Decoration

How to buy clothes that actually last

Turn a garment inside out before you buy it. Look at whether the seams are finished or just overlocked and left, whether the buttons are stitched through properly, and whether the pattern lines up across the front. Those three things tell you more about how long something will survive than any label does.

Natural fibres help too. Cotton, linen and wool soften with wear, where a synthetic blend tends to pill and then stay that way.