Never Order Misfit Clothing Again. Get in Touch with Your True Sizes.
What's more frustrating than being excited for an order only to receive something that's two sizes too small? It stinks. Nobody likes it. I don't like it. I know our customers don't like it. We're constantly trying to improve the way we list to reduce misfits as much as possible. So, of course, we pay attention to our returns. If an item return is quality driven, we research and cut the product from our store immediately, if needed. More often though, our clothing returns are size related.
Shopping online is convenient, but becomes frustrating when item after item needs to go back. There are pitfalls we all have to deal with when buying clothes & shoes online.
Here's what I've learned:
1) There are no size standards anymore. Global supply chains give us access to clothes from all around the world, but have made size standards non-existent. If I shop at Macy's, I can fit a size 10 or 12. When at Forman Mills, I'm a 3X. At H & M, I can't wear their tops because their shoulders are too narrow for me. But, their bottoms are fine.
2) Most Americans have no idea what their measurements are. I certainly didn't. I knew my "number" and general "letter" sizes, like most. In the past, the only Americans who knew their measurements tended to be wealthy and/or well travelled. The rest of us just needed to identify which color hanger tags we needed to look for to find our sizes. But, times have changed.
3) There is a HUGE mistrust in sizing and quality standards right now - and it is deserved. Over the past 10 years, we saw a huge influx of complete junk products flood Amazon and eBay, making it nearly impossible to differentiate between auto-feed pop up shops and legitimate mom and pops.
As a seller, it's my job to try and nail down the fit as accurately as possible. If a dress is size 0/2, we aren't going to shade it behind a letter "S" and hope for the best. I want the right person to find the right item, whether they are typically an XS or a 4X.
As a buyer, just know your measurements. Start paying attention to centimeters & inches and ignoring the letter size assigned to any item. It takes a little practice, but you'll quickly start to know how certain items need to measure to fit you the way you like them to.
A quick search on YouTube produces tons of great videos by qualified professionals. There are videos specific to gender, body type, clothing type - anything you need to get measured for is there. Happy Measuring & Happy Accurate Shopping! Lisa C.
