TU Clothing - quality fashions in your basket (Sainsbury's TU Clothing)

Member Name: rosebud2001

Product:	Sainsbury's TU Clothing
Date:	26/10/08 (5687 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quality, price, convenience

Disadvantages: Not high fashion - definitely not for the teens!

For years I shopped at Sainsburys merely for food and perhaps the odd magazine. I used their cafe and occasionally picked up a CD. My local store was large and spacious but stocked little in the way of non-food items.

Eventually times got a little tighter and I stopped visiting - I became an Asda aficionado, loving in particular my weekly amble around the George clothing range and trying not to buy. Ooh it was tempting however!

I then moved to Edinburgh from London and started to visit Sainsburys again and was intrigued to see Sainsburys sold clothes - and over the years Sainsburys TU clothing line has hooked me in!

The range is split into Mens, Womens, Childrens and Babies. When I first discovered the TU range I was invariably buying clothing for my daughter - I absolutely adored the girlswear and found the quality to be superior to the George clothing in Asda.

TU also have a small range of schoolwear available and I was impressed with this. However when I first discovered TU the kids range only went up to age 10 and my daughter is a big girl and soon outgrew it.

The womens range isn't high fashion - it is more aimed at women over 30 who want to be stylish rather than slavishly following the latest trend. The quality is very good and I tend to compare what TU is about to Marks & Spencer and in particular Per Una.

Every winter there is a particularly nice cashmere range and it usually costs about £35 for a cashmere sweater which is machine washable. This represents excellent value for money.

The womens range is available in sizes 8 to 22, with trousers available in short, medium and long lengths. There is a "Grace" plus size range which is available from size 18 to 28 in selected stores, and also a Petite range, which is available from size 8 to 18. This is also only available in selected stores. I find the range of sizes to be excellent - Sainsburys really get the thumbs up from me for realising we are all different heights and having just a "standard" length for trousers leaves the majority unable to buy!

There is also an excellent range of accessories including footwear, scarves, jewellery and gloves.

Each winter there is a good selection of outerwear including formal woolen coats, leather jackets and padded casual jackets and coats.

Lastly there is a large section devoted to nightwear and lingerie. You can pick up bras for £5 and thick fluffy robes for £20 here.

Like all clothing ranges, the Mens section is quite small. It seems to be a small selection of all a man could need but as I haven't shopped that section, I can't really comment.

The kids section now goes up to Age 12 and I rate it highly. As previously mentioned, the quality is great and the girlswear isn't too trendy or revealing. I hate to see young girls looking too trashy and the TU range doesn't pander to that at all. Sadly my daughter is still too big for their clothes however!

Prices are excellent in the TU range - you can pick up cotton t-shirts for £3 which are made with Fair Trade cotton and are finished to a higher standard to cheaper ones found in Primark. Jeans can be had for £12 and knitwear rarely is more expensive than £20 unless if its cashmere.

The range changes quite often and there is usually a clearance section. Here you will find items reduced by between 30% and 50% and if its end of season it goes down to 75%.

Every so often Sainsburys have 25% off TU clothing weekends. These are a great way of getting new season clothing at sale prices - for example I was able to pick up corduroy jeans for £9, fleece zip up jackets for £4.50 and velour pull on joggers for just £7.50 the last time they did this.

The 25% off weekends tend to occur around bank holiday weekends or when a new season's stock has come in - they are always worth a look!

Sainsbury's do have a website but it doesn't really feature TU clothing in any great detail. Online shopping isn't available and nor is the opportunity to view clothing online before you buy.

Most stores do have changing areas but be warned some of the smaller stores don't have this feature. Sainsburys however are very good at accepting returns and you can return your item within 28 days if you have your receipt.

Probably the main disadvantage of the TU clothing range is the fact it isn't available nationwide - here in Edinburgh I am fortunate enough to have 4 stores within a 25 minute drive all selling a decent selection of the clothes but there are other parts of the country which don't have a store stocking it for miles.

I find this a real shame as quality wise, TU is the best of the supermarket clothing ranges in my opinion and coupled with the frequent reductions and offers, plus the fact you get Nectar points on your purchases, makes TU one of my favourite places to go clothes shopping.

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shoppingandservices/c lothing/instore_range.htm

Summary: Sainsburys clothing range