I can’t be the only one that hates online clothes shopping?

[Karmachameleons]

I am so gytted that high street clothes shops are shutting.

I need to try clothes on to know if they fit me or flatter my shape.

I need to see and feel the fabric - this is really crucial!

I need to see colours in real life, not rely on a rubbish computer monitor.

I also like to see what’s displayed tigether for inspiration, and I like to see what other people in the shop are wearing and trying on! (Yes, it’s nosy, but it helps give me ideas!)

I HATE online shopping and 95% of the stuff I have bought online has been a disappointment.

100% of my most favourite clothes were tried on in a shop.

SURELY I can’t be alone in this? I had so much been looking forward to post pandemic clothes shopping but it’s looking increasingly likely there will be no clothes shops left and I will be wasting my money on shitty crap cunningly displayed on a beautiful online model for the forseeable .

Exactly

Hate online shopping but still do it and return 80% of stuff I buy which is such a faff. Its so hard to tell the quality and fit of an item especially if the model is contorting into ridiculous poses in every picture (Zara website is THE WORST for this!)

As a PP said, M&S and others should really up their game now. Or maybe some fresh new shops need to be launched.

I didn't love clothes shopping in person either tbh but it is really sad when you see the state of high streets these days when you remember how booming they used to be.

I don't mind online shopping but only really like it if I already know the brand so know what to expect.

What I don't like currently is the narrowing offer available to shoppers. I struggle to find clothes in the quality & style I want to wear as someone in my 30s. Well I do find them but I don't want to pay £400 for a jumper!

Next will survive. New Look possibly if they start upping their game to take over the high street void left by Arcadia.

Also hate postage return costs but completely understand why smaller independents can't swallow that coat.

Yanbu.
Sizes aren't standard for a start. If I can see the garment I have a better idea if it will fit me. I have a bit of a swimmers body. I bought a t-shirt on line last year and that was it.

Its M&S and supermarket clothes for me from.now on. So many shops I loved have closed on my high street since March. I love George at Asda especially for the kids. M&S is easy for refunds and have good sales.

I actually bought some things from M&S that turned up and was nothing like I was expecting. I dont love any of it, but I honestly cant see shops opening soon so I will keep it all even though it's not gorgeous. Because quite frankly I dont care what I much look like any more 🙂

With four kids I need primark to pad out wardrobes but I have no plans or desire to even buy the kids more than bare essentials any more. They mostly slob around indoors anyway. I bought them lovely bits for a holiday that never went ahead. I'm only going to do that the week before from now on. Early planning was a waste.

I think my shopping habits will change long term now, only buying the kids clothes once it's really needed

Yanbu. Rarely can I buy clothes online, i'm three different sizes top middle and bottom and rather short. I was limited to about two high street shops anyway, now I have none. (Imagine a pepper on cocktail sticks and that's close to my shape!)

In ten years' time, I reckon the high street shopping experience will be over. It'll be, bars, food and entertainment in the cities, and they'll be no-go zones after dark.

YANBU OP. I buy sweatshirts/T-shirt’s online because they are fairly easy to size but jeans or anything to wear on the bottom half? No chance. I desperately need some work trousers but have put it off for so long because shops aren’t open or don’t have changing rooms open.

Oh, @yaboo, that's so sad - I don't think you're wrong either.
Just browsing in a lovely shop can be a real pleasure.
I don't necessarily need to buy anything- but frequently do.
Colours are something else that don't always show up well on screens.
I sent for shoes recently which were described as red, though they looked bright pink on my screens.
Red or pink, I didn't mind - I like jazzy shoes.
When they arrived they were dark burgundy - I already have 2 pairs of burgundy shoes.
On the upside, they are very comfy.

Online shopping is fine if you know the brand and the sizing.
It will be a pain trying to find new stuff eg. Perfume.

I was thinking about this the other day. As well as the huge gaps in the high street now that Debenhams, Top Shop etc won't be reopening, there's going to be little available for those of us who want or need to try things on in a market where the stated size is often a random number.

I also want to try things on and am also sick of the inconsistent and inaccurate sizing information with online shopping - I've bought some boots recently and am always really careful to order a size 41, because that just about always fits.

But a size 41 can be listed as either a 7 or 8 on websites and it's not always accurate as in, it will say a 41 is a 7 on the website, so I will order that size, but when it comes, the boots are tiny and marked as a 40 and I have to return them, often at my cost.

But I suspect a lot of us are older than most clothes shops target markets and they don't want to sell to people who like to wear the same clothes multiple times for months or years on end, but younger people who buy something new every week, wear it once or twice and then get rid of it.

I also read on the BBC website a few days ago that 'young people' don't actually buy clothes in shops any more so will be happy that they can now get Top Shop from BooHoo on their phones.

I also don't like the online shops like Asos (probably also BooHoo too but I've never looked on there) that have literally thousands of options. I usually know roughly what I want and therefore want a proper filter option that can get me down to a sensible number of things in the right category (certainly under 100, preferably under 50) so I'm not even going to look at a shop that tells me there are 2544 different pairs of black boots, because I'm not going to look at them all especially if there's nothing remotely like what I want.

I don't really need any new clothes at the moment, but I've heard good things about Sainsbury's, so I'm going to have a look there next time I want something, or even just feel like a browse.

lesquigh can you imagine the horror of trying to buy work trousers on line! It's bad enough in shops. I'd need about 20 pairs delivered in various sizes.

I also don't like the online shops like Asos (probably also BooHoo too but I've never looked on there) that have literally thousands of options.

This does my head in!

I hate online shopping for everything. I'm not buying any clothes until non essential shops open again.
I had to buy some boots for my daughter yesterday, thankfully I was able to get some at Sainsburys.

I agree, I hate buying stuff online especially when it doesn’t fit and most of the shops have gone “paperless” so no returns form you have to print it, don’t have a printer and local library is now shut 🙄 so have to pay to return it 🙄🙄

The clothes often seem different to how you imagined them.

It is ok, if you are buying something similar to what you owned before i.e. doc martens,but if it is something totally new, it is very difficult.

I also don't like the online shops like Asos (probably also BooHoo too but I've never looked on there) that have literally thousands of options. I usually know roughly what I want and therefore want a proper filter option that can get me down to a sensible number of things in the right category (certainly under 100, preferably under 50) so I'm not even going to look at a shop that tells me there are 2544 different pairs of black boots, because I'm not going to look at them all especially if there's nothing remotely like what I want.

You have hit the nail on the head there.

Re footwear - I am a five and a half or a six, but it depends on the style. Out of 20 pairs of size 6 shoes I might find just one pair that are comfortable.

Totally agree - on the positive side it means I haven't bought any clothes for well over a year .

I hate all on line shopping though, would rather go without than use Amazon.

I hate online clothes shopping. I’m short, busty and need waist definition and tapered sleeves. Many things are cut to be baggy or loose at the waist so items will fit on a variety of body shapes and sizes.
Will they might fit me in the sense I can get into the clothes, they don’t suit at all.

I decided to learn to sew do I could make my own clothes to fit, but have discovered that buying fabric online is just as hit and miss 😫

Oh gosh and so agree about the ridiculous poses. I bought a dress from Fatface that looked on the model like it had some waist shaping, but in arrival it was a huge triangle out from the bust. Very unflattering.
Compared it back to the model and she was contorted into a strange shape to make it look ok (and probably pinned).

I’m not a huge clothes shopper as I don’t have space for lots so only buy when I need to

However I need to do that in person

I’ve given up buying online as everything’s a disappointment

Saving money but being post natal I could really do with decent new well fitting clothes

I spent all of pregnancy not being able to buy decent maternity bras too and have not been measured for nursing bra

I spend most of the days braless

Totally with you OP - I've tried ordering online and sizing even within the same shop can be all over the place. I'm not that fussed about consistent sizing across different shops but if you decide a size 10 is a 36" bust in your shop then that's what they should be.

Plus I'm another one who is picky about fabric. When shopping in store I'd spot something I'd like but as soon as I touched it I could rule it out if I didn't like the fabric. Now it's like opening a box of disappointment.

Absolutely agree OP - I hate clothes shopping at the best of times and am a weird shape and excessively tall so the thought of repeatedly having to order clothes online, try on, return, reorder in different size, try on, return etc etc means I’ll be in sackcloth by summer.

Would much rather spend one hellish day actually trying stuff on in shops, replenish wardrobe for 12 months then forget about it rather than days/weeks of order return order return.

I think this applies to all sorts of stuff - homewards, furniture etc. I bought a poster online for a nephew at Christmas and when it arrived the quality was awful - it came from the US and tbh I couldn’t be bothered schlepping into the post office to return it so a complete waste of money. Again, would much prefer a good solid day of Christmas shopping in actual shops.

I hate shopping and almost exclusively shop online. Return what I don’t want.