How to Judge if an Item of Clothing is High-Quality

Tbh, the words "high-quality" have become kind of meaningless.

Not just because the words are over-marketed, but also that “quality” isn’t one thing. It’s a bundle of different attributes that often get conflated, or worse, selectively emphasized.

We've come to think about apparel quality as having five distinct facets.

Most brands optimize for one or two. Very few attempt all five.

1. Material Quality

This is the most obvious one: what is the fabric composed of?

But you can go much deeper than that.

Material quality isn’t just what the fiber is (cotton, wool, polyester), but:

• how the threads composing the fabric are knitted / woven together
  

• how those threads were spun into yarn
  

• what quality fibers have gone into spinning the yarn
  

That's why two garments can both say “100% cotton” and perform completely differently in the real world.

Fiber choice also sets the ceiling for everything else that follows. You can’t out-design bad base materials long-term.

2. Construction Quality

This is how the garment is actually cut and sewn together.

Construction quality determines whether a garment:

• has loose threads
  

• stitching that looks straight or not
  

• stitch density

You usually don’t notice good construction, but you do notice when it’s bad.

3. Longevity

This is where a lot of confusion is. You can use really nice materials like wool and silk for example, but those won't hold up in the wash.

Durability isn’t about how something looks on day one. It’s about resistance to:

• pilling after repeated wear
  

• thinning in friction zones
  

• loss of shape
  

• color fading
  

• elastic fatigue
  

Many garments are optimized to feel amazing in the fitting room and degrade quickly afterward. That’s not an accident, it’s a tradeoff.

True durability requires better materials, and often higher upfront cost.

4. Fit & feel

This is also a tricky one without a sufficiently long test. You can tell if an item fits right away usually but how does the garment feel after prolonged wear?

The test we go by is if you reach for it again and again. You know it's in the hamper or not. That's the sign of a real winner.

5. Aesthetic Quality

Aesthetic quality isn’t necessarily about trendiness. It’s about whether someone actually put thought into how the garment looks.

This includes:

• proportion
  

• line placement
  

• balance
  

• how fabric interacts with movement
  

• whether the design feels intentional rather than accidental
  

Two garments can be made from identical materials and construction, yet one looks refined while the other looks frumpy. That difference usually comes down to taste level. 

Why This Matters

Very few try to balance all five facets, because doing so is harder, slower, and more expensive.

Some popular tradeoffs can look like:

• softness at the expense of durability
  

• appearance at the expense of comfort / environment
  

• healthy fabrics at the expense of looks
  

At newsort™, we believe we've gone the extra mile to hit all 5 facets because when you do, the end result is clothing that doesn’t just look good or feel good briefly, it becomes something you reach for again and again. Because we wouldn't expect any less from clothing we would purchase ourselves.