Aldi

[silva]

I should have taken a pair of overshoes back I bought a few years ago - zip bust almost immediately. These days I try to look through my old receipts and highlight anything that is not food - chuck in a bag.
Should say that I bought a different design of zipped overshoe from them a couple of years later and they have been fine - generally decent quality.
I seem to recall that some of their electric/electronic stuff comes with a three year guarantee, which is excellent.

i find their merino baselayers very good - can the stuff you see on sale elsewhere for £50 or so really be that much better?

Aldi sells very good and very bad stuff.µ
All shops do.
I've things that last 15 years, and things that came already defective, or shortly became after using.
It's a matter of thorough inspection in the shop.
Crap has some indicators.
Push/pull/bend parts. See what and how it happens. Ex 3 weeks ago a dog bath, circumference some stiff material under plastic. I pushed on it and felt it splintering - so hard brittle fragile. The bath would soon have become a bag.
Hold it up against the lighting. A raincoat that is a see through maze isn't a raincoat.
Some raincoats (adidas seen alot) have some white coating on the inside, which is the water resistence.
But it's not plastic, it's like sprayed paint, and it just falls/wears off into very fine dust that gets everywhere on you and your other things.
Raincoats with "sealed seams", but they used a glue that apparently isn't water resistant, causing all the tapes to disattach and the water to get through.
Scratch the surface with a nail. If it easily peels off, it's polyurethane, read: biggest crap out there.
Feel the weight.
Almost everything that is "coated", is rubbish. Non massive polyurethane, pvc, ...
I've seen heavy leather looking motorpacks, peeled off (PU) over their entire surface, with the weight due to some filler.
100% acryl clothes easily detach fibers and soon start to look like something exploded inside them.
Cotton wears fast especially when wet.
The (original) price says alot, but I have seen alot expensive stuff with a single flaw that ended their usability.
You mention zippers, some are indeed, kinda extruded aluminium, even worser than Magura's brake handles.
I've had zipper lids that despite tiny that I could break with my thick fingers with no effort at all.
A second hand sports t shirt, about 100 euro in a luxe bicycle shop, no fake, label 100% polyester but its zipper was sewed with cotton thread, that broke and was revealed by that.

If I wanted to put any focus, I'd say: polyurethane / everything coated. Rubbish.
Another raincoat example: polyurethane sold under the branded name "Flexothane".
It's a coating, and apparently it isn't uv resistent - misses some additives, it gets full of little cracks,
Fun thing is: they know, and sell "repair stickers" for it. Extremely expensive for what they are.
And useless, since cracks continue to appear, and if you would keep on repairing stubbornly, you would end with a totally sticker covered coat that costed a 100 times the price of a new coat. It's haha, but real.

 

[Blue Hills]

Aldi sells very good and very bad stuff.µ
All shops do.
I've things that last 15 years, and things that came already defective, or shortly became after using.
It's a matter of thorough inspection in the shop.
Crap has some indicators.
Push/pull/bend parts. See what and how it happens. Ex 3 weeks ago a dog bath, circumference some stiff material under plastic. I pushed on it and felt it splintering - so hard brittle fragile. The bath would soon have become a bag.
Hold it up against the lighting. A raincoat that is a see through maze isn't a raincoat.
Some raincoats (adidas seen alot) have some white coating on the inside, which is the water resistence.
But it's not plastic, it's like sprayed paint, and it just falls/wears off into very fine dust that gets everywhere on you and your other things.
Raincoats with "sealed seams", but they used a glue that apparently isn't water resistant, causing all the tapes to disattach and the water to get through.
Scratch the surface with a nail. If it easily peels off, it's polyurethane, read: biggest crap out there.
Feel the weight.
Almost everything that is "coated", is rubbish. Non massive polyurethane, pvc, ...
I've seen heavy leather looking motorpacks, peeled off (PU) over their entire surface, with the weight due to some filler.
100% acryl clothes easily detach fibers and soon start to look like something exploded inside them.
Cotton wears fast especially when wet.
The (original) price says alot, but I have seen alot expensive stuff with a single flaw that ended their usability.
You mention zippers, some are indeed, kinda extruded aluminium, even worser than Magura's brake handles.
I've had zipper lids that despite tiny that I could break with my thick fingers with no effort at all.
A second hand sports t shirt, about 100 euro in a luxe bicycle shop, no fake, label 100% polyester but its zipper was sewed with cotton thread, that broke and was revealed by that.

If I wanted to put any focus, I'd say: polyurethane / everything coated. Rubbish.
Another raincoat example: polyurethane sold under the branded name "Flexothane".
It's a coating, and apparently it isn't uv resistent - misses some additives, it gets full of little cracks,
Fun thing is: they know, and sell "repair stickers" for it. Extremely expensive for what they are.
And useless, since cracks continue to appear, and if you would keep on repairing stubbornly, you would end with a totally sticker covered coat that costed a 100 times the price of a new coat. It's haha, but real.

agree with pretty much everything you say but have visions of you takng a comprehensve destructive testing rig into your local branch.

 

[silva]

agree with pretty much everything you say but have visions of you takng a comprehensve destructive testing rig into your local branch.

See, I'm not testing with hammers and knives, and it's not a 15 min burn-in either.
So also have visions of arriving home to then discover at first common (yes, I consider scratching with a nail, and pushing on a stiffness plate as such) usage that they sold you crap and you have to bin it, regardless price, every euro paid being a lost one.
About the part between ( ), know what? I sometimes see people selling clearly new stuff. From belts, jewelry, handbags to screws and tools.
All packed in thin knispering transparant sheet / bag of plastic. I wondered why. It appears useless since the thin cookie subpackage kinda plastic doesn't protect mechanically at all. Over time I learnt why. They do it to prevent materials in the product from detoriating by exposure to sunlight and moisture. Without, the crap wouldn't even survive shelf / time. At least not survive in the sense of sellable.

 

[GeekDadZoid]

Mentioned these on another thread, but thought I would add it to the Aldi on as they are still available online.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/men's-commuter-trousers/p/805568472770200

The commuter trousers or cycling chinos are, if you can get away with the colour, a very nice. They are clearly not waterproof, but they do resist a light shower pretty well and they also dry pretty quick. The are true to size and not skinny fit, so accommodate my chunky legs with no bother, I am only 5'9 but find the length ok.

Well worth a punt if you are looking for something smart casual you can feel comfortable on the bike in.

 

[silva]

with 96% cotton, must be quite thin if they dry quick.
And thin = quick holes worn in it.
At least, that's my experience, with cotton.
If I put a dry cotton t shirt in the garage, it's totally wet after a couple weeks.
Polyester and nylon, are materials that dry quick.
I can ride an hour in rain, if it ceases the last quarter hour, it's back dry upon arrival.

 

[GeekDadZoid]

with 96% cotton, must be quite thin if they dry quick.
And thin = quick holes worn in it.
At least, that's my experience, with cotton.
If I put a dry cotton t shirt in the garage, it's totally wet after a couple weeks.
Polyester and nylon, are materials that dry quick.
I can ride an hour in rain, if it ceases the last quarter hour, it's back dry upon arrival.

They are not particularly thin, but they do dry well, I am comparing them to other chinos I have an they dry quicker. They are not dry in 15 mins though.

 

[Blue Hills]

Mentioned these on another thread, but thought I would add it to the Aldi on as they are still available online.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/men's-commuter-trousers/p/805568472770200

The commuter trousers or cycling chinos are, if you can get away with the colour, a very nice. They are clearly not waterproof, but they do resist a light shower pretty well and they also dry pretty quick. The are true to size and not skinny fit, so accommodate my chunky legs with no bother, I am only 5'9 but find the length ok.

Well worth a punt if you are looking for something smart casual you can feel comfortable on the bike in.

good spot - am very fond of my M&S cycling chinos - but they discontinued them.
But - yes - cripes - that colour!
Hope they bring them back in oh so boring black/grey/dark blue.

 

[GeekDadZoid]

Yes the colour is loud, but not as bad as it looks on the web ( I do not think ).

good spot - am very fond of my M&S cycling chinos - but they discontinued them.
But - yes - cripes - that colour!
Hope they bring them back in oh so boring black/grey/dark blue.