Hi everyone, it's Justine. I'm doing this video today because I have been shopping
online and it went wrong and I thought no don't you know better by now so there
are very easy things that you can check before you hit that purchase button and
if you do that if you check just a bit better a bit longer you save so much
more time in returning the pieces making sure you do get very fun etc
so here are five mistakes that you will not make anymore
after watching this video it fits the model so it will fit me I wanted to buy
that red top I checked the sizing I looked it up in the size table it was fine
there it said waist bust hip measurement okay that's my size I'm gonna get size M
then I did something that you guys should do too so far so good I'm doing
it right until now I looked up the height of the model because I'm
officially TALL I'm not regular size I'm 5'11 in inches or 179cm so when
the model is 170cm usually that's the average on websites for for commercial
pictures everything that they wear top will be too short on me so that I know
and I checked in our example of that red top it said Maya is 1 meter 79 and she's
wearing size S great she's even exactly exactly my high so
perfect what she's wearing where it's falling on her will be long enough for
me to done deal purchase click and then I received the top and it looks like
this obviously too short it's barely hiding my belly clearly not
fitting. What happened? I'm not just TALL I also have a long torso and I trusted
the pictures I saw how much lower than her waist the top is landing and I
thought it will do the job for me I should have looked for the length of the
garment usually the description would say the garment has a total length of xy
centimeters that's the information you're looking for it's measured at the
back from the bottom of the neck at shoulder level and then you go down to
the hem in the middle following your spine if your body
is not a standard so if you don't have the exact proportions of the model just
bigger or smaller for instance if you're petite if you're tall if you have a
longer torso if you have shorter arms longer arms you need to check the length
of the garment you cannot rely solely on the pictures that you see even if the
girl there has your exact height and pretty much the same size as you have
the thing is if the patterns are well made for that design you're looking at
then the length varies according to the size for the things that I designed for
my clothes each piece in each size has a different length so often the total
length of the garment will not be indicated in the product description on
the product page of the website you're looking at but if you write to the
customer service they must be able to tell you according to a table if this is
your size this is the total length of the garment if they can't do that that's an
alarm signal for me it's a bad sign it means that they don't have their
patterns under control that's typically the case where it says falls smaller
falls larger it depends I thought I was M but actually this size is like an S that
should ring a bell it should tell you ooh cheap production it's not going to
be good quality I cannot rely on the fit that's
typically a store where I wouldn't buy anything I answer questions from my own
customers every day I do that personally not my team when they have questions
about sizing because I'm the one who knows the patterns number two I am
always a size 36 I know my size in pants it's very easy I'm pretty standard
indeed and I'm almost always a size 36 according to the EU sizing system
European size and I wanted those lovely wool pants so I ordered them and I liked
the idea that they sit a little bit low on the waist
I found that cool it's a little bit baggy a little bit relaxed very
comfortable then I received this in those pants
I look like an eight year old wearing her dad's trousers it looks like Charlie
Chaplin what doesn't fit here is the design itself
see these tucks underneath the waistband? They give me more space but I didn't need
any more space here if you look at it from the side see you could fit both
legs in here. So what happened? understanding your correct size is not
enough as you can see in this example you also need to look at the details at
the view from all different angles you want to see a picture from the front the
side and the back so you can see the details like these tucks in this case
they change the design they change the shape of the pants and
it changes the fit so in fact I should have gone one size down and I still
would have had enough space everywhere you wouldn't have been tight at all
because I'm a pear shape so my largest area is the hip level and there you see
in distance at the hip level you have plenty of space. What's the return policy
again? this is one that probably happened to everyone it happened to me again
recently for instance I ordered this nice umbrella on a French website
thinking I will support my country's industry and order one that's made in
France shipping costs are the same everywhere in Europe so fine let's do this
problem the umbrella arrived broken that's when I started to look for the
return policy mistake I should have done that a lot earlier turned out they ship
everywhere in Europe but they only accept returns for free in France and I
am based in Germany oh well should have looked better fine
the umbrella was 35€. shipping it back is 6.90€ in Europe so it's okay it's
still worth exchanging it right turns out it's longer than 60 centimetres so it's
specific goods blahblah... shipping costs 18€ conclusion for me: I really don't
want to leave that umbrella on the subway or in a restaurant somewhere
conclusion for you: before you purchase anything of course look at the return
policy it will avoid a lot of trouble there are many websites that will
literally ship anywhere in the world but then they'll make it very difficult or
costly for you to return anything I think that's unfair and it sucks the
good thing for you for us customers in pretty much every country
by now is: there is a legal obligation for commercial websites to display
transparently where they ship to where they take returns from which costs if
any that has to be displayed somewhere on the website where consumers can
actually find it so the law is very precise about that if you look usually
at the bottom of the website in the footer area with contact social media
blabla, you have the terms and conditions and you have the shipping and
return policy it has to be stated transparently in there so if you
actually look for it you will find the info you need.
number four somehow it doesn't look and or feel the way I expected it to and I'm
disappointed... you probably had that one before
I had before I studied fashion the garment on the picture on the website
looks great it falls nicely it has never been washed ironed manipulated or
dry-cleaned in any way it's never going to look better than that so how to avoid
disappointment once you receive the stuff you ordered always check the
material the fabric composition and the constructions those two parameters alone
can make a huge difference in the look and feel and in the durability of the
clothing that you're purchasing very often when the cut looks complex but
somehow the price looks ok they saved money on the fabric that's the first
thing where they literally cut all the corners if you see a dress that looks
like silk but costs less than hundred euros it's probably in polyester or in
acetate. Acetate doesn't breathe it smells when you sweat and loses its
color and turns into another color when you expose it to sunlight that's the
kind of thing that you want to know think prom dresses they offer in acetate
they're in a fabric you can't dance in which is a contradiction for a prom
dress if you feel that you don't know enough about the properties of the
fabrics I've done a video series on that natural fibres synthetic fibers what
they're good at what they are not good at how they get combined to improve the
properties of the fabric etc I will link here in the corner and down below in the
description all those videos. And then you have the care instructions for
instance if you see this list of icons what does it mean? it
means that you can't watch the garment not even by hand you can't iron it you
can't bleach it you can't tumble dry it and you can't
dryclean it how on earth are you supposed to take care of a garment like
that? If I see those icons I won't buy it in the first place I wouldn't know how
to clean it after wearing it just once it's waste in my opinion it's not a
garment that I want to own at all so I wouldn't order it if you feel that you
want to know more about what all these icons mean I have an older video about
that which is called ""how to care for your clothes" I will also link it here
and and down below for you guys. With these tips I hope that you feel more
confident a bit better equipped for the next time you're gonna shop online? If
you feel just a bit smarter about this topic, thumbs up! thank you very much!
and before you're off to watch the other videos that are linked in the
description, don't forget to subscribe to this channel if you're interested in
fashion :-) I upload a new video every Wednesday and every Sunday so see you
very soon again!
Bye!