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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1610 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 24, 2026

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What's your hit rate when shopping for clothing (casual wear)?

Trying to figure out if I'm uniquely bad at this, or if it's normal and I just need to be buying more stuff to increase successes, or instead skill-up and reduce the failure rate. I think once I've walked out of a store with clothing, there's maybe a 50% chance per item that it actually works out for me.

75%. Slowly moved up over time from a bottom of like 20% when mom stopped buying clothes for me.

It took me a long time to figure out I like cotton, some polyester, and hate most other fabrics. It took me longer to figure out I dislike clothes with the brand name displayed. And so on. A decades long trial and error process, and I still make mistakes because I shop mostly online now and it's hard to judge fit from a picture. 90% if I happen to buy in person, I rarely miss then.

I will say that I no longer care how I look and that comfort, fit, and price are all I care about in that exact order. Most of my clothes is from Target, Old Navy, and Gap.

Basically 100%. I wear everything I keep, though I usually order a variety of sizes and colors and return half or more of my order right away.

How do you end up disliking half of what you buy?

I can understand his point. Some people just have horrible fashion sense and their ideas about what they think will look good just don’t match when they suit up. I get most of my clothing from Buckle. It’s become my default, one stop shop for everything and the style is right up my alley.

Sure, but once you try it on you can make the decision to not buy/return it. The question is how do you try something on, like it, then start disliking it.

At first I thought you were asking how many of the clothes you try on work out for you and you buy them, which my answer was going to be like 10 percent, but then I re-read your question and realized you're asking what ends up working for you after you take it home.

In that case it's probably around 75% for me. I try to be extremely picky in what I purchase because I hate wasting money on stuff that doesn't work out. The biggest culprits of things not working is stuff shrinking after the first wash and the irritation of having a slightly inferior product compared to what I already own and I can't stand to trade down when I have something better on hand. Also I have a habit of thinking something looks good in the mirror without realizing it's uncomfortable as hell which I can't unnotice the first time I try to actually wear it

For reference I have a degree in fashion design and shop all the time and this is still a terrible problem.

If I find something I like from a brand that makes the same things all the time (like MUJI, Uniqlo or LA Apparel) I will happily buy multiples of the same style in different or same colors which helps a ton but is incredibly irritating when they change things or discontinue items and you have to start all over

There used to be a company called Trunk Club (that I think was bought out by another entity), that sought to solve this problem for you. What you would do is image yourself, and an associate with I guess(?) a qualified fashion sense would go out and shop for clothing and brands on your behalf, you’d pay for the clothing plus the markup for the shopper, and your clothes would be shipped directly to your front door. You’ll could still return them if you didn’t like them. I never used them at all but I found it very interesting when I first heard about it.

That's insane, is this online shopping from unknown brands or emergency shopping right before an event?

My hit rate is 100%, because I'm picky and I only shop in person and I try everything on. I often leave without buying anything, because I know what fits and what looks work for my body type and aesthetic.

Either you need to simply walk away more often, or this is a skill issue. The latter can be condensed into a hand full of straight forward rules. "The cuff needs to be this long", "the shoulder seam needs to sit right on this bone", "lifting both arms must look just so", "squatting in new jeans must feel like that and show this much ankle". The exact values for all that can be gotten from YouTube or guides on manosphere blogs and /r/malefashionadvice. All 3 are dangerous, because half those people dress like retards, so look at the pictures and decide if you want to look like that.

I've added a couple of additional rules that save me lots of time by not even trying things on ("absolutely no synthetics, 1% is unacceptable", "the maximum size of a logo is 1/2", "no baggy/skinny cuts", "only plain, neutral colors"), but that's basically it.

99%? If I try it on and like it, it's gonna be good. I usually thrift these days, but I don't think there's any secret, just be picky before you purchase, not after. I usually try on like 2% of what I see, and buy 20% of what I try on.

My hit rate is about 75%, which is embarrassingly low when you consider that I'm buying nice designer/vintage stuff. Usually because I see something I love and convince myself the measurements will work, and they don't. For less fashion-inclined people, I recommend finding brands you like and building a uniform out of them, so that when you buy the next piece you know how it'll look and fit - personally, my no-thinking uniform is RM Williams boots, Darn Tough socks, bn3th underwear, Outlier trousers, Wolf vs Goat tshirt, Spier & Mackay turtleneck (don't actually love those but don't have a great brand for turtlenecks yet), Arcteryx jacket. For less fashion-y friends I recommend Uniqlo/Muji/Spier & Mackay/APC. Solid, muted colours, no graphics. If you want a statement piece, go to grailed or ebay and search for Stephan Schneider, there isn't a single designer who's better bang for your buck and the cuts are very forgiving (don't be like me! Read the measurements!).

I almost entirely buy clothing online, with probably an 80% success rate, but I am quite picky and think about it for several weeks ahead of time.

Lately my preferred method of getting clothing is from Uniqlo collaborations, where they preview their items a month before the sales date, and if I still want something a month later, I generally really do want it and will wear it. Occasionally I have to send something back, which is annoying to do, more than other companies. Also their collaborations, specifically, are a bit better quality than other clothing at that price point.

I do not wear jeans at all, and still wear skirts with leggings in situations where jeans would be appropriate, because they never fit correctly.

My husband buys items in person but does not try them on, and wears literally everything he purchases for several years. This seems to be some combination of not being picky, and having the body type that most clothing is designed for.

I think I'm probably at 70%. Yeah it's just a problem and it pays to develop a keen instinct to return anything you're not sure about as soon as possible. If it looks good you'll know. If you're not sure you'll end up regretting keeping it probably nine times out of ten.

Works out how, exactly? Are you talking overall comfortable fit, or just pure looks?

some combination. basically: will I ever wear this thing, or will I hate it for one reason or other (fit, looks, quality) and decide buying it was a mistake?

Huh. That would be a problem, yes.

Granted, I have a near pathological fear of purchasing clothing brand new, so I always tend to buy things either used or clearance. Probably cuts down on buyers regret a good deal.

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