The Death of Clothing

[crazycatlady]

73. To be technical-- Old Navy is Gap (as is Banana Republic)

And lower cost does not necessarily mean lower quality. To use the above Gap example-- Old Navy is their low end brand, Banana Republic is their high end brand. Old Navy women's jeans-- $20-$30 (per Google shopping) and Banana women's jeans are $98-$110. (Gap is in the middle at $49-89 for a pair of jeans). I've gone into Banana and seen shirts that felt like they'd fall apart in the first wash (machine wash care according to the tag) and I also have Old Navy sweaters old enough to be in high school.

But in terms of the price of clothes. When I was in college at the turn of the century, jeans were around $30-40 not on sale for most mid range brands. Today I see jeans like Levi's go up into the 3 figures at places like Macy's. The job I worked at in college (Kohl's) pay is not very different now than when I was there. People's wages are not increasing, so they can't do something like spend upwards of $100 on jeans when there's other bills to pay.

Clothes are one of the few things I try not to buy online (especially without a good return policy). You can tell the quality of the garmet by feeling it. No photos are going to gage quality.