Editor’s Post by Deborah Hetrick Catanese
Do YOU want to find annoying clothing flaws under your tree?
Yes, I know, it can be unpopular to act like a Grinch at this time of year, but I just HAVE to express myself today. This is because I have become increasingly frustrated when shopping for clothes lately! In fact, it is almost ruining one of my absolute favorite pastimes, shopping! So many times I see something that looks just gorgeous in the store, but it backfires in the dressing room, usually due to poor manufacturing, questionable design, or horrible fabric. Or even worse, it looks great when you buy it, but doesn’t hold up past the first wearing. Annoying clothing flaws just don’t cut it for me.
So while we all have been engaging in retail merriment of late, I just couldn’t get my mind past all the poorly made or irritating features in manufactured clothing.
Below is my Christmas Wish List of where I’d like to see IMPROVEMENT in the clothing made available to us Mama consumers:
1. Poor Quality Zippers. Don’t know what exactly is going on behind my back, but it seems like every dress with a zipper in the back gets stuck at every seam it has to cross, whether at the natural waist, dropped waist, or empire waist. This problem is relatively recent…say, the last 6 years or so. Whoever is manufacturing zippers needs to step up their game; this never used to be a problem, but is at the top of my annoying clothing flaws list!
2. Ridiculous Length of Pants. Yes, I realize that we come in many shapes and sizes. But when I have over ten inches of fabric bunching around my ankles and I am average height of 5’6” tall, you have to wonder. (Yet, petite sizes don’t solve anything for me, since the proportions are off.) I understand that sometimes it makes sense to just manufacture for the tallest, but what about all those pants with detailed seaming or cuffing or slits or zippers at the hem?! …Um, alteration is a no-go in these cases, unless you want to pay for cute details that you are going to cut off and throw away!
3. WINTER Coats that Don’t Keep You Warm. Yes, I love a lightweight coat; they are perfect for when you park outdoors at the Mall lot but don’t want to be stuck with a heavy coat for hours while you shop. But I’d like to be able to be warm too, without having to shop in an Extreme Sports store or look like a balloon in the Macy’s Holiday Parade.
4. Expensive T-Shirts. Come on, we wear these as casual attire! We exercise in them, clean our cars, cook in them, and change diapers. And yes, we like to look cute even then. But over forty bucks for a T-shirt? Really?
5. Clothes that are One and Done. So yeah, it always feels so good to wear something new. But I find myself dreading the first time I have to wash something now…the fabric either shrinks, fades, pills, or stretches hopelessly out of shape. And no, I do NOT want to “hand wash, separately, re-shape and dry flat. Or dry clean.” No No NO! I want to throw it in the washer and dryer and have it look the same as before I washed it! There ARE fashionable clothes out there that can actually survive being washed, so what’s up with all the ones that don’t?!
Photo Credit: http://tukits.wordpress.com/
6. Hanger Loops Make Me Loopy! Yes, I know, this is when scissors come in handy. But how annoying is it when you forget to cut off those ribbon loops inside your clothing… It always looks sooooo ladylike to be reaching inside your clothing to first adjust bra straps that don’t stay up, and then struggle with getting the ribbon thingies out of your way, right? And also, while we are talking about the interior of our clothing, do labels and tags have to be so scratchy?! These certainly qualify for the annoying clothing flaws elimination list!
7. Lethal Shapewear. OK. I just want it to push in my tummy a little and nip my waistline a bit. I don’t want to pull a muscle trying to get it on my body! And I really do prefer being able to breathe while I am wearing it!
Let’s face it, lovely Mamas, we can’t all wear Designers every day, but we spend good money on our clothing, nonetheless. So, is it so wrong to expect some quality when buying clothes, even if they are everyday sorts of clothes?
I’d like to enjoy my Christmas gifts at least into 2014, and I’m sure you do too. I don’t think that’s too much to ask! Do you?
So, tell us (and THEM, the clothing industry!) what annoying clothing flaws you don’t want under YOUR Christmas tree…
Fashionably Yours,
Deborah
(PS Hope you get what you want!)
hanger loops drive me crazy!!!! but i have to say i have the opposite problem with pants. im 5’10 so usually pants fit me short haha
Actually, Kristen, maybe we both have the SAME problem….problems with the length of pants. What about if the manufacturers take a page from the menswear playbook and start giving us a size AND an inseam length…and I could then be wearing a size 8/32 and you could be wearing a size 8/36, for example.
And while I’m on the topic of men’s pants….when it comes to dress pants, they are unhemmed until purchase.. They hem them to the length preferred by the guy when he decides to buy, and they don’t charge for it either!
Thanks for commenting! And beware the hanger loops, lol.
I just had a button pop off my favorite jeans. And they fit! So annoying! Would love it if you could join us for Monday Mingle again! 🙂
Pants length is such a problem. I’m usually okay with the ‘regular’ in jeans, but in slacks I’ve gotten “shorts” because otherwise they’re dragging on the floor, and I’m 5’5”. My 14 year old sister, on the other hand, is 5’8” and has to special order “long” jeans because stores won’t stock long jeans in smaller sizes…it’s altogether a problem!
Pants length, grrrr, I hear ya, Rachel, thanks for commenting.
The only saving grace at the moment for me is the skinny leg jeans and the trend to roll up the bottom a bit…that has helped me temporarily with the length of jeans – until styles change of course.
(Did I mention how much I hate all that bunching up of extra fabric under my boots?!)