Comments on: Old Navy wants fat people to shop online

By: Barbara

Barbara — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:27:02 +0000

Well the way I see it being a big girl, I want to try on my clothes in the store before my purchase rather than looking at pictures and presuming they fit! Most skinny people know their size and can just run through the store picking up size 5 and running out the store with it and it fits, were I have no clue if one pair of jeans fit me in size 22 or 24 due to the misconseption of fat peoples lumps being here or there. Therefore I spend more time sending clothes back then actually purchasing and wearing those clothes. I mean I already have to pay the extra dollars for one more minute of stitching and 2 inches of fabric, less trendy clothes because in the clothing industry fat people clothing equals old people fashions or huge prints, or awkwardly unporportionate clothing were the waist is tight and the thighs were made by the tent maker. Now I can’t even go to a store and buy my big clothes, I feel like me being fat, I am being discriminated against, although everyone wants us to cover our huge asses!

By: Capricorn

Capricorn — Fri, 11 May 2007 00:32:35 +0000

Mark, you are dead wrong. I used to be a size 2, and I could always buy anything I wasted from clearance because sizes 0-4 just don’t sell. Whereas from working in retail, the larges and the top range of sizes flew off the shelves. If you hesitated, forget it. Every time we turned over, all we had were the small sizes. They don’t sell, but they’re not being discontinued, now are they?

And it’s impossible to buy clothes online, the sizes vary crazily and customers don’t understand that most jeans are low rise now, so you have to buy a smaller size than usual or they’ll slide right off. Could be a size smaller, could be 3, no way to tell without trying them on.

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 07 May 2007 22:25:41 +0000

I wonder why chothes manufacturers don’t follow the standard sizes for clothes. Even if they have different designs and styles in making clothes, it’s still possible to follow the right size.

By: spacedcowgirl

spacedcowgirl — Mon, 07 May 2007 12:13:41 +0000

Mark and Denny, it’d be different if anyone knew the plus sizes were in the stores. I agree that the end result was probably mostly a hardheaded business decision (the line wasn’t selling well, axe it) but I think that there are more complex factors that resulted in them having to make that hardheaded decision, and many of those factors were their own fault. The in-store line was not marketed at all, the clothes are poorly designed and were generally a half-assed afterthought. Not to mention, if it’s true they don’t like the “cachet” of having lots of us fatties in their stores and think it will decrease their popularity among image-obsessed teenyboppers (as someone else mentioned, I don’t see them cutting out the 0′s and 2′s even though there are tons of those on clearance whenever I go in), that’s part of the business equation too. So they can have made business missteps and can have other bottom-line related motivations that in my opinion are sort of offensive (i.e. they want my money but don’t want the cool kids to see me in the store) without it being a conspiracy theory.

Re: measuring, that’s not foolproof in my experience. I once measured myself at a Lands’ End 24W. I thought, that doesn’t sound right, I wear a 20 or so from Lane Bryant, so I ordered a 22 and I was swimming in it–I probably could have gone with an 18. Now I just pick the size that I think will fit and I’m usually right. But Old Navy items are so inconsistent that I don’t think it would be worth the hassle of mail-order trial and error. I don’t so much mind that the clothes are cheap and crappy (I like the cheap part) but it does make it pretty tough to mail order.

Anyway, I wear a 16 or 18 in ON regular sizes now, but most other discount and mid-range department stores (Target, Penney’s, Kohl’s) carry those sizes too, so there’s really no reason for me to shop at a store where I’m unhappy with their business practices.

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Mon, 07 May 2007 04:16:10 +0000

I agree. Buying clothes without trying it is not very smart. Some clothes don’t share the same standards in sizes. Sometimes it’s useless to watch for sizes only. Trying it should close the deal.

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 06 May 2007 16:31:40 +0000

I got the same response from Adam that a PP got. I shop at Old Navy very rarely, and I am thinking that might end, actually. When you consider all the marks against them, taking their plus line out of stores might just be the straw that broke this camel’s back. Grrr…

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 06 May 2007 11:16:16 +0000

“Old Navy clothing is poorly made.” You guys realize what Old Navy is, don’t you? It’s how The Gap responded to competitors selling cheap knockoffs of Gap clothes. Of course the clothes are cheaply made. You need to shop at The Gap if you want better quality.

Re mail order. I’ve never ordered from Old Navy, but I’ve ordered clothing from Land’s End, and I can’t believe the experience would be that much different. The catalog has a detailed size chart in inches and centimeters giving the measurements of their clothes at a dozen or more points. Buy a tape measure. Get a friend to measure you. If the measurements fit your body, order them. They will just fit. If the measurements don’t fit the particular lumps and bumps and proportions of your body, look elsewhere. If for some reason you order clothes after all this and they still don’t fit, send them back. (Land’s End even pays the return shipping costs–from my home in Japan, and calls me long distance to ask what the problem was.) A little trick: find something in your closet that fits you and lay it on a table and measure it at the various points. Then order something that is close to that.

All the conspiracy theories about stores not wanting to sell plus size clothes don’t ring true. As Pastaqueen said, they are businesses. They will sell whatever makes them money. If they don’t, their competitors will, and they will decline in the market. I think Pastaqueen is being too hard on Old Navy though, saying they didn’t try hard enough. They developed a whole line and sold it via 175 outlets. Retail is brutal, and devoting that much manufacturing capacity, inventory, and shelf space to a project is a major effort.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 05 May 2007 15:23:01 +0000

I was so excited when I was in the US the last time because I could finally fit into Old Navy Clothes. Boy was I unpleasantly surprised when I went in to discover the only big girl clothes were a)hideous b)ill fitting and c) mixed right in with the maternity…yes because being overweight and pregnant are EXACTLY the same thing.

I left the store totally offended and without purchasing a thing (not that there was anything cute in plus size). I will never go back.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Sat, 05 May 2007 10:01:53 +0000

LL Bean had this same “falling out of grace” issue several years ago. First, they had just a simple line of plus size in the store…then they cut it out completely…then they limited their size range, even on-line. I was working so hard to be able to wear their clothing (I was busy losing weight through all these changes). I am finally in “regular” sizes, and I do have a few LL Bean items in my wardrobe (quality does matter!), but it doesn’t have the same appeal as it would have, had I not felt so marginalized before. I wish I could “blacklist” them completely, but there are a few things I really want/need. It does make me feel hypoctritical, though, like I am betraying myself. Thankfully, I don’t like old navy. Try Lands End (at Sears!) or Eddie Bauer, for better quality. Liz Claiborne (at outlets) or at Macy’s, is a great brand for quality and fit (to size 24, which is very generously cut—more like a 26 or 28 at Lane Bryant…). I think they call it vanity sizing…

Shopping in regular sizes for the first time in my adult life is a bit overwhelming, by the way. I used to try something on, think “Thank god it fits!”, buy it a leave as quickly as possible. I am having to learn that there are a LOT of choices out there now and I can be discriminating. I can wait and find the exact tan skort I like—from any store I like. This is both liberating and intimidating. I HATE trying on clothes and am still sure nothing is going to fit. Heck, clothes I own and have been wearing for months still look too small when I first take them off the hanger. I swear they won’t fit, even as I pull them on. It is freakish, really. Anyway, good luck out there. And keep trying. There are good choices out there, if you work at it. And maybe some day, there will be more and life will be more fair for us all!

By: Denny

Denny — Fri, 04 May 2007 17:37:31 +0000

I agree with Emily. They don’t care what the people look like that come into the stores. They don’t have anything against them. It’s just a business decision. They weren’t selling enough in the 20+ range and they wanted to devote the floor space to things that would sell faster. It just wasn’t cost effective. (This could be because they don’t do plus sizes well, and they haven’t done enough market research).

It would be better if they just SAID this though, rather than going on about the best place to showcase their clothes and all that other rubbish.