5 Tips for Buying Clothes Online

The internet has made buying anything we desire from the comfort of our own homes a reality. While this convenience is fantastic for most things, it presents a few unique difficulties for clothes. Without the benefit of having the clothes in front of them, buyers need to know what to look for when they are browsing online retailers. Here are five tips for making buying clothes online as simple as possible.

Know Your Measurements

The better you know your precise measurements, the easier it is to buy clothes online. When you are browsing online clothing stores, they will give you the precise measurements for all of their stock. In theory, this should mean that you are always able to order clothes that fit. However, things aren’t that simple.

Even if you know your exact measurements, and you check them against those given on the retailer’s website, there are still occasions where something you expect to fit is a little too tight or too loose. You will generally come to understand quite quickly what brands are most reliable and consistent in terms of size.

Some types of clothing are easier to predict the fit of than others, and some brands are more reliable than others. However, knowing your measurements will make it less likely that you end up ordering something that doesn’t fit you. Even though returning items purchased online is usually simple and straightforward, it can still be a pain. Some retailers also limit the amount of returns you’re allowed to make.

Pay Attention to Your Purchases

When you first begin ordering clothes online, especially if you’re someone who previously hasn’t been very fashion conscious, you will have an endless sea of brands to choose from. It can be difficult to know where to start and which brand to try first. Given the price of lots of branded clothing, you want to ensure that the money you spend is worth it. Make sure that you take notes about the quality of each purchase that you make, even if you only do so mentally.

You should also pay attention to the experience you have with any online retailers that you use - you will soon work out which ones you get along with the best. Choosing a reliable retailer makes it much easier to experiment with confidence. As long as you are confident that every item you order will be of a high standard, you can play around with different styles.

For example, this collection of luxury Ralph Lauren kids’ clothes from NICKIS features a range of apparel from Ralph Lauren. NICKIS are a respected and reputable luxury kids’ clothes retailer and Ralph Lauren are one of the top names in fashion. Buying for kids is often difficult, especially if you want to get them quality clothes, but once you have found a brand like NICKIS that you can count on, these difficult purchases become much easier.

Pay Attention to Fabrics

Until we start really digging into our fashion options, lots of us give little thought to the fabrics that our clothes are made of. If you wouldn’t know what fabric to look for in your clothes, don’t worry, you are far from alone. By looking through the catalogs of the biggest names in luxury fashion, you can get a feel for the kind of fabrics that are most associated with quality.

As a general rule, if you don’t know what fabric to look for, then the best solution is to look at the clothes that are available in your desired budget and take note of the materials used. As with all things, the more experience you gain ordering clothes online, the easier you will find it to choose between the available fabrics.

If you are buying clothes for young children, it can be difficult to get meaningful feedback on which materials and fabrics they prefer. If you are unsure, then it is better to err on the side of caution. Higher quality fabrics tend to be better tolerated by young children, especially those with sensitive skin.

Look Beyond Product Photos

If you look online, you can find plenty of expectation vs reality images. It’s remarkably easy to use Photoshop to enhance a digital image in a way that can distort our perceptions of a product. This is another area where you will come to find that some retailers are better than others. But regardless of the retailer, professional photographs will always look different to reality.

It is therefore a good idea to search online for photos of everyday wearers of any clothes you are considering buying. Social media is obviously a good place to start here, just make sure you look out for any social media posts that are actually adverts. These everyday images will represent what the clothes are actually like in a much more useful way than professional catalog photos ever can.

Have Your Feet Measured

While most people know their shoe size, relatively few know their shoe measurements. Fewer still know what type of foot they have and what the ideal type of shoe for them is. All of these are things that a specialist shoe retailer will be able to help with. You should consult with a professional rather than trying to work these things out for yourself.

If you haven’t purchased shoes online before, try sticking to brands whose shoes you have worn. This will make it easier to choose the correct size. As you try more brands, make note of which sizes and brands offer you the best experience.

Many people have different shoes for different functions. For example, those who run will have dedicated running shoes, climbers have climbing shoes, hikers have hiking shoes and we all choose from a range of shoe types for casual wear. All of these different types of shoe need to be approached differently as a buyer. The features that buyers and users look for vary from person to person, so the best way of finding the best for you is to try as many as you can.

Buying clothes online should be painless, but it requires a different approach to offline buying. Make sure that you always check the returns policy of any retailer before you order.