I’d like to give a shout out to H&M. I’m really happy with the denim I bought there. 100% cotton (including some recycled). A nice weight, no dye transfer and minimal shrinkage (washed twice). An almost unbelievable price point. There seems to be a good through line with their winter-to-spring slightly Scandi fashion story, and good merchandising in the store I visited. I liked it much better than the Gap or Old Navy.

Uniqlo is not new, but they are getting a portion of my clothing budget every year, and are usually the place I go to first when visiting a mall.

La Vie en Rose is a Canadian lingerie store that carries bathing suits. The are the talk of the locker room amongst the more casual exercisers and therapy pool users ‘of a certain age’. When I struck out at Bikini Village I checked out La Vie, and scored a great vacation bikini at a reasonable price. I will keep them on my radar when next I need a lingerie refresh.

A Canadian grocery store chain called Joe Fresh has been a surprising source for decent quality at very reasonable prices. I’m a fan of their cash-cotton sweaters. At 3% cashmere, that’s stretching credibility, however the crew neck neck (and turtleneck) sweaters are great classic style transitional season tops that wear well (around 60 wears) come in a variety of colours, and are under $30 CAD.

Though I still check out Winners, their fashion items have been a real disappointment lately. You used to find good leather footwear, but now everything seems to be made of plastic. The store I have access to seems to have less hidden treasures, and more cheaply made synthetic stuff. Housewares (Homesense) is still good, but women’s fashion - not so much.

How are you feeling about the ‘mall brands’ or other clothing retailers? Do you have any ‘ride or die’ brands? Are you checking out different shops or discovering new designers? Who looks interesting to you going into the next season? Where are you spending your fashion $$’s?