Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Buying Vintage Online : Size Matters

Online shopping has its perks (late night shopping? no problem! Store's open 24 hours!) but the biggest bane has got to be the inability to try on your clothes before buying them. As both an online seller and buyer, I've been thinking a lot more lately about how to make buying clothes online a "risk-free" experience. This is even more challenging for vintage as vintage sizes are very different from modern day sizes.

It would be awesome to have a virtual fitting room where people key in their measurements and "see" how the clothing item fits on their body. Zegna has done this but obviously the scale of my business is nowhere near Zegna's and there's no way I can get a programmer to do this on the cheap.

With no million dollar marketing budget to tap on or super programming skills, its back to the basics for me.

BODY SHAPE RECOMMENDATIONS

Sounds simplistic and almost cliche, but I'll be adding body shape recommendations to help customers determine if a particular item is suitable for their body types.

There are many different body shapes, but I'll be using the four most common basic types as reference:






Source: google.com via Erlina on Pinterest



Here's a loose description of each "shape":

Apple: A top heavy shape, with wider shoulders, a larger bust and slim legs
Pear: Small shoulders and bust comparative to a heavier bottom
Hourglass: Bust and hips are almost equal measurements with a slim waist
Rectangle: Shoulders, bust and hips almost equal in measurements, often referred to as a boyish shape

BETTER DESCRIPTIONS
For all upcoming new pieces to be listed on www.erlinasvintage.com, I will be putting in more descriptive details on how the piece of clothing fits e.g. (i) Loose fitting bodice, suitable for people who prefer to wear loose flowy tops or (ii) Flared skirt, flattering to curvier bottoms.

Most importantly, do take note of the measurements provided! I've tried to make it easier by providing an indicative range like "Fits like a S or UK 8 - 10". However an S may mean differently to different people so its best to fall back on the measurements again :-) Elsie from A Beautiful Mess has written a very comprehensive post on How to Shop for Vintage Clothing so do check it out too.

So which shape are you? Do you have any other suggestions how to make it easier for you to figure our sizes?

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