Comments on: Breaking up with Lane Bryant

By: Mrs C.

Mrs C. — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:52:14 +0000

LayneBryant, FashionBUG and Catherines are all owened by the charming shoppes LLC. I’ve been plus sized all my life and in the late 80′s I remember as a kid the thought of back to school shopping would just make me sobb. Nothing fit because I was fat. Then long about somewhere in the early part of the 90′s my mom discovered thru her sister the fashion bug. That year I actually went to school looking not so fat. The cost of the clothes where shocking back then $30 for a pair of zanadi jeans. My mom would allow me one complete new outfit that I really liked to start school with then she’d take me and my sisters thru the school season as they had their sales.

That store turned me into a fashion plate, I loved shopping there, as the years wore on and the cost of the jeans increased as did my size it was like a catch 22 it did not bother me so much that i’d gained another 10 pounds I knew I’d find jeans there to fit me. Then the day came when I was at the end of the rack so to speak and no jeans looked or felt good. I now shake my head at the cost of LB clothes and fashion bug is actually somewhat cheaper but I’ve heard the quality of their product has gone down as well. True I don’t like the fact that i can’t shop at a normal store and it’s the “fat gal” shoppe, but there is nothing wrong with looking good while attempting to loose weight.

My spouse now has a LB card for my use and I’m still attempting to loose weight, he buys me a few new things as my size seriously declines and he hopes that one day I too will be to small for LB. But he says I look lovely in everything I’ve had him purchase for me.

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:23:18 +0000

I’m a size 12-14 now (down from 24-26) and LB clothes are WAY big for me, but… I still like their jeans a lot. I *HATE* the fruitless search for pants a regular-sized stores (though I do own one pair of Gap size 16 jeans). For tops, I like JCPenney (Miss section, not plus size), Ann Taylor Loft, Macy’s, The Gap sometimes. For dress pants, I like JCPenney or Macy’s. But for jeans… Lane Bryant is still the best for me. And for bras too… I do have a few Victoria Secret bras, but I find them to be skimpy and flimsy in comparison.

It was nice to go into LB recently with my mom and try on a top I thought was cute and have it BILLOW on me — absolutely too too too big.

By: nancy

nancy — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 16:17:48 +0000

I remember my last shopping trip (after a weight loss of about 70 pounds after several years.)

The clerk took one look at me and said “honey, these clothes will be too big for you!”

A surprising, but pleasant moment…

If you haven’t tried it, go to thrift stores and consignment stores as you get smaller. You will be pleasantly surprised!

By: La Girlie

La Girlie — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 18:45:37 +0000

I made the same declaration! lol I just put up a crapload of my Lane Bryant clothes for sale on Ebay. I wrote about this on my blog. That company made so much money off of me..I presume they will make more since they also own Express and The Limited and Lerner. I used to shop there when I was a size 12. Different store..same company..they all get the money lol

By: blest

blest — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 19:25:26 +0000

Ohhh yes… There was a magical day last month when I got out the measuring tape and discovered that I had gotten back into “normal” bra sizes and could truly declare myself truly and completely liberated from Lane Bryant. Happy Happy Day! (and happy chest since I bought the right size bras! Man! Have and nurse four babies and be obese and you end up with a chest like one of those viking looking opera singers with the blond braids and the horned helmet!) My husband gave me some seriously funny looks when I cackled with glee and ceremoniously ripped up the latest LB coupons over the trash can….

By: christie

christie — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 15:39:19 +0000

Amazing! I can’t wait for that day to come. I have the same love-hate thing for LB.

I will be glad when it’s not one of… one choice… that i have for buying nice looking stuff. Bah.

By: Connie

Connie — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 15:51:26 +0000

Oh, rapture. The best break-up story I ever heard! I am envious. I can’t wait for the day when I go to a ‘normal’ sized store, try on something and it FITS. I can’t wait! I’m glad that LB has been there, but I’ll be even happier when I have more options to choose from. Enjoy your hard-earned freedom, girl – happy shopping!

By: hopefulloser

hopefulloser — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 14:09:44 +0000

Oh my goodness! Sometimes we're like two peas in a pod. Here's what I wrote over a year ago. Coincedentally I weighed just a little over what I do now but was on my way down rather than up. http://www.hopefulloser.com/archives/2005/05/size_16_c3po.html

By: psychsarah

psychsarah — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:00:54 +0000

Hip Hip Hooray! I related so strongly to your post, it was amazing. I’m from Canada, and found Lane Bryant a few years ago, when I was a size 20. At that time, they were my saviour, as Canada has even less selection for plus sizes, and they were quite stylish and affordable compared to our equivalent (Addition-Elle). That said, about a year ago, I was in a “normal” store with a friend, and liked a pair of jeans. I was sure they wouldn’t fit, but my friend convinced me to try them on-and she was right! On that day, it was like an epiphany. For one, I actually was smaller than I thought (as many of you have commented, it takes the brain a while to get used to a new size) and two, I didn’t have to shop in the specialty stores anymore! What a day! Strangely, it messed me up for a while, because I honestly didn’t know which stores to even look in to find stuff I liked, because for so long, I had no choice, so I just went into the fat girl store and found what I liked best from the limited selection. Now that I have more choice, I really have to think about it! Odd isn’t it? Anyway, I’m blathering on now, but I just wanted to say congrats, and thanks for writing such honest, entertaining and relatable entries on your blog!

By: K

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:26:10 +0000

What Kristi said about the shopping bags… we don’t have Lane Bryant in the UK, but the equivalent shop, Evans, doesn’t put its name on its carrier bags. Which I think is kind of sad, even if probably a good move for customer relations.

Last winter, I bought some boots there, having discovered that my calves are still too chunky to go in knee-high boots at ordinary shoe shops. And even at Evans there was only one pair that would fit me. That was depressing, and a little baffling… the rest of me is too small for their clothes, so I must just have mutant huge calves!