PART 1: Online vs Offline Shopping
Who we are and What we wear..
The clothes that a person wears reflect his or her personality. Though we do not think beyond 'I like to wear it', there is actually much more to a dress. A dress could be soft or thick, simple or rich, colorful or plain. It could be wrinkle-free or must-iron. It could be for summer or winter, office or party. Then there are finer details like the material, various forms of cuts, lengths and shapes, in fact, it is an endless list. It is a combination of these factors which make you love or hate a dress. When you are wearing the right combination, that is the dress for you!
Try it till you Feel it!
I used to pick out dresses, online or directly from the store,without trying them on even once. For a long time this was perfectly fine. At one point, I realized that I am not that lean pole who can wear anything, anymore. I was blossoming into a young woman. That's when I started figuring out the difference between XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL and all those things I never noticed before. I soon found that I am an M (Medium). Again M was fine for a long time. So I continued to simply buy and never bothered to try.
One day this system crashed! Sometimes S fitted and sometimes L. M was out of the picture! You must be thinking of me growing fat or becoming slim. Yes that is a possible reason, but No! That was not the case. To solve the issue, I searched in the Internet for the exact specifications (Like you already know..the bust, waist, hip in inches/cm) for the size labels. I tried to match it with my own size specifications. As a toast to my new discovery, I started buying dresses online, now looking carefully at the spec each time. That ended up in an even bigger disaster! If one time, I could not get the dress down my chest, sometimes I could not get it off my chest (FYI, I am not suggesting that I have a big chest). This is a common disaster which occurs especially in women's wear.
Some of you wealthy fellas might be thinking of Brands. That won't help you always either. Trust me! I have tried it all. So the question is how do we choose the right dress? That is one of the reasons why buying offline (From the store) is a better choice. There are 3 obvious benefits :
1. You can feel the material
2. You can try on the dress
3. You can check for damages
The key here is 'ALWAYS TRY THE DRESS', even if it looks very pretty, even if it is the color you have been searching for in centuries and even if it is the brand that you trust more than your boyfriend. Love at first sight may have worked for you in your life, but may not in your dress. Feeling how the dress falls on your body lets you know if you and your dress will have a long-term relationship or not.
The 'Online Shopping Challenge'
Now, what about online shopping?? Even with all the benefits of buying directly from the store, we prefer online shopping. Ofcourse! We live in the era of all-in-one-click and we cannot rule out that option completely. So how to pick a dress online? It is very simple - you see, you like, you buy and then keep your fingers crossed ( ;-) ).
From my personal experience, if I order three dresses, I will have to return two and if I am lucky, I get to keep one. Why this happens? The size labels I mentioned earlier is a complete mystery. You have these UK, US, ASIA, AFRICA and so on categories (Not always!) for each XS, S, M, L etc. Sometimes you would have observed that either of bust, hip or waist subcategory is missing under the labels. And, the cherry on top - 'it all depends on the Brand and sometimes there is none'! In short, we do not have a standard size label system for clothes. You may also have observed that some online shopping websites, though they are hosting clothes from multiple Brands, may have given the same size chart for all Brands. As there is no perfect solution to the challenge of picking out a dress online, I can give you 10 pointers :
1. Keep a go-to-list of Brands, Sellers and Sites you have found good from your experience or peers' experience.
2. If you like a dress, read every detail given on its page like material, people's review and comments.
3. Look at the size chart carefully and pick your size.
4. If there is an option to ask questions, ask your doubts and wait for reply before ordering.
5. Always check for Return and Refund option. Also check if returning is painful, that is, whether you have to send it back yourself to the seller or not.
6. If you are a busy person and do not have the time to return, do not take the risk of buying online.
7. For functions like Wedding, if you are well ahead in schedule, you may try online options. Otherwise do not go for this option at all.
8. If you are specifically looking for a particular type of dress, use the filtering option to reduce search time.
9. Some Sites or Brands offer 'try before buy' option. Utilize this option if available.
10. Do not buy very cheap dresses with too much discount offer as it clearly indicates very poor quality.
The key here is 'MINIMIZE SEARCH TIME & RISK'. You have humongous number of options online for everything and especially clothes and accessories. A lot of time has to be spent on reading details and narrowing down options. Simply scrolling in a website can take hours. Anything you like at first sight, add to wish list. Keep modifying your wish list until you are sure of what to buy. Also, if you are shopping casually, take some time to think whether you actually need the dresses you intend to buy or not because Online Shopping is too easy to lose money.
Happy Shopping Everyone! :)
Who we are and What we wear..
The clothes that a person wears reflect his or her personality. Though we do not think beyond 'I like to wear it', there is actually much more to a dress. A dress could be soft or thick, simple or rich, colorful or plain. It could be wrinkle-free or must-iron. It could be for summer or winter, office or party. Then there are finer details like the material, various forms of cuts, lengths and shapes, in fact, it is an endless list. It is a combination of these factors which make you love or hate a dress. When you are wearing the right combination, that is the dress for you!
Try it till you Feel it!
I used to pick out dresses, online or directly from the store,without trying them on even once. For a long time this was perfectly fine. At one point, I realized that I am not that lean pole who can wear anything, anymore. I was blossoming into a young woman. That's when I started figuring out the difference between XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL and all those things I never noticed before. I soon found that I am an M (Medium). Again M was fine for a long time. So I continued to simply buy and never bothered to try.
One day this system crashed! Sometimes S fitted and sometimes L. M was out of the picture! You must be thinking of me growing fat or becoming slim. Yes that is a possible reason, but No! That was not the case. To solve the issue, I searched in the Internet for the exact specifications (Like you already know..the bust, waist, hip in inches/cm) for the size labels. I tried to match it with my own size specifications. As a toast to my new discovery, I started buying dresses online, now looking carefully at the spec each time. That ended up in an even bigger disaster! If one time, I could not get the dress down my chest, sometimes I could not get it off my chest (FYI, I am not suggesting that I have a big chest). This is a common disaster which occurs especially in women's wear.
Some of you wealthy fellas might be thinking of Brands. That won't help you always either. Trust me! I have tried it all. So the question is how do we choose the right dress? That is one of the reasons why buying offline (From the store) is a better choice. There are 3 obvious benefits :
1. You can feel the material
2. You can try on the dress
3. You can check for damages
The key here is 'ALWAYS TRY THE DRESS', even if it looks very pretty, even if it is the color you have been searching for in centuries and even if it is the brand that you trust more than your boyfriend. Love at first sight may have worked for you in your life, but may not in your dress. Feeling how the dress falls on your body lets you know if you and your dress will have a long-term relationship or not.
The 'Online Shopping Challenge'
Now, what about online shopping?? Even with all the benefits of buying directly from the store, we prefer online shopping. Ofcourse! We live in the era of all-in-one-click and we cannot rule out that option completely. So how to pick a dress online? It is very simple - you see, you like, you buy and then keep your fingers crossed ( ;-) ).
From my personal experience, if I order three dresses, I will have to return two and if I am lucky, I get to keep one. Why this happens? The size labels I mentioned earlier is a complete mystery. You have these UK, US, ASIA, AFRICA and so on categories (Not always!) for each XS, S, M, L etc. Sometimes you would have observed that either of bust, hip or waist subcategory is missing under the labels. And, the cherry on top - 'it all depends on the Brand and sometimes there is none'! In short, we do not have a standard size label system for clothes. You may also have observed that some online shopping websites, though they are hosting clothes from multiple Brands, may have given the same size chart for all Brands. As there is no perfect solution to the challenge of picking out a dress online, I can give you 10 pointers :
1. Keep a go-to-list of Brands, Sellers and Sites you have found good from your experience or peers' experience.
2. If you like a dress, read every detail given on its page like material, people's review and comments.
3. Look at the size chart carefully and pick your size.
4. If there is an option to ask questions, ask your doubts and wait for reply before ordering.
5. Always check for Return and Refund option. Also check if returning is painful, that is, whether you have to send it back yourself to the seller or not.
6. If you are a busy person and do not have the time to return, do not take the risk of buying online.
7. For functions like Wedding, if you are well ahead in schedule, you may try online options. Otherwise do not go for this option at all.
8. If you are specifically looking for a particular type of dress, use the filtering option to reduce search time.
9. Some Sites or Brands offer 'try before buy' option. Utilize this option if available.
10. Do not buy very cheap dresses with too much discount offer as it clearly indicates very poor quality.
Happy Shopping Everyone! :)
good start Sita ji...very interesting topic..keep going dear...all the very best...:):)
ReplyDeleteOnce you know all the Size difference of UK, US, ASIA, u will be comfortable with online Shopping. Its a bit irritating for the first tym but slowly u will feel Time and Cost Saver in Online.
ReplyDeleteGood topics.. Keep it up....