so welcome at luxury companies such as Gucci and Prada, which have spent the past decade trying to reach those customers in their home countries by opening expensive new shops throughout Europe and Asia.

Now those companies stand to suffer a sting from increasingly educated comparison shoppers, if not a more serious blow from a grey market of designer goods resold from American stores.

Ron Frasch, the chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue, which has 54 stores across the US, said the number of foreign shoppers trying to buy multiple items in stores was "pretty minor", but he added, "it is certainly an issue that we watch".

Besides restricting online sales, Saks may also deny a customer's purchases of duplicate merchandise in stores on a case-by-case basis. "What we try to do is use a lot of logic and common sense if we sense that someone is taking advantage," Mr Frasch said. "We monitor at the store level and at the corporate level for any patterns."