Buying clothes online (probably affects women's clothes more than men's)

[woody1]

I want to get my wife a fleece hoodie, so I went on Amazon, eBay, and one thing quickly became apparent. A lot of the pictures are fake. Reading reviews, the actual garments when they arrive differ markedly from the pictures (and rarely in a good way). The shape/colour/pattern/fabric just doesn't look the same.

In some cases, the fakery is blatant. Pixel for pixel identical photos of a model supposedly wearing the garment in different colours but the only difference being the colour. Even creases/shadow lines in the garment are identical in every photo.

It's bad enough that size (12/14/16 etc) can't be relied on without having to contend with fake/manipulated images.

Any recommendations of online clothes retailers where WYSIWYG?

Thanks.

[ladymuck]

How much do you want to spend? I wouldn't buy clothes from Amazon but that does indicate you're after plenty cheapness.

Next are reliable, as is John Lewis. On the cheaper end you could look at New Look.

[woody1]

How much do you want to spend? I wouldn't buy clothes from Amazon but that does indicate you're after plenty cheapness.

Next are reliable, as is John Lewis. On the cheaper end you could look at New Look.

I only looked on Amazon first out of habit. I'll check out Next and JL.

[Dorkeaux]

How much do you want to spend? I wouldn't buy clothes from Amazon but that does indicate you're after plenty cheapness.

Next are reliable, as is John Lewis. On the cheaper end you could look at New Look.

Haha.. Plenty cheapness...
Agreed, Amazon is no place to buy clothes, for the reasons you both state. Also, sweatshops.

Lucky for you, there is a massive stack of catalogues on the coffee table in front of me.
There seems to be a new parcel from one of these shops being handed to me by our postie every couple of days.
Honestly, I don't know where my wife is stuffing it all, but she looks marvelous:

Bella di Notte
Pure Collection
Celtic & Co.
Poetry Cashmere
Wrap London
House of Bruar
Poetry
Patra
Kettlewell Colours
ME + EM

Those are just the catalogues within reach. They all have websites, and AFAIK are happy to take multiple returns as you cast about for the correct size and colour.

[woody1]

Had a look at fleeces on Next last night and I was surprised at the extensive range. For some reason I thought it would be mainly own brand.

They have a lot of the ones I was looking at on Amazon but minus the rubbish. It's like browsing Amazon with a crap filter on.

[cojak]

SportsPursuit and SportShoes are the two most popular websites on the hiking forums I use.

(I must admit that these days I rarely buy clothes that aren’t hiking related in some way.)

[Snooky]

ASOS is one fairly well known company that sells a load of different brands, so you get a very wide choice. My wife buys stuff from them regularly and seems happy enough with them.