Am I the only one who struggles with online shopping? Like with measurements for example, I don’t know what there talking about or if the clothes will be the right size. How does everyone else get around this?
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Absolutely, you have the possibility of judging the garment quality by touching it, you can see exactly how large it is and, in most cases, you can try it on to make sure it fits you and that you are okay with how it fits. You can’t do any of that online.
Def not the only one! Especially shoes are impossible
Have you not shopped for clothes in person? Just curious, not trying to judge.
But yeah, as an old millennial, I used to have to go clothes shopping at Kmart, Target, Sears, etc. as a kid with my parents. It was annoying and kind of a pain. We could easily spend all day shopping around for clothes for all my sisters and I. Trying things on for size, checking the styles, looking for the deals, etc.
Online is kind of a mystery. Will the materials be any good? Will it fit right? Is one size L the same as another size L??
Especially shoes. Yeah, they look nice online, but they dont always fit nice once you put them on.
Sizing has got much worse in recent years, ever since the uprise of ‘fast fashion’. Its in companies best (profit) interests to have less sizes that covers other similar sizes. What used to be a XS, S & M may now just be a “S” size, but made with slightly more room in some areas and stretchier fabric to allow for it to fit as a slightly larger size. Why carry 7 sizes when you can carry 3 sizes?
Couple this with clothes & goods being made with lower cost manufacturing techniques and materials so they dont last as long, fit as well or resist as much wear & tear.Profits, profits, profits.
Pants and shoes I try and buy in-store.
I’ve got my go-to brands for shirts and underwear that I know fit well, so I usually just buy a shitload when my old ones are worn out.
Outerwear is 50/50%.
Most online retailers will let you try and return goods. In the EU you can return anything bought online within 2 weeks, no questions asked (by law).
A lot of fast fashion stores might just burn returns, others might sell them at an outlet. And it cuts into they already thin margins. I try to avoid returns.
I prefer clothes shopping in person, unless I know exactly what I’m getting and see a good deal. And exactly for the reasons you mentioned.
How do people get over that? How do they know it’s the right size if they haven’t seen it IRL?
If it doesn’t fit then it’s a lot harder to get a refund and + you now have the disappointment of waiting a few weeks or days just to find out they don’t fit you.
I don’t buy clothes online but my wife does. This is how she works: She orders stuff all the time. Maybe every few days something will arrive and she’ll try it on. It’s like a constant production line so she’s never actively waiting to try things on. They “just arrive” constantly.
And yes she returns a ton of stuff. She probably visited the post office twice a week to return the non fitting items. Or a lot of times they fit but don’t quite look the same on her than she imagined or the quality wasn’t great.
Also some places she has ordered enough times from that fitting isn’t an issue any more. She knows their cuts and sizing very well.
I guess it also helps to be a standard size of traditional proportions. For myself I have to compensate for a more typical programmer physique haha.
That’s the whole point of not ordering online unless I know exactly what I’m getting.
But that’s the problem it’s hard to know what your getting. For me all those measurements mean nothing to me.
If I don’t know what I’m getting, I wouldn’t order it online.
I don’t shop for clothes online. In clothes shops they typically have changing rooms, and there would be nothing more disappointing than finding a dress or other article of clothing that I really like, only to try it on after it gets delivered and find out it’s either too big or too small…
I really rely on those changing rooms. I know this may sound like a pity drag but as someone with shall we say “behind” it’s super hard to find things that fit over my weste.
I would like to dedicate this post to all the amazing jeans and skirts that could have been worn. Your service who have been appreciated.
Sizes feel like they’re mostly made up, especially for stuff in the ladies section. The only success I’ve found with reliable online sizing is with stores that cater towards expensive selvedge denim (and similar clothing) - they usually go with the actual garment’s dimensions so that it’s easy to compare with a similar item from your wardrobe.
Don’t even get me started on shoes lol
Well, in person has the availability of trying things on. Since even with taking good measurements, not every company uses sizes accurately (for example, you have a 20 inch neck, and shirts might say they’re 20, but be up to an inch either direction, or you only have general sizes (sm, med, lg, etc) and not every company treats those exactly the same as all the others. Then you run into online shopping including things from overseas where the standards are completely different.
As an example, my thick-ass neck comes with a thick-ass chest, and in us sizes, I tend to prefer a 3x. A 3x from china or Thailand may be more of a single x, or xxl at best.
So, in person shopping is going to end up with less hassle overall, no matter how well you measure yourself.
I hate in person shopping though. Despise it with a passion, and always have. Giant fucking head, giant feet, giant hands, and until I stopped lifting nothing was ever cut right for my body. Even after I switched away from lifting big, it still isn’t exactly a fun process finding things that fit every part of my body right.
If I shop online, I buy bigger than I need usually, because that’s just my reality. If I don’t, something is going to chafe.
If I shop in store, I at least can find things that fit me better. But the only thing I’ve ever owned that fit me perfectly is my suit. I sprang for it to be tailored, and made sure it was going to last, with room for alterations as my body changes over time.
But, damn. It’s an uncomfortable experience. Doubly so in winter and summer, where either heating in stores gets me sweaty, or the heat from outside has me sweating before I go in, so I have to fuck around until I cool off.
I’ve looked online for advice for this problem and nothing has helped me more than this post. Thanks 👍
I generally buy almost everything online, but clothes are one exception to that. I generally have 1 or 2 brands of clothes I normally purchase, but even within those two brands, size can vary quite a bit, especially after they’ve been washed a few times.
I can buy two different size 36 pants from my favorite brand, and after washing, one fits comfortably, and the other only fits if I leave them unbuttoned. Being able to test them in-person at least gives me a general idea of if they’re still going to fit after they go through the dryer.
“I generally buy almost everything online, but clothes are one exception to that”
I’ve been thinking. Should I open a clothes store? That’s the one thing that isn’t threatened by the internet. It’s not like other things you don’t know how something will fit you through a computer screen.
Clothes shops aren’t threatened by the Internet but boutique shops are outcompeted by chain retailers. So if you really want a safe business, go for a franchise or whatever you call it where you manage the Reknown Brand shop but don’t own the brand.
