Who decides what's fashionable???

hybernia

Not available in Marks & Spencers. Not available in House of Fraser. Not available in British Home Stores. Available only in the oh-so-hackneyed Jeff Banks "designer label" range in Debenhams but at an absurdly over-inflated price.

All those stores are local to me, and in all of them I was trying to buy hubby a roll neck sweater in 100% Acrylic (not wool -- doesn't wash well -- and definitely not 100% cotton: too thin, more like a T-shirt than a sweater.)

Only seems like yesterday, that style of men's jumper was available everywhere but now? According to a sales assistant at M&S, "it doesn't seem to be the fashion nowadays".

Well, no. It bloody well isn't. But presumably it will, quite magically, be fashionable again when M&S and the other stores decide to stock it again.

I'd love to know who winds up as being the fashion picker for these department stores and just why they're taken so much notice of. It's not as if any of 'em seem to much good at it, witness M&S's declining fashion sales.

My hubby can't be alone in enjoying the warmth of the roll neck collar of a £25-or-so acrylic jumper. . . but somewhere, some fashion arbiter has decided that no-ooo, he's not to have that. An ugly buttoned-up creation that looks like a surgical collar. . . now that's fashion!

* If anyone knows of any stores, anywhere, that stock men's roll neck jumpers, I'd love to know. I've found some available via Amazon and also a couple of Internet retailers but am hesitant about ordering clothing from the 'Net.

SailorSam

I suppose my fashion could best be described as scruffy chic, most of 'the labels' on my clothes are Oxfam.

Mado

I loathe acrylic jumpers.
They give static, end up bobbling and more often than not, are very sweaty and stink.
I find that woollen jumpers, or wool mixes wash very well these day. And I suspect I'm not the only one.
So, if the retailers go with what sells rather than items they will hardly shift, you can't really blame them.

flubberyzing

To roughly quote the film 'The Devil Wears Prada'.

The couture designers decide pretty much on a whim/what their designer mates are doing. This is then seen on the catwalk. This feeds down to the 2nd tier labels/shops, like Coast, Jigsaw, Karen Millen etc. This is seen and reproduced by the likes of TopShop, New Look etc who have the resources in terms of factories in China, to produce high quanities of output, cheaply and quickly.
These are then copied by the likes of Primark, Peacocks, Matalan etc.

If the men's roll-neck jumpers aren't "in" at the moment, it's because some designer in Paris didn't bother to put one in his collection 18 months ago. But as soon as his mate does, then they'll be back in the shops again.

BlondeHeadOn

Try doing a few searches on Ebay. I have just run a couple of e.g. "roll jumper acrylic" in the men's clothing section, and 235 results have been displayed. You may have to buy what you want from Korea of somewhere, but there are a lot to choose from and in a lot of different colours, and mostly new not used garments.

By the way, to include 'acrylic' in the search I selected the "Include Decsription" option in the search, as usually this info is buried in the description somewhere.

Hope this helps.

Mado

flubberyzing wrote: »

If the men's roll-neck jumpers aren't "in" at the moment, it's because some designer in Paris didn't bother to put one in his collection 18 months ago. But as soon as his mate does, then they'll be back in the shops again.

Although I don't disagree with your analysis, I think there is a slight difference in this particular query.
Finding roll neck jumpers is never an impossible task as they belong to a line of "classic" items that are always available somewhere as they don't really fall into trends.
The Op is lamenting the absence of these in a particular composition... a different issue altogether.
OP, BTW, I would check the supermaket clothes range. Asda and Tesco ( and Primark) always seemt to have far more acrylic than most other retailers.
http://www.laredoute.co.uk/roll-neck-sweater-15-wool.htm?ProductId=324366858
La redoute does a 85% acrylic- 15% wool one.

jenniewb

Try Uniqlo? I know they have had roll necks for women and in the heat-tec range, and they do make a little bit of a difference.

I think they tend to be more popular as it gets closer to Christmas and the new year, for some reason shops who don't center around high-fashion seem to think it only gets cold during August/September and then again in December.

Having said that, there are many scarves around at the moment and I would recommend M&S for those (and Uniqlo has great heat-tec scarves as well )

j.e.j.

Mado wrote: »

I loathe acrylic jumpers.
They give static, end up bobbling and more often than not, are very sweaty and stink.
I find that woollen jumpers, or wool mixes wash very well these day. And I suspect I'm not the only one.
So, if the retailers go with what sells rather than items they will hardly shift, you can't really blame them.

Must admit I really don't like acrylic, either, pretty much for the reasons above! I always go for wool, cotton or even viscose.

But yes it is annoying when shops arbitrarily stop selling things. You'd think somewhere like M&S would at least stock the classic styles, like a roll-neck jumper, all the time?

ETA I often find good quality jumpers on EBay, might be worth a look?

Mado

j.e.j. wrote: »

. You'd think somewhere like M&S would at least stock the classic styles, like a roll-neck jumper, all the time?

I'm sure they do.
[STRIKE]
Just not in 100% acrylic.:cool:
[/STRIKE]
Actually, they do have one in 100% acrylic...
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Roll-Neck-Sleeve-Knitted-Jumper/dp/B008Q1OO84?ie=UTF8&ref=sr_1_1&nodeId=42966030&sr=1-1&qid=1353329192&pf_rd_r=0VKZ14F78058YPMRD80W&pf_rd_m=A2BO0OYVBKIQJM&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_i=0&pf_rd_p=321381407&pf_rd_s=center-3

j.e.j.

BHS jumpers are usually made of [STRIKE]yucky[/STRIKE] acrylic There's one here:

http://www.bhs.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=81&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=34096&storeId=13077&productId=5355258&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=487216&parent_categoryId=487212&pageSize=20&refinements=category~[487293|487216]&noOfRefinements=1

hybernia

Thanks everyone for the advice -- I'll have a browse around eBay and also check the major supermarkets like Asda and Tesco (don't know why none of that ever occurred to me, I guess I've been so used to buying jumpers from High Street stores that I've become conditioned to thinking of them as the only outlets.)

Once again, sincere thanks (and flubberyzing, what a superb analysis of the fashion world!!)