A great way to buy middle aged clothing - Hawkshead catalogues (Hawkshead)

Member Name: cabletow

Product:	Hawkshead
Date:	08/04/02 (1855 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Catalogue shopping

Disadvantages: a style that is a little bland

As I sit here reading the Hawkshead summer 2002 catalogue I have been taken back. Back to a time pre internet and shopping channels on digital TV, a time of honest innocence, a time when shopping from home meant "the catalogue".

Nostalgia is fantastic, I guess all of us who have reached a certain age say things like that, I was taken back to a time when the catalogue ruled. You leafed through several photos and selected a garment. You phoned up the next day during office hours and you ordered. You experienced the thrill of a parcel arriving with the post the next day. You experienced the pain of having to take the item back to the post office because it was the wrong size and finally the sense of achievement when the right sized goods arrived and you could wear it with pride. This was, of course a time when the Post Office was called the Post Office and they delivered first class goods the next day, and a time when credit card fraud was a thing of the future.

Hawkshead is a clothing firm. They still rely on catalogue orders and supply a range of outdoor clothing that is middle of the range price and quality wise. The range of items is comprehensive yet conservative. The stock is all their own design but has heavy reliance on the style of "name" brand outdoor goods although the fashion is perhaps two or three years behind the trendy high street store. Their service is fantastic. There is never a quibble about returns and the turn around time for all their items is about a week at the most, Consignia may extend that time and you of course run the risk of your item never arriving but that is another opinion.

It is the catalogue approach to their sales that I have enjoyed recently. How wonderful it has been to lie in the bath and make my selection. Try doing that with your desk top. It has been refreshing just looking at clothes without having to wade through links, Email forms, reset buttons, adverts for totally unrelated
things such as Amazon, and disclaimers. It has been a revelation that shopping browsing at home does not rely on downloading page wait times and the other vagaries that is the World Wide Web. It is total freedom to be able to make your purchase selection whilst sitting on the loo. I have realised today how life has become more, and not less, complicated with today's technology. After I have finished my selection I have a free gift too, a wonderful fire starter or bottom wiper. The old catalogue can be used in a few time honoured recycling ways.

Hawkshead summer 2002 catalogue is one of a high quality. Good looking models photographed in the English outdoors are a taster for my summer to come. The catalogue has whet my appetite for a grey English summer and I cannot wait.

The clothing is suitable for the man about the English outdoors who does not want to standout out too much. Discreet colours and labels are a feature. Low tech garments that are made well are Hawkshead's trade mark. This is not a bad thing. Costs are kept low by the low overheads the company has, for example timberland style boots for walking in are £27 a pair and Alpine fleeces, in the style of Quicksilver or Ocean Pacific, are a bargain at £20 each. As with all catalogue clothing companies, I get a little distressed when I come across jeans with elasticised waists even if they have side pockets on the trouser leg but £20 is cheap enough for them so I will not complain too much.

Hawkshead offer a choice of payment options, including a Hawkshead account card which allows you to claim a further £10 off your next purchase, and , sadly, they have a web site that you can order from. (www.hawkshead.com will see you right.) Delivery charge is £2.95. they also do have a few stores on the high street and the list of these stores is available on the catalogue.

Let me tell you what I have ordered last week. A pair of waterfall webbing sandals in black for the summe
r, at a reasonable £22 and they fit well. It has been too cold to wear them, but there you go, so much for the spring.

For those of you who have had there appetite whetted for this simple pleasure you can order a catalogue your self from the web site or by dialling 0870 5993344. Trust me, if you are in the market for nondescript clothing and a selection that can be perused in your most personal times, get a Hawkshead catalogue. It makes a great fire starter if nothing else.

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