Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Grumble, whinge, bitch, piss and moan


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.

5 comments:

  1. I hear you...I've had similar on-going problems at Target. I'm not a huge fan of stretch jeans but "rigid" are few and far between, so I head over to the men's section.

    They're usually cheaper and the sizings appear to be a little more consistent.

    Give the men's section a go next time and see how you fare. I picked up every day jeans for hubby and me for $15 a pair recently.

    Good luck on your next shopping expedition...
    Lesley

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  2. lol
    I'm actually the oposite to you Lesley, I hate rigid jeans, I find them so confining, stretch jeans are far more comfortable to me. Do they make any mens with some stretch?

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  3. lol Belinda....you see I need them rigid to hold me in!
    Too many wobbly bits I'm afraid, but I'm working on them, gradually, with the help of my doctor and some drugs...eek, who thought I'd ever be in this position...but that's another story

    Anyway, they do have some with stretch, but I'm not sure how "stretchy" they are, you'd have to hunt them out and try them on to see if they suit. I just like the men's ones because they seem to fit me better because they have slightly wider legs. In fact I bought a pair of men's jeans at the local op shop the other day ($1) and they fit like a dream. All I have to do is cut a bit off the legs and hem them

    Keep up the great work on the weight loss front, it's terrific reading about your progress...gives me some hope and motivation!

    Cheers
    Lesley

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  4. PS. I've had a win this week...a loss of .8kgs...

    Gotta be happy with that
    Lesley

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  5. 800gms is excellent, I'm always happy with anything over 500gms so I consider 800gms to be a very good week. Well done :)

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