Do you like to take an armful of clothing items, bring them three at a time into the fitting room, put them on, look at yourself in the mirror under harsh fluorescent lights, and make a quick judgement in the store? Most people don’t appreciate this experience, which is one of the reasons why people are shopping online as much as they can. However, the return rate for clothes purchases is the same in stores and online. Why is that? [More]
clothes
Would You Borrow Your Outfits By Mail For $139 Per Month?
By 3.24.16
Would you treat your wardrobe like a Netflix DVD subscription? Rent the Runway, a company known for renting out special-occasion dresses and ugly holiday sweaters, has been testing a service that they call Unlimited for a few years now, finally letting it out of beta. The idea? You rent three pieces of designer clothing at a time, receiving the next one in your queue when you send one back to be dry cleaned, or just because you’re tired of it. [More]
Why Are Used Clothing Marketplaces Hot All Of A Sudden?
By 10.28.15
The recession is over, but maybe Americans have retained the frugal streak that it gave us. A hot new category of Silicon Valley startups are marketplaces for used clothing, especially those that make it easier to list clothing for sale. A recent promotion between marketplace ThredUP and Target sold out almost we were even to tell readers about it. Why are people into old clothes all of a sudden? [More]
ModCloth Is Integrating Its Separate Plus-Size Section
By 10.6.15
Like other women who wear sizes over 12, I briefly panicked when I read headlines earlier today: clothing retailer ModCloth was getting rid of its “Plus Sizes.” What?! One of the world’s few sources for cute outfits for a wide range of sizes was giving its plus-size customers the boot? No, it turns out: they’re getting rid of a separate “plus” section on the website. [More]
H&M Sells Customers’ Old Clothes Back To Them As Recycled Denim
By 8.21.15
A few years ago, H&M was caught destroying unsold clothing to discourage dumpster-divers, enraging people, especially if they were already opponents of fast fashion. A few years later, the Swedish chain did the exact opposite: they offered customers a discount for their old clothes, and promised to recycle those old duds into rags, insulation, or even new clothes. Now, three years later, you can theoretically buy your old clothes back from H&M in denim form. [More]
The Fashion Industry Wants To Make Buying Ill-Fitting Clothes Easier
By 5.29.14
When you order clothes online, do you order two different sizes, figuring that one will fit you and you can take the other back? Joke’s on you, over-ordering person! That consumer behavior is one of the reasons why women’s clothing manufacturers are switching clothes from numbered sizes to small, medium, and large. [More]
Save Money On Clothes: Make Yours Last Longer
By 1.24.14
It’s exceedingly obvious: the easiest way to save money on something is to not buy it in the first place. Everyone has to wear clothing (outside of the house, anyway) but clothing is now so cheap that many of us don’t put much thought into making it last longer. Avoid trips to the store: make your clothes last longer. [More]
How To Clean Sunscreen Stains From Your Summer Duds (Do It Now, Rather Than Next Year)
By 8.30.13
Let’s face it. Summer? It’s almost over. But if you want to wear those beach clothes next year instead of splashing out more cash on shorts, tanks and sundresses, it’s best to remove signs of this season’s beach fun from your clothing now instead of bemoaning the sunscreen stains next year. The fix? A little bit of glycerin and liquid dish soap. Who knew? [via RealSimple.com] [More]
Why Won’t Old Navy Exchange My Jeans That Won’t Fit?
By 12.7.12
If you go shopping on Black Friday at a clothing store, you should take the time to brave the fitting rooms, no matter how long the lines are. Nick learned this the hard way, buying three pairs of jeans for $15 each. He made it out of the store unscathed, but when he got home, found that the jeans didn’t fit. Boo. Oh, well, he can just take them back to the store and swap them for the correct size, right? Not so fast! [More]
Coldwater Creek Goes To Amazing Lengths To Get Discount For Tall Customer
By 4.16.12
Women’s clothing retailer Coldwater Creek didn’t have to do anything for Peri. She found a pair of pants that she liked in a retail store had the clerk order them in “tall” length for her. She couldn’t use the 40% off coupon she had brought for the special order, since it wasn’t considered an in-store purchase. Officially. She bought the pants anyway. Normally that would be the end of it, but then something really great happened. he sent a quick e-mail to the company, and received a response from corprorate…then a phone call from the manager of her local store, offering that 40% off retroactively. And a gift card. [More]
Make Your Old Clothes Feel New
By 2.13.12
If you’ve got a closet full of clothes yet still plan to buy a bunch of new stuff, you could stand to use your wardrobe more efficiently. A few adjustments can inject new life into clothing you already own and stifle your urge to make another shopping trip. [More]
Abercrombie & Fitch Offers To Pay "The Situation" To Stop Wearing Its Clothes
By 8.17.11
Abercrombie & Fitch issued a press release last night saying that they would pay Michael ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino from The Jersey Shore to stop wearing its products. Is it stunt marketing or trying to preempt an anti-all-things-Jersey-Shore-related backlash? [More]
Will Women's Clothing Sizes Ever Be Standardized?
By 4.26.11
The good news: clothing manufacturers have figured out (again) that perhaps they should standardize women’s clothing sizes. The bad news: multiple companies are working on different systems, so this standardization won’t be standardized any time soon. [More]
8 Year Old Snow Boots Crack, Columbia Replaces
By 1.25.11
Most companies don’t even seem to care about you 8 weeks after you buy something from them, so Gabe and his mom were pleasantly surprised when Columbia agreed to replace a pair of cracked snow boots that were 8 years old. [More]
Why Is JC Penney Unable To Send Me The Sizes I Actually Ordered?
By 1.20.11
For those of us who wear very unusual and/or large sizes of clothing, ordering clothes online is a thing of beauty and convenience. Unless you’re Matt, and JC Penney’s online fulfillment people are utterly unable to read the numbers on a pair of pants and put them in the correct box. Through multiple clothing orders, the retailer has been unable to send Matt the sizes that he actually requests–which I always thought was the entire point of ordering clothes online. [More]
Whittle Down Your Wardrobe Without Stress
By 12.13.10
Reader Chad shares his gradual way of cleaning out his closet. What he does his shove everything to the left side and places hangers in the middle. Then he goes through and picks out his outfits like normal. When laundry happens, all the clean clothes go on the right, but he forces himself to only wear clothes from the left. [More]
J. Crew Sells Itself For $3B
By 11.23.10
J. Crew has sold itself to a buyout firm for $3 billion. Hurrah, the country’s long-term strategic reserves of polo shirts are preserved. Perhaps the new owners can get cracking on fixing the store’s notoriously horrendous website, ordering system, and call center. [More]
Halloween Costumes You Can Throw Together At Thrift Stores
By 10.10.10
My favorite Halloween costume is Toilet Paper Mummy, which is probably the least expensive get-up you can cobble together outside the ghost-bed sheet motif. All you do is wrap yourself up in toilet paper and duct tape yourself together. The TP mummy is always good for laughs at parties, and the costume only gets better as the night goes on, making you look more and more authentic as the paper tatters and drags behind you. [More]
