Fatface.co.uk-A Great Place To Buy Quality Exciting Clothes For All Ages (Fatface.co.uk)

Member Name: Machair1

Product:	Fatface.co.uk
Date:	13/10/08 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Long lasting hardwearing clothes, great website, suits all ages, ideal for outdoor hobbies and work.

Disadvantages: Expensive at full price.

Fat Face was born in 1988 when two young ski lovers started to sell sweatshirts and t shirts in the bars and chalets of Val d'Isere. It has an inspirational philosophy which is founded on the idea that 'life is out there'. This could be on mountains, rivers waves, or skis but not in the office! Living in suburbia and dreaming of all those out of the world places this company captivated my imagination a few years ago and still does today.
I love the way they formed the company, it is similar to Innocent Smoothies as it started with nothing- just an idea.They even sold their VW camper van to help raise money for the garments they first sold.
They now have 140 UK stores and more are opening all the time. There are also outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, France, Iceland, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
The stores themselves are often located in seaside towns as well as in major towns and cities and tend to be in areas where there are outdoor activities to enjoy. This does affect the timing of the summer sales in the stores as they tend to be later than July as the holiday season affects this.


I first discovered Fat Face about 8 years ago when my daughter was heading towards uni to read veterinary medicine and having to do lots of farm and outdoor work to get experience. I saw her catalogue and had a look on the website.

It really appealed to me and we sent off for a few things to try.
We have never looked back from that day! My husband loves the clothes too and we have become loyal to the website year after year for these reasons.

1. The clothes are very well made and the design is superb. They are made to last so you can buy them and expect to still be wearing them 5 years later if you want to. If you get fed up with them they sell very well secondhand, and Fat Face often have sales on so you can buy the clothes as a cheaper price if you wait a little while each season.

2. There are two types of people who wear the clothes. Those who need the gear for out of doors work and hobbies and those who love to wear the clothes even if they are not outdoor types! The website is very attractive, it has photos of action and references to biking, boarding, walking, camping and surfing.

3. In the winter they make great lined jumpers and cardigan jackets which you can wear instead of a coat so they are great for the school run or for taking the dog out. For the summer the beach wear is really lovely.

4. If you get a chance to visit one of their stores you will not be disappointed. They are really well designed and they have changing rooms where the walls are often decorated with scenes of surfing, and the cubicles are designed to resemble the doors of camper vans.

5. The appeal to all ages is perhaps the best feature of the clothes. When the new catalogue comes out the only thing we have to watch is that we don't all go for the same thing, or at least if we do we try not to be mum and daughter wearing the same thing on the same day!

With the recent credit crunch and everyone watching the pennies I would say I haven't bought anything new from them for the last 6 months. The initial outlay is too steep at the moment to purchase at full price but they have a sale on now and I will be having a look at that and the bargains on Ebay are always worth a look as well.

The great thing about their clothes is that people say myself and hubby look much younger than we are in the clothes so if you are in your 40s try them out. They also do clothes for children, though there is a gap in the market for young teenagers as when my son was 13 he was between sizes-too small for the adult and too large for the children. I did hear a sales assistant saying recently they were hoping to change this soon.

The postage is £3.95 which is a lot if you only order a small t shirt but good value for larger orders. and they give free returns so you can send anything back which is not exactly what you want. Beware though returns take up to 28 days to be credited back to your card. This is in my opinion a fault and I would like to see this time shortened as in my experience it has been at least 21 days in most cases when I have returned items especially true if you order just before a sale when the items are being sent out on mass. I did call them up about this last year and they explained they do not have the staff to cover this situation which only occurs a few times a year.

They have a great range of accessories and the bags are particularly good.

In conclusion I would say that the shop is expensive but the quality is very good and the garments last for years. With an exceptionally high second hand value I think they are really worth buying and there are not many shops which cater for such a wide age range.

Summary: A great website which is inspirational for all ages.