AIBU to think that clothes shopping in person as a plus sized woman is now impossible?

[FatFuckerFrances]

I was in Oxford Street today. Usually I can go into M & S and find clothes in a size 22 to try on. Today, there was one pair of black trousers in a size 24. Everything else was a size 20 or smaller. Mostly smaller. Even ranges like Seasalt, which goes up to size 28, only go up to a 16 or 18 in store. Same for John Lewis. Nothing above size 18.

A few weeks ago, I was in M & S, bought two dresses, a top and pair of jeans, and tried on a load more stuff. Asked a member of staff, who said “you’ll just have to click and collect.” Same in John Lewis, which until a few weeks ago stocked a small amount of one plus sized range, Live Unlimited. They now only do this online.

So now, if I want to buy clothes, I have to go through the faff of click and collect, try them on in the fitting room and then queue up to get a refund on what doesn’t fit. The option of browsing, and trying on clothes like a normal person is no longer available to me. The only shop I can go to is Beige, which is out of my price range. How is this fair? I still need clothes! And there seemed to be plenty of sizes 6 and 8 in stock, so it’s not as if they are only stocking sizes 10-16.

I can never get a size 10 to 12 regular instore. They are always sold out so same scenario here. The popular sizes large or small are never there.

Same in menswear. My husband is a 32’’ waist and 34’’ leg. Not stocked in store ever. Buy online.. Poor.

TBH, clothes shopping in person for anyone is becoming impossible. They never have the style/size/colour/length that you want.

In the 70s and 80s clothes stopped at size 14. Above that you had to go to ‘outsize’ shops. Which was basically Evans Outsize.
Shops will sell what makes them money. Oxford street may be full of slender women shopping in the City. If it is, that’s what the tell sell 🤷🏻‍♀️

I havent read the thread but shops have gone to shit since covid and were on their way before that anyway

Shops are lazy to be honest, nothing to do with being plus size, you cant get hold of anything these days. Have to order everything, send half of it back, wait ages for it to be in stock anyway, poor quality, you have no idea of the texture, drape, cut, shape from the pictures on line

Exhausting to be honest.

Yep, I remember the days when the only place you could shop was Evans. And everything was polyester and an odd shape. Things are so much easier now, even if mostly online. I buy most of my clothes from vinted nowadays.

A lot of shops carry less stock now. It's the same with shoes. If you're a wider fit or a man with a shoe size bigger than 11 it's almost impossible to find one instore, despite so many men being taller these days with bigger feet. I can't remember the last time I saw a maternity range in a shop- - there used to be shops dedicated to mums and tots but not any more.

I think it's also that more and more real shops have gone? Like our town centre has lost even more shops since they pretty much banned cars. Even my mum, a size 10, says she no longer enjoys going out shopping.
It is a shame, I'm sorry my kids will never get to have days out like we did.

They are not obligated to stock sizes that won't sell, though.

Have you got a Yours clothing near you ?
I find they are a really lovely fit , we have one nearby but again they don't always have a massive range instore but the ordering and returns are really easy ( no faff)

Sorry you're wrong, I'm 5ft 10in and it's impossible to find decent length trousers or skirts for my height, most retailers cater for the average height women between 5ft 4 to 5ft 7...Next do a tall range but it's limited

I think you need to go higher end, like Reiss or me and em. Even if you buy on vinted, as they by default do longer.

True, I've found some stuff on ebay too....

You can check on the M&S website if the shops have the sizes in stock. Why didn’t you do that?

Oh, that's poor. All of our locals stock 18+. There's a St Vincents in a nearby town that has a dedicated plus size section.

I'm 5'3" and I can be drowned, the sleeves or the body or crotch are too long. My proportions are just out of the Petite ranges.

Depressing some days.

I tend to shop online now but even that is disappointing. In jeans I’m a 22, but shorts can be 24 or 20 depending on the style. There’s too many barrel shaped trousers now which make me look huge. I have tried to order dresses for summer but they are either too short as a midi, or too long as a maxi, or the neckline is so low I feel exposed. My top half is 16-18 and I have small boobs. I am committed to separates, but I hate the co-ord fashion (makes me look frumpy) and there’s a lot of unnecessary lace, frills and bits of material I want to cut off. Oh, and the material patterns….apparently once you get over a size 16 you like the most flowery, glittery, out there patterns fashion buyers can find. I’m also of an age where breathable fabrics and elasticated waists are desirable, but apparently that’s too much of a stretch as well. I am resigned to spending this summer in a (very large) potato sack.

Edited to say: I have had more success at my local vintage shop recently. Very few things in my size but when they turn up the quality is excellent and the price is very reasonable.

Madness, even trousers/ jeans I have get shortened in petite, add in walking awkwardly, no fun!
Disability I add

The stores only buy in one or two items that don’t sell well. It’s the same for really small sizes too. Online is the way to go or a shop that specifically deals in clothing for a larger people.

All sizes though? It depends what you mean by all. Taking M&S, which was the shop OP was talking about, for example they don’t go lower than a 6, and 6 can be difficult to find in store. If someone started a thread complaining that they couldn’t get a size 4, I bet they’d get shag all sympathy, and I wonder if you’d still be here saying they should stock ‘all’ sizes.

They are going to stock what’s cost effective, and that is fairly reasonable, although frustrating for many customers of all shapes and sizes.

I do partly agree with the poster you replied to. There is a sense of entitlement in the OP in expecting shops to go up and up in size, and commenting that there always seems to be 6s in stock, as if her group is the only one not catered for. As many have pointed out, this is across the board, and there was a real lack of awareness of that in the OP.

There’s a strong argument that it’s smaller people who have more reason to complain. To take M&S, smaller than 6 literally doesn’t exist. Looking at what is available across the board including online, there’s much more deviation from average going upwards than there is downwards.

The decline of the high street and the growth in online shopping shows that you are now not the “normal person” the OP refers to though?

Totally agree. I used to buy fifties style clothes from a retro store which catered for my size - sadly even they closed last year. Now buy nearly everything online.

True but a large minority of the population is still over size 18.

So I was in M & S at Marble Arch yesterday and had a look at a lot of the rails for sizes. There was nothing on any rail that I looked at, that had anything above a size 20. There were a couple of size 6s on some of the rails, size 8s on most, but the vast majority of sizes were between 10 and 16, with three or four items on each rail in sizes 18 and 20. So it is also a real problem for those at the other end of the scale. Thankfully they still do larger size pants in store! It didn’t seem to be an issue with the men’s wear - if you were a large man (like a 40 inch waist or an XXL) then there were definitely clothes in those sizes.

Not sure the decline is based on our preference as opposed to the conditions that forced us into this method.