I know we hear alot about how the fashion industry has women's clothing sizes all stuffed up and what might be considered a size 8 in one shop is a size 14 in another, but how fucked up is it when the one shop has clothing labelled the same size when it's actually not?
I do the majority of my clothes shopping at Target. I know the Big Red Spot isn't really at the forefront of fashion but clothing is just not something I can bring myself to spend outrageous amounts of money on, particularly when I was fat and didn't care much how I looked, particularly now when I might not get alot of wear out of it before I need to buy new smaller clothes, and particularly when I live in the middle of the Australian outback and don't really have alot of choice when it comes to Women's retail outlets.
Something I do like about Target is that their jeans and trousers come in different leg lengths. For a short arse like me who lives in the rectum of Western Australia and has no access to a tailor this small convenience is a godsend. I am yet to find another major retailer who makes pants in multiple leg lengths, usually only the one length is offered, that is the 5"11 Amazonian legs up to the armpits length.
However, a major, major thing I do not like about Target is their quality control, or rather, lack thereof. Two weeks ago I went on my mega size 12 clothes shopping expedition that I posted about here. Now because I have to drive a 5 hour round trip to do anything other than a very basic grocery shop, a major shopping trip usually turns out to be a very busy jam packed day with me trying to fit in as many shops as possible and spend as much money as is humanely possible in 8 hours, my debit card gets swiped so often I'm surprised the friction doesn't cause it to catch fire. But, Targets lack of quality control totally shoots my super shopper mode to shit.
I should either be able to say "I am a size x", walk in to the shop, pick up a pair of size x jeans, pay and walk out, or I should be able to try on one pair of size x jeans and then know every other pair of size x jeans in the store will fit me, right? Not in Target, no way. While I was there I wasted no less than 1 hour of precious shopping time trying on 8 pairs of Jeans because in Target land no two pairs of jeans are created equal. Pick up a pair of jeans marked short leg length and buy without trying at your peril because they might just turn out to be regular or long length. That pair of jeans marked size 12, well they are actually more like a 10 and you can't quite do the zipper up.
After three trips to the changing rooms (lets not go into the skirts and tops I tried on as well) I came away with four pairs of jeans. Four pairs of jeans out of eight all marked size 12, short leg length. Two pairs of which are a perfect fit in waist, butt, thigh and leg length - when wearing with low heel slip on shoes. One pair which are a good fit everywhere although too long to wear with low heel shoes, perfect however for high heel boots. And finally a third pair which are too long and far too tight but which will be great with the boots when I lose another 3-5kgs.
It really should not be so hard. It does my head in. Seriously.
Somebody needs to be sacked.
