When it comes to clothing, does a higher price equal higher quality?
Why Quality Can Cost
Clothing can cost more due to it being of a higher quality due to factors such as:
- The time taken to make it
- How premium the materials are
- Whether it is Fairtrade
- The cost of human labour, e.g, workers being paid a fair wage or a product being made by hand could both equate to a higher cost
Sometimes, it can be worth us spending more on clothing, as this can be more economically (and environmentally) viable if those garments then last longer, withstanding wear and tear through their better quality.
This said, it is not true that paying more for an item automatically means it is of a better quality. As put by Green Heart Collective:
“If clothes are made in the same factory with similar materials, then often marketing and profit margins are the only differences between two garments”
Research by the University of Leeds
Research from the University of Leeds, commissioned as part of a wider project by Hubbub and Primark, looked into a range of new clothes from different high street brands to determine whether more expensive clothes last longer.
The School of Design tested the durability of 65 items of clothing retailing from less than £5 up to around £150.
The research found that the durability of both high-priced and low-priced garments ranged from excellent to very poor. Therefore, price does not necessarily mean higher quality, and value for money varies widely from garment to garment.
“The results show that retail price can’t be used to predict which garments are going to last longer than others” – Dr Mark Summer, School of Design
In fact, according to their findings, “Only negligible differences in durability were found for a pair of women’s jeans priced at around £15 compared to a pair retailing at more than ten times the price.”
Attitudes to Clothing
To complement this research, Hubbub commissioned a survey of 3,000 UK adults by Censuswide to find out more about our attitudes towards caring for our clothes.
They found that 67% of people expect expensive clothes to last longer, with 64% more likely to hang them up after wearing, 62% taking time to remove spills and stains, and 54% willing to carry out repairs on more expensive items.
This shows that we are more willing to look after our clothes if we have spent more money on them.
However, as put by Aoife Allen, Director a Hubbub and Fashion lead, “This research highlights that the same level of care should be given to all garments, regardless of price, to extend their life as much as possible.”
Allen also stated that when discussing sustainability, we need to start thinking more about durability; durable clothes mean less replacement purchases, increased chance of a longer second life, and offer better value for money.
Overall then, it appears that we can’t assume that less affordable clothes automatically don’t last as long just because they cost us less money. However, if we can find a way of sticking to quality not quantity, where we buy less items that are more durable, we are likely to save ourselves money in the long run as well as helping the environment. You can find out more about the impacts of fast fashion here.