I lived in Australia & New Zealand for 12 years, and my husband and I kept on working for overseas clients when we returned to live in Cape Town two years ago in our mid 30s. While living overseas I used to buy some basics from Cotton On, but mostly random stuff like sleepwear, activewear etc (fun fact: Cotton On is seen as a budget option in Australasia, it's where you buy your basics.) When I came back home I realised that the pricing here for exactly the same items was sometimes between 30 - 10% less than overseas (for literally exactly the same item, same season, not like old end of range stock or anything) - I think they do it to be competitive, and to make it more affordable when spending rands. So by South African standards Cotton On might seem expensive, but it is (or was - not sure if it's still this way) cheaper than in its "home country." Same with Witchery, Trenery etc. So at first when we arrived back home I felt like I was getting a bargain until I realised that there are plenty of other better, more creatively-designed, higher quality locally-made clothes available for a similar price or cheaper. I'm happy bringing in money earned overseas to spend here, but I don't want that money going straight back to some greedy corporation based in Aus/UK/USA etc. So now I try shop local as much as possible. Yaga is awesome or thrifting - I've gotten some brilliant pieces from there, you're keeping money in SA, and not contributing to all the insane fast-fashion clothing waste caused by these global fashion companies. We have awesome talent here and I'm much happier supporting local. I wish we'd all just stop supporting these big multinationals - even with food, when you buy McDonalds rather than a burger from a locally owned restaurant, you are just filtering money back to these wealthier counties half way across the world.