Yesterday, I was at an outdoor sporting goods store eager to buy new clothes with credit card in hand. I also had a coupon for 65% full price items. Cool huh. Well not really, as I worked my way around the store, I found nothing (did I say nothing) I was willing to spend my money and coupon on.
This morning I hear on the radio (a factoid not verified) that over half of the women in this country wear a size 14 or larger. That's fine I have no problem with that. But in this store there was nothing, save a few incredibly unattractive pants, that were larger than size 14. It just goes to show you that people making women's clothing are on a different planet than women buying clothes.
As a novice blogger, this might be somewhat taboo, but let me describe myself. I am a middle aged woman, not particularly wealthy or particularly poor. I am 5'2" and weigh about 110 pounds. I am somewhat active, running, biking, playing golf, tennis, or racquetball, dog walking, even doing yoga, gardening, and housework. I don't want to appeal to young college men with overactive hormones or any men for that matter. I am pretty comfortable with how I look. I enjoy the outdoors. I appreciate function, practicality, efficiency, and the environment. So yes I maybe an outlier, but I have clothing needs and money too.
Yesterday, I shopped the women's side of the store, and found nothing. What I found was either designed to fit too tightly, designed with no functional purpose, or just plain dumb. Jackets had wide waist bands and short torsos. Sleeves were too long. Sweaters were thin.
There was plenty of stuff on the men's side that would have worked. But often there was not an analogous product in the women's side. For instance, I found this fantastic, MEN'S synthetic turtle neck shirt that would have been a perfect base layer for winter outdoor activities like xc skiing, snowshoeing, downhill skiing. It was even attractive. It could have come in some softer colors, but the standard blue, black, gray, were fine. So having found something so basic in the MEN'S side I was sure I could find one in the women's side. BUT NOOOO. The turtlenecks on the women's side were a strange cotton, synthetic blend with these incredibly useless darts leading from the neck to the chest. What is up with that. GRRRR.
Okay another bad example. The women's zip-off pants that convert from hiking pants to hiking shorts by a zipper mid-way down the leg. Great idea. Especially if they are create a cargo short for all that stuff we want to carry in our pockets while hiking for immediate access. But no...When we zip off the leg on the women's cargo short,we create a short with a 5 inch inseam (can you say CHUBB RUBB) and we remove the cargo pocket.
Another thing, why are we making women's t-shirts with only 5 inches of sleeve to cover the top of the deltoid. What woman on the planet wants to show off her tricep, save Serena Williams. More commonly we have waddles that say "Hi Joanie" when we wave. Our arms burn too.
At least if you refuse to make women's stuff that works for me, make men's stuff in my size. Make the occasional XS for me that i can at least have tailored.
I could go on and maybe I will do so in another post. till then.
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1 comment:
I hear ya! The only thing dumber than the zip-off, zero function hoochie shorts are the zip-off capris.
Why on god's green earth would anyone need to remove 3 inches or fabric? And how are you supposed to keep from losing them, since there's no cargo pockets?
Is there no drug testing where these people work?
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