Toast, read closely: beautiful cloth, a free mending service and prices that ask for patience

Briefly

Yes, if you buy fewer, better things and mean it. Toast makes calm, well-made clothes in natural cloth, labels them with unusual frankness, and will mend any of its garments for free, however old.³ Returns in the UK are free on every order.¹ The catch is cost: these are expensive clothes, the sales come only at the end of each season, and Trustpilot reviewers object to the price more than to anything else.⁴ Buy the coat or the knit, and keep it for a decade.

The case for

Toast began in Wales in 1997 with nightwear and loungewear,⁵ and its clothes still have something of the bedroom about them: loose, soft, unhurried. The difference from the many brands that now imitate it is the cloth. The Frankie raglan coat is cut from waxed organic cotton made by Halley Stevensons in Dundee and lined in cotton twill; the men’s Rory carpenter jeans use denim woven on shuttle looms in Okayama.² A shop that tells you which mill made the fabric is a shop that expects you to care. It is also, usually, a shop worth caring about.

Most brands that talk about longevity mean they would like you to buy another.

The second argument is what happens after you have bought. Toast Repair is a free mending service, run through its shops, for any Toast garment regardless of when or where it was bought; the brand says it has mended more than nine thousand pieces, often with visible darning or sashiko stitching.³ It will also take back any unwanted clothing or textiles, Toast or not, in any condition, to resell, recycle or donate.³ Most brands that talk about longevity mean they would like you to buy another. Toast appears to mean that it would like you to keep the first one.

The product pages are the third point, and they reward attention. Each lists the full composition, the country of manufacture, the care and the fit, and they do not hide the inconvenient: the waxed coat will fade unevenly, and the page says so before you complain; the indigo jeans will rub colour onto a pale sofa.² The Conservatoire coat is called oversized and the studio model wears the smallest size. That is information a shopper can use, and it is given without fuss or flattery, which rather suits the clothes.

The objections

These are expensive clothes, and the price is not softened by the usual high-street machinery. Toast holds its sale at the end of each season rather than running a code in the window,¹ free delivery applies only to full-price orders above a fairly high threshold, and the first-order discount for newsletter subscribers excludes sale items.¹ On Trustpilot, price is the most consistent complaint, from reviewers who otherwise admire the clothes.⁴ The defence is cost per wear, and it is a real defence. It is still a large outlay to make on a fabric you have never touched.

The second difficulty is that Toast’s one-star reviews, though fewer in absolute number than a bigger retailer’s, make up an uncomfortably large share of the total, about a third.⁴ They are less about the clothes than the edges of the service: a faulty item met with an offer of a partial discount, a scratchy sweater refused because its tag had come off, drop-off points that would not take a return. Toast replies to almost every negative review, and quickly. But a brand selling slowness at this price should not also be selling friction.

The range, considered

Frankie Waxed Cotton Raglan Coat Our choice A mid-calf, gently A-line coat in waxed organic cotton from Halley Stevensons, with a deep back vent, large patch pockets and a cotton twill lining, made in Romania.² It is the kind of coat that improves with weather. The page warns that waxed cotton fades unevenly and treats this as character rather than defect, which is correct but worth knowing before you choose a dark colour. The care instruction is specialist dry clean only, and re-waxing will eventually be needed. Buy it once, and plan to wear it for years.

Wool Cashmere Crew Neck Sweater Our choice A regular-fit crew neck with a shaped yoke, knitted from seventy per cent wool and thirty per cent recycled cashmere, hand wash, made in China.² The blend is a sensible one: more hard-wearing than pure cashmere, softer than plain lambswool, and the recycled fibre is a real point in its favour. The sleeves are cut long, which suits some arms and not others. One Trustpilot reviewer found a different Toast sweater too scratchy to wear and was refused a return after removing the tag, so keep the swing ticket on until you are sure.

Soft Double Faced Cotton Pyjamas Our choice Where Toast started, and still where it is most persuasive. Brushed chambray on the outside, striped cotton within, revealed when the cuffs are turned up; a collar, corozo buttons, a drawstring waist with herringbone ties; organic cotton, made in India, and a gentle machine wash at thirty degrees.² They are lovely and they will last. They are also pyjamas at the price of a good shirt, and the double-faced cloth runs warm, which suits winter sleepers better than summer ones.

Wool Conservatoire Coat Also considered A rounded, oversized coat to the upper calf in boiled wool with a little recycled nylon, horn buttons, cotton body lining and in-seam pockets, made in Lithuania.² It is a striking shape and boiled wool is a practical cloth, dense and wind-resistant. But the cut is very big; the studio model wears the smallest size, and most readers should consider sizing down. It cannot be washed at all, and a coat this voluminous is not for everyone’s proportions. Try it in a shop if you can.

Annie jeans and the women’s denim Also considered The Annie is Toast’s signature women’s jean, a flat-fronted, side-buttoned shape in organic cotton denim with a little elastane, made in Turkey, and now offered in a full-length version for taller wearers.² It is a good, distinctive cut that does not chase fashion. The page warns of colour rub when new, and the price is high for denim that is well made rather than exceptional. Men are better served: the Rory carpenter jeans in Okayama shuttle-loom denim are the more interesting cloth.

Alda Cotton Easy Tee Not for us An oversized, dolman-sleeved tee in lightweight organic cotton jersey with a bound almond neck, made in Portugal and machine washable.² There is nothing wrong with it; the organic cotton is a plus and the shape is flattering on the studio model. But the jersey is described as lightweight, the cut is loose, and a plain T-shirt is where Toast’s premium buys the least. Spend the money on the knitwear or a coat, where the cloth is the point, and buy plain tees elsewhere.

Buying from them

Toast sells from its own shops in Britain and abroad and online, with orders sent from a warehouse in Swansea. Standard delivery is by Royal Mail and usually takes three or four working days; it is free on full-price orders above a threshold, and sale orders do not count towards it.¹ Express and next-working-day options cost more, the latter by DHL and needing a signature. Returns are free on all UK orders, through InPost lockers, Post Office counters or Royal Mail collection, with no label in the box any more: you start the return online and receive a QR code.¹ Full-price items have twenty-eight days from receipt and sale items fourteen. There are no exchanges; to change a size you buy the new one and return the old. Refunds can take up to ten working days after arrival in busy periods.¹ Service runs by chat until nine on weekday evenings, by phone and by email, with a promised email reply within three working days.

Where we land

Toast is the most thoughtful clothes shop in this part of the market, and among the most expensive. The fabrics are chosen with care and described with candour, the returns are free, and the free repair service is something no rival we have read comes close to. Against that stand the prices, the slow end-of-season sales and a service desk that is courteous but sometimes rigid. Buy from Toast if you will wear the thing for years: a coat, a good knit, the pyjamas. Do not buy basics here.

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Footnotes

1. Toast delivery, returns and help-with-ordering pages, read October 2026: standard delivery £3, free on full-price orders over £150; express £6; next working day £8 by DHL; free UK returns; 28 days for full price and 14 for sale; refunds up to 10 working days in busy periods; sales held at season’s end; 10 per cent first-order discount on full-price items only.↩
2. Toast product pages read October 2026: Frankie Waxed Cotton Raglan Coat, Wool Cashmere Crew Neck Sweater, Soft Double Faced Cotton Pyjamas, Wool Conservatoire Coat, Annie Denim Full Length Jeans, Rory Carpenter Japanese Denim Jeans and Alda Cotton Easy Tee, with compositions, makers and countries of manufacture as quoted.↩
3. Toast Repair, Reworn and Renewed pages, read October 2026: free repair of any Toast garment regardless of age or place of purchase; more than 9,000 pieces mended; takeback of all unwanted clothing and textiles; exclusions for footwear, accessories, jewellery, bags, swimwear and underwear.↩
4. Trustpilot, Toast page, read October 2026: TrustScore 4.0 from about 680 reviews, roughly a third one-star; replies to almost all negative reviews; price the most frequent complaint.↩
5. Toast About Us and contact pages, read October 2026: founded in Wales in 1997 with nightwear and loungewear; chat 9am to 9pm weekdays; email replies within three working days.↩

Filed under the Wardrobe desk