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A Guide To Shopping For Plus-Size Clothing

underoutfit.com

Society programmed us to believe that not all bodies are beautiful and that if your body weight is not meeting realistic standards, something must be wrong with you. Well, we are here to dismantle that belief! 

All bodies are natural and beautiful, no matter their shape, size, structure, or anything else. And that is how we should honor them. But the beauty industry has, for a long time, dictated trends that put slim sizes far ahead of plus measures, which is why most brands focus on manufacturing small and medium sizes. 

What they forget is that focusing only on one body type means that you are probably losing valuable customers and damaging the brand’s reputation. No one wants a brand that excludes anyone. 

But even so, theory and reality are different, and there are still significant issues surrounding plus-size clothing – like accessibility. It would not be an issue if it weren’t creating substantial problems for some people and making their shopping experience a nightmare.  

Issues of Plus-size Store Shopping

Shopping in stores should be a fun and exciting experience. Breezing through the stores, enjoy putting different outfits together, and treating yourself. After all, you deserve to look and feel wonderful. 

But it starts to become disappointing when you realize that, once more, you are asking the salesperson if they have a slightly larger size, and they are looking at you like you have committed the greatest fashion crime in history. Then they apologize for not having larger sizes and advise you to look for what you need in the pregnancy aisle. Or they even suggest changing stores. 

These kinds of experiences can be very upsetting, disappointing, and tiresome. No one wants to dig their clothes from the bottom of storage houses just because it is a few sizes larger than what they teach us we should look like. 

Shopping for plus-size clothes in stores has several important issues. Scaling is probably one of the most significant issues women all over the world come across. Sizes and body shapes vary from culture to culture. Still, it is common for fashion brands to assume that everyone has a slim figure, so they either do not produce larger sizes or make untasteful plus-size collections no one likes. 

Materials are also a big issue. Many companies produce low-quality, stretchy, plus-size clothes that are uncomfortable and bad for the skin. Bad design is also a significant problem. Most companies do not invest enough in designers specializing in designing plus-size clothing. 

And finally, stigmatization is the most significant of all issues. It helps create a negative connotation, making people think there is something wrong with being plus-size. That creates insecurities and a lack of confidence. Sometimes it even results in mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. 

Issues of Plus-size Online Shopping

Online shopping is no better. Many online brands have embraced the idea of plus-size women being included in the norm, but some significant issues still occur. These issues are similar to those occurring in stores: materials are of low quality, so the clothes get ripped fast, larger sizes are either non-existent or often out of stock, and it is tough to determine and find the size that will fit you. 

This is the case not only with outfits but with underwear, too. It becomes almost impossible to find the proper undergarments, especially when you can not physically try them on before you buy. For example, shapewear can be especially difficult to buy online, and it becomes almost impossible when you include a plus-size in the formula.

But one of the hardest things with online shopping is that it is tough to return the clothes. That means that, in many cases, what you get is what you have to stick by because only a few stores offer a return of goods. 

Many women who shop for plus-size clothes online are devastated when they find out that not only have they spent money on the low-quality product, but it is also almost impossible to ship it back. In other words, they must buy a new product and just throw the old one away. You can always donate, of course, but it could repel many buyers from online shopping. 

How to Shop For Plus-Size Clothing?

Since shopping for plus-size clothes can be difficult, we’re offering a few ideas that will make your shopping experience more pleasant and rewarding.

Our advice is mainly reserved for online shopping since there is a much larger market for plus-size clothing than in real life. But also, it should not be reserved only for online shopping. All of the ideas are also applicable in real-world shopping, so do not hesitate to use them if you wish to improve the shopping experience. 

Get to Know Your Shape and Size

Knowing your exact shape and size is crucial, especially in online shopping. Many brands offer sizes and accurate measurements for sizes, so it is much easier to navigate through the clothing sections. That way, you will not have to assume or guess what a brand means by XXXL. Having precise scales and measurements for all sizes makes a shopping experience much more manageable and pleasant – so always look for the brand’s sizing chart.

To determine your clothes size, you should measure your breasts, waist and hips, and body length. Place the measuring tape over the most comprehensive portion of your breasts, the smallest part of your natural waist, just below your ribs and above the highest pelvis bones, and on the broadest part of your hips while keeping your legs together. The measurement you get will maybe not be 100% accurate but will be the closest ones to your actual size. 

Make sure you are not squeezing the measuring tape too tightly or loosely. Also, measure your height, height of your legs, and length of your arms. If you wish to be more precise, measure your thighs by placing the measuring tape around one of your thighs while standing. Place the tape around the middle part of your thigh, and remember not to tighten it too much. 

This way, you will get your exact measurements, which will help you determine the size of the clothes you are looking for. 

Get to Know the Return Policy of the Brand 

Always make sure you know how to return the clothes. Online brands have embraced the return policy lately, so always ensure you read it and understand it when you figure the clothes do not fit you. Never hesitate to return anything if you do not need it or it does not work for you the way you wanted. 

Keep in mind that stores (online and in real life) have a return policy that requires you to return an item within a certain period. That can be 10, 15, 30, 50, 100, or 150 days. Some brands offer even more time for returning, and most also provide a full refund. But remember to read everything you can, so there are no misunderstandings.

Pick a Brand 

This means that you should not only pick a brand that you like but also pick a brand that can offer you everything you are looking for. Read about the materials they use, their size range, the shipping, and the return policy. Try to speak to other customers or slide through online reviews. That is one of the most reliable ways to determine whether the brand offers quality goods. Underoutfit offers an exchange and return policy that allows women to have confidence that if they don’t find the right size the first time, they’re not wasting money. 

Once you establish the brand trust, proceed with your shopping. 

Find a Good Tailor

Even if you find the perfect brand that gets you what you want and need, some pieces of clothes may still not fit you the way you want them to. That is why you should make a tailor your best friend. If not a best friend, then at least a good one, because that way you will get the opportunity to keep the pieces of clothing that you like, but that do not fit you right. 

This way, your clothes become customizable and will fit you even better because they will be adapted according to your body. It will help you feel more comfortable, confident, and happy. It will allow you to even stray from the woman’s section and get a wider variety of quality clothes. 

With these things in mind, your shopping experience, whether online or in stores, will become a more pleasant experience and will get you much better clothes that fit your body complexion. You will also have more things to experiment with, allowing you to try out new things and look at yourself without resentment for spending a lot of money on the clothes you do not wear. 

And finally, do not forget that all bodies are beautiful, and you should not shrink or starve yourself to fit into society’s false ideals. You are beautiful just the way you are, and no brand or size label can tell you any different!

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Shapewear and more

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