Admittedly, I’m not much of a fashion maven, but I’ve done enough shopping and worn enough clothes in my life…enough to create the above infographic based on my personal observation of fashion pricing. There are pros and cons to buying fashion of all price ranges, but I have personally found that you CAN achieve the best of both worlds by carefully choosing well-made, mid-priced clothing. They land right in the “Fashion Goldilocks Zone” (not too cheap, not too costly; not too trendy nor too basic, etc), described in the graphic above.

Sure, mid-priced clothes are not designer clothes, but they’re also not likely to fall to pieces when you wash them a few times, either (as I have unfortunately experienced). If you’re willing to look for slightly higher-quality clothing that is put together well, especially for clothes you’ll be washing and wearing a lot, you’ll actually SAVE money in the long run because you won’t have to replace your whole wardrobe every year. (You don’t have to buy the most expensive clothes to have the best quality, either, because I’ve also unfortunately found that sometimes the high-priced pieces wear out just as quick as the cheap stuff.)

More help on picking quality clothing for less money:

Six Secrets to Spotting High-Quality Clothes
Accessible Chic: 6 Places to Shop Quality Clothes Online
How to Buy Nice Clothes On the Cheap
Is Buying Expensive Clothing Worth It?
How to Spot Quality Clothing