the fashion zone

Is it smart to shop for clothes and shoes online?

Wow! That is a big question and I need to declare my hand here. I shop for clothes and shoes on line and I've never had a problem, apart from whether my view of what is stylish or not is shared by others and, more often than not I'm confident enough in my own choices.

There is one big proviso - that is you need to know your size and what will and won't fit you - although many take the option of getting a number of different sizes in the same garment or shoe simply to try and buy in the comfort of their own home. It helps if you aren't a grazer - a shopper who buys what they find along the way - why? Well the Internet isn't like your 'common or garden' outlet in a mall or on the Main Street - its like all of them put together, offering you more choice than you can ever imagine but with little chance to 'touch and feel' until you have bought something and it arrives on the porch.

I am very lucky in that I know what I want, I haven't shifted sizes in a good while so, for me, the size issue really isn't one - all I have to do is to make a decision about the occasion, look for a style and color that I want find a site that is selling it and buy it. So simple, so quick and I don't have to leave the house or office to make the purchase.

More often than not we humans are a species that prefers a degree of stability and we find brands or outlets that suit our way of life and stick with them - it's almost like retail monogamy. Most of the main street brands also offer an online option too, with some allowing you to order online whilst in store so, for me, it's the best of all worlds.

There are certain advantages in shopping online, particularly in terms of fashion and apparel of all sorts. The point being that you can shop at any time and are not constrained by the opening hours of the outlet in question. Most of the good fashion retailers are represented online too, so you can be pretty much certain that you can find anything in the global mall that you might on Main Street. Often, when shopping in a physical store it is difficult to find the size that you want in the style that you have chosen and the sales assistant will mutter something like; 'We don't have that item in stock right now but can order it from the distribution center!" When you visit their online store you can see at an instant whether the item is available or not as most etail outlets don't seem to keep back orders live and will show the stock levels there and then.

Buying online allows you to have a number of items sent, often the same line in a variety of sizes giving you the opportunity to try on at home in relative comfort and not feel pressured by the assistant or to have to wait for a dressing room to come free. One side issue is that you have a better than even chance that the item is brand new and has not been tried on by anyone else - and that is a good feeling. And the process of trying garments is private too.

I have a number of brands that I like and whose garments and footwear ranges I am happy with and that is the secret - I am able to order something that I know, ninety nine times out of hundred, will fit right out of the box, and if it doesn't then they have a returns policy that is no quibble. I may I have to pay for the return which is a small price compared with the cost and time to visit their outlet in the Mall.

I don't fall into this size category but there are specialist stores with an online presence - catering for the very tall and very small individual - where the physical outlets are few and far between. That often means that you need to travel to find stuff that will fit - unless, of course, you find a site that suits you and your style - it takes a little research and patience but it can be worth it.

If there is one area where main street shopping does score its in the realm of 'impulse buying'. Let me explain; you might be passing a store window and spot, say a pair of shoes, that really would go with that special outfit, drop in and they have exactly the right size in stock, so you buy them and take them home - job done! That can't happen online, its more of a premeditated purchase there, very little impulse and you may have to wait a day or two for them to be delivered. The outcome is the same, its just the timescales that are different. But how often are you going to be passing outlets for all the brands you prefer? Window-shopping, whilst fun, means that you have to be there and so too, do the exact things you want to buy.

The question posed in the title of this piece was whether it was smart to buy clothes and shoes online and I hope I have gone some way to answering that I believe it is. For me it's a matter of convenience and not having an ultimately expandable number of hours in my schedule to devote to mooching from store to store in a busy and crowded Mall when I can do much the same online. Its often the way that some retailers get you to subscribe to their web-site, not like being a member of some club, but they often send out advance notices of online sales or new items they are trailing - it means you can be one step ahead of the crowd, simply by logging on.