We’ve seen a lot of horror stories coming from the far corners of the internet of ladies who decide to buy clothes only based off the photos of random stores, only to end up with disastrous results.
That’s one thing online shopping lacks, the touch-and-feel of the retail business. Most of us only have the confidence to buy clothes once we see it in person, and try it on. Because can you imagine the embarrassment if your red dress for CNY came in the wrong shade?
So we’ve pooled together our knowledge from our many experiences of clothes purchases to give you 5 tips for buying clothes online!
NOTE YOUR MEASUREMENTS
Fast fashion is the culprit for this one. We are so used to seeing clothes in predictable sizing of S, M, and L that sometimes we don’t even think about how clothes fit, we just grab whatever we think is our size. But the problem is different designers may have different ideas of how an S, or a size 6 is going to look like. A good online retailer will give detailed sizing measurements to make sure the clothes you get is as close to how you imagine it’ll fit as possible.
A good tip that falls into this category is to have a tailor’s tape next to you while you’re doing your online shopping.
We give them bonus points if they include measurements like rise, sleeve or thigh diameters, instead of only the basic vital measurements. There are even some who reference well-known brand sizes to give you a better idea.
KNOW THY BODY TYPE
We get it. It’s annoying when online retailers insist on using models of only one body type modeling their clothes. It is never an actual representation of how the clothes will look on you when they finally arrive.
For this tip, we recommend you going out to do some homework. Go shopping and try on different cuts and styles and figure out what looks good on you. This way you may get pleasantly surprised and get an opportunity to diversify your style. Who knows? You may just look good in cigarette jeans.
CHECK THE REVIEWS
That’s one huge positive about savvy online retailers; they know how to make use of their online community. Some brands have an excellent review system where users fill up a form and give feedback about the clothes they’ve recently purchased. Yes, you may be lazy to read them, but the way these reviews are presented gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect. This helps you find out things like if the clothes run true to size, the thickness of the fabric, and if the clothes look like the photos.
THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
The true internet savvy retailer also knows how to make use of the power of social media. Instagram is a great place to check out hashtagged photos of shoppers who buy the clothes from the store you’re checking out. This way you see the clothes used in real situations and different lighting, so you can gauge if the colour is more or less what you’re looking for. And what we love is that these shoppers are real people of all body types will be well represented on the world wide web, so even without trying you can also have a good idea of how the clothes will fit (i.e., not models).
Once again, we give bonus points to online retailers who run plugins on that feed these hashtagged photos from Instagram directly onto their site so you don’t have to do the extra work.
STUDY RETURN POLICIES
This is a situation we wish you’d never have to go through, but sometimes no matter how much you wish you loved your purchase, you’ll have no choice but to send it back. In order to not be disappointed further, we really recommend looking at each online retailer’s return policies on various clothing items before a purchase. This definitely would prevent you from getting a rude shock when you realize that you can’t send it back or get a refund.
We hope this helps you get your Chinese New Year shopping going. Now, go out and shop with confidence!
Know of any other tips we might have missed? Comment below and spread the love!