The Challenge of Discovering a Trustworthy Brand Online

Author: Tom Cooper

There’s three major issues when you’re looking to find a reliable site and brand for menswear online.

1. Sizing and Fit Changes

The benefit of a brand is that they create products which have a very similar style– size, quality, and fit should become more trustworthy over time. So you can choose them again and again and expect a similar quality. Unfortunately this is not always the case.

Certain brands will regularly change the cut of their clothing without notifying the customers of the change in sizing. Quality also often falls as the company try to cut costs. Another issue which is common is that the clothing could have been modeled by different models and the sizing has not been mentioned in the description.

2. Style Changes

The look of the brand is always changing, so it is difficult to know whether they will be a lifelong brand or if you just like their current collection.

Brooks Brothers is a great example — they had a reliable style of suit for most of the 20th century, and it pretty much dominated the market as the "American" suit, however a change of tenure a few years back led towards a much more chic design with severe cuts and a less old-fashioned feel.

This is quite common amongst brands.

3. Quality Changes

Quality of the garment is mainly determined by the material and the manufacturer both which could change at any moment, without you being notified.

Dropping the quality of raw material is one way companies cut costs; subcontracting the manufacturing somewhere else is will cut even more costs. This can turn a much loved brand into something a lot different.

How To Find A Brand You Can Stick With

Given all those problems, how can you really find a brand you like when buying mens wear online? Just getting a single item of clothing you love might not be enough to take you back.

1. Teach Yourself

Discover what makes a piece of clothing more or less great, it is also worth getting more pickier about what you buy.

Develop your ability to recognize the fit, fabric, and style that you love when you love when you buy mens clothes online. Don’t be scared to go to a high end designer shop and try on a few different things, just to get a basic idea of what you like.

2. Shop in Batches – With a Tape Measure

Try not to think of buying something as a really quick experience, if you want the most out of a product you need to invest some time in having a look at all the major menswear online stores.