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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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.
Not just do you get a better sense of the measurements but also the feel of the fabric. If I’m gonna buy something to wear, I really wanna be sure it’s nice against my skin before I buy.
Sadly, I live in the arse end of nowhere though, and there’s a lot of stuff I can’t find without looking online.
I think you’re just gonna have to double-down on returns if you want that in-person experience online without jumping through hoops. Just make sure to shop online at places that have a good policy, some clothing websites know this is how it works so their policy is setup to compliment that (free returns, awesome customer service, decent return time policy).
Think of the mail delivery as your personal entourage, they bring you clothing to try on at your leisure (which you’ve pre-selected the style/etc) and you just give them back if you’re not satisfied. You can schedule pick-ups easily without needing to go to the post office every week if the company has a decent enough packaging system (some even send return slips/packages or are printable etc).
To make it easier, I would suggest getting into the measurements of your body. It’s not like your body is going to dramatically change from day to day so it should be something you’ll be able to monitor and get used to real quick (male centric video/female centric video). It’s a little more work, but will last you a lifetime as a skill to better understand your body. It will probably help lower the number of returns as well since you’ll be better informed.
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.
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.
It sounds like you’re trying to argue with someone who agrees with you instead of asking someone who doesn’t.
How? I literally just agreed with him
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.
I do better shopping online. I am tallish and there’s not much available locally, so much more available online.
Generally you can write to customer service for actual measurements, I have to do that sometimes. Reading reviews can help too, especially when people say their measurements and what size they got.
My kids (as I did when I was their age) do love shopping at the thrift store, trying things on.
It’s really weird how the size label on clothes has no real meaning.
