beauty

Good news! You'll never buy the wrong size clothing online again.

 

 

 

 

It’s the one downside of online shopping (well, if you don’t count the mounting credit card debt); ripping open a package only to discover the fabulous dress you bought is the wrong size or an unexpected shade of ‘not in a million years’ orange.

Pricey shipping often prevents shoppers from returning items overseas. And they either sit in the back of the wardrobe collecting guilt-ridden dust, sold on eBay for often a fraction of the price or handed on to an unsuspecting friend who may or may not be able to pull off ‘million years orange’.

Luckily, there’s some good news for online shopping fans. One retailer has taken the marvelous step of creating a mobile dressing room to make buying clothing less of a hit-and-miss experience.

Fit For Me, an option within ModCloth’s app, allows customers to type in their measurements and find top-rated clothing items based on reviews by members with similar sizing.

It’s just like shopping with your closest girlfriends, although ModCloth’s online community will probably be more honest when it comes to if your bum looks big in those pants – because they’ve got exactly the same body shape as you.

When I plugged my bust, height, waist and hip measurements into the Fit For Me app, it only came back with seven recommendations specific to my body. So either I have a really weird body, one that the majority of ModCloth’s customers don’t have or my cms to inches conversion was totally off.

 

When I broadened my search out to be purely based my height there were thousands of options to choose from. The best bit is if you see something you like you can click on it and access multiple customer reviews and ratings based on Fit, Length and Quality. If you’re a regular on this site, you’ll probably never make a dud purchase ever again.

ADVERTISEMENT

One of the reasons why this shopping model works for the vintage-inspired retailer (think everything from mason jars to 50s style dresses) is because of the site’s loyal and diverse customer base. The site has styles ranging from from sizes XS to 4XL. Over 80 percent of the site’s products have reviews and 55 percent of those reviews include user measurements.

ModCloth’s senior VP of product, Sarah Rose, told Glamour magazine that one of the exciting features of the app is that it may introduce shoppers to styles and silhouettes that they wouldn’t ordinarily have considered.

“We’ve found that Fit for Me is helpful for shoppers of all shapes and sizes, and by including approximate matches in their search, shoppers can expand the results shown, opening up their fashion possibilities,” Rose said.

“Incorporating the unique approximate measurements feature in Fit for Me was a great way for us to ensure there would be something for everybody.”

Using the Fit for Me app is an novel and informative way to shop and it’s definitely worth a look if you like the style of ModCloth’s clothing and homewares. We’re crossing our fingers that more retailers jump on this customer-friendly bandwagon.

Would you use a crowdsourcing fashion app to help you buy clothing?

For more, like Mamamia on Facebook: