How do you shop?

[WindFlower92]

Sounds stupid, but I'm currently re-evaluating the way I approach clothes and my wardrobe. After reading an amazing thread on here I've decided to set myself a budget for the year and make a list of outfits I love and what I need to buy to put them together. I want to buy quality, but I'm not made of money at all! So what do you look for when you shop online? What materials do I need to avoid? What shops should I not trust? (Shein etc.) Do you send loads of stuff back or do you somehow know it will look the way you expect? How would you find quality items for the attached pic? Sorry for all the questions, but I really want to get this right!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/3797652-thanks-to-s-b-i-m-finally-winning-in-the-pursuit-of-elegance

Link to the amazing thread if anyone's interested!

Quite a bit of trial and error for me! I’d say I only keep about a third of what I order and I wish I was better because of the environmental impact. This is often the site’s fault for not giving the most basic of details, eg length of top or dress. It helps if you can find a brand you like and know your size in, which I’ve never really managed to do. Ideally this would be a quality brand but paying more doesn’t guarantee longevity. Also check the return policy first so you know if you’ll need to pay to return.

Personally I don’t buy acrylic and polyester. I think it’s getting harder to work out where to shop as we are in such a time of change in retail and good mid market options are increasingly hard to find. This year I have bought some quite expensive cashmere cardigans and really want to carry on ‘buying less but better’. It’s quite a bit of pressure when you are spending a lot of money on something but when it works it really does. Like I would not now rule out spending £300 on some ankle boots if I thought they were going to get loads of wear as I bet if I added up what I spent on cheap stuff, that I don’t love, it would even out.

I try to buy the best I can afford. I apply this to most purchases in my life and things do generally seem to last longer though there is always the exception.
I do 99% of shopping on line (even pre Covid) as I'm just not keen on the shopping experience. I quite like it as I try things on with my existing clothes and only buy things that will work with more than 1 'looks'.
As PP has said I always check the returns policy as have made mistakes in the past and it's been quite costly. Also always check the size guide as it differs so much from shop to shop.

If I stumbled across a new on line shop that I fancied I would check Trust pilot etc for reviews before purchasing.
Would also want to know where the clothes were made.
I also don't spending more on things that will get a lot of use like shoes/boots as view them as investments. Esp boots, and most of mine I've had for years.

Thanks both, looks like I'll need to get better at returning things - I keep them thinking that I should wear them and then never do. Or I force myself to wear the horrible clothes and just feel bad in them! I guess I have to get myself out of the mindset of - I need a blue top so this one will have to do - it's okay to wait a bit and do without until one I love comes along!

It's not environmentally great but if I want a pair of hiking boots for example I will buy all the pairs I like & try on & compare. I do it online but I did the same thing as a 16 yo trawling the high street. I have a credit card just for it so I'm not impacting my cash whilst waiting for refunds.

My shopping rules are
a) only buy something if it suits me now.
b) it has to go with something already in my wardrobe as opposed to having nothing to wear it with.

I agree on the no more acrylic, but polyester is harder, as so many items are made from this, even mid range price shops, plus half of my wardrobe seems to in polyester, I am trying to buy less but better, and covid has helped this year with not being able to go shopping as much, I have ordered on line but most have been return because of not fitting me. I am hopeful the mint velvet leather jacket ,ordered in the sale today with fit.

This won't be very helpful at the moment but I've found the only way to get the quality I want at a price I can afford is to buy second hand as much as I can, and also to buy from real shops. I can't assess quality from a screen and when an online order arrives, it's too tempting to think, 'that'll do'.

Usually I shop mainly at a really good local dress agency, a second hand market and some haphazard charity shops. Whether any of them will be left standing next year remains to be seen - if no, I'll habe to rethink. But at the moment just about the only places where I routinely shop online are the Toast sales, where I know my size and I've found the quality fairly reliable, and also Uniqlo - not particularly reliable but it can be very good for the price. I also like Cos but don't trust their website.

Unlike some posters, I don't mind a small amount of synthetic.