Comments on: Friday Fluff/Fatshion: Love for Good Customer Service

By: Skreee

Skreee — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:10:06 +0000

In case of any german Shapeling happening on this thread: last Saturday I had a great experience in Hamburg. Since I also have the Rack o’ Doom ™ with size 32 errr… I, I have trouble finding bras, even in german online shops. No longer so!
I had read of “Change”, which is a scandinavian store, and found that they had a shop here in Hamburg in the Europa Passage, so I checked it out. They have sizes 60-100, cups A-J. It is a tiny tiny shop, but they seriously have a wide variety of sizes on the racks. I had no trouble getting a dozen or so bras in my range of sizes.
It was saturday, so with only three changing rooms, I had to wait long to try on the bras. Most of the stock is part of a special deal where you have to buy bra and panty, but if you take two, you get the second one for free.
But the big big plus, apart from the size rage (seriously, in the past five *years* I haven’t been able to find a shop that even *has* my size), are the nice salesladies, who were very very friendly, and couldn’t have been nicer.
I also bought panties and stockings, and plan to keep buying these there (though I could get those elsewhere) simply to keep that shop going as much as I can.

By: Anne Kelly

Anne Kelly — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:05:27 +0000

Hi all! Thanks for the kind words about Junonia. We do try to keep an eye on what’s being said about us out here in cyberspace, both good and bad, because we’re always looking for ways to improve our products and service. Plus, we just like reading all of the fabulous plus-size blogs out there!

If you ever have any questions or comments about Junonia, don’t hesitate to write me: annekellypresident@junonia.com

By: coyote

coyote — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:41:46 +0000

another person to comment about terrible rashes from the dark blue RightFit (which aren’t so Right FIt on me after all, so I don’t hate giving them away).

But it is disturbing that so many of us reacted badly to something in that fabric.

thank you for Lee Lee’s. I am going there THIS WEEKEND.

By: HillaryGayle

HillaryGayle — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:37:13 +0000

Hmm. I thought the Right Fit smell was just me. o_O However, I use home-made laundry soap and I can report that it takes that scent out with just one or two washings, so if you’re really hard up for a “cure” to the stinky!pants, one might give that a shot. (Plus, making your own laundry soap is hella cheap compared to buying detergent, and more environmentally friendly!)

I live in a small-ish city in northeast Arkansas called Jonesboro. It’s big enough to have a few amenities (including an awesome mall) but small enough to maintain a bit of a small town feel. I am a regular in our Lane Bryant, and I have been so since it opened only a couple of years ago. The associates recognize me, remember my size, greet me by name when I come in, call me to make sure I remember to use my Real Women Dollars discount before the date expires, etc. They’ve let me exchange things for store credit when I didn’t have a reciept, everything. It’s quite neat to feel like a VIP when I go into a store. It doesn’t happen at every single Lane Bryant, of course, but I really do appreciate the atmosphere at this one.

By: None Given

None Given — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:27:05 +0000

Daniel’s (shoe store) in OKC only had heels and sandals in my size (9AAAA) but they ordered some more practical ones for me to try on and spent quite a bit of time with me both times I went in. I think it’s family owned because the salesman called the saleswoman Mom. They did keep measuring my feet over and over. My feet change size and shape when I wear shoes. My shoe size bears no resemblance whatsoever to the size my feet measure and it seems to fascinate shoe sales people.

By: Naomi

Naomi — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:04:26 +0000

I haven’t seen anyone speak up for the clothes at Making it Big (http://www.makingitbig.com/). They’re not as fashion-forward as many of the other places mentioned – I can judge this by the fact that although I was wowed by the clothes and the service at Vive La Femme, I didn’t come out of there with anything I actually wanted to wear or looked good on me (or could afford, but that’s another story).

Making It Big specializes in natural fibers (although they do have wonderful rayon, which some people don’t consider natural), sizes 2x-8x. Their clothes tend to be pretty neutral as far as cut goes – more flowing than fitted, which suits me fine. They make the only pants that fit me, anywhere. They do really well with my shape: a very exaggerated hourglass, with big thighs. They often have gorgeous fabrics in lovely colors – I try to go for the fall/winter catalog rather than the spring/summer because of my particular skin tones, but YMMV, of course.

Most of their clothes are casual, but when I had a managerial job, I used to wear their matching pants and shirts in more formal fabrics and throw someone else’s jacket on top. Because they are located in northern California, I do feel that they don’t accommodate extremes of weather, which is an issue for someone like me who lives in the midwest. They don’t have anything warm enough for deepest winter, and their crinkle cotton, which they bill as a summer fabric, is just awful in the humidity we have here.

Still, they do bike shorts and jeans and swimsuits and cotton knit pants and rayon pants and dresses you could wear to someone’s wedding and full slips/nightgowns made of the most wonderful cotton lawn you can imagine. I find their prices quite steep (approx $70 for pants), but my reference point these days is the Salvation Army, so others may not find it quite as pricey. And their clothes are all made in the U.S., which admittedly hasn’t always done right by its textile workers, but soars above the third world equivalents most of the time in that respect.

I don’t order much from them anymore (see Salvation Army comment above), but for years they were the mainstay of my wardrobe, and I felt I always had good service and good value from them.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 06:29:52 +0000

I’m late on this but chiming in anyway about the Right Fit jeans issue – LB knows about the problem with the dye on the dark indigo jeans. I don’t know what they’re DOING about it but I know they know about it. My guess is that they made a huge first run of the jeans and in the future, the jeans won’t have the smell. But they have to sell all the stinky ones first, probably.

Soaking them in vinegar/water helps but if you’re allergic to the dye, I’d just avoid the dark ones until they change the dye process.

I shop online way too much to say that any company is really mind blowing but I had a really great experience with TimBuk2. I like shopping at Torrid when I find myself in a mall. They always find really perky but not annoying girls who actually want to help you pick out fun clothes. Zappos is great, too.

By: Manna

Manna — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:03:16 +0000

I had a fabulous experience buying a corset at Fairy Gothmother in London. I was a nightmare customer, especially looking for a corset, in that I'm fat AND I have really small boobs (a 38AA is baggy on me). But they gamely laced me in and out of approximately ten million different corsets until they found the one single one in the whole shop in which I looked fabulous.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:58:18 +0000

Another specialty store – I have had fabulous luck with http://www.birthandbaby.com for nursing bras. I ordered a couple of different bras recently while trying to figure out sizes, and she called me the next day to check because she didn’t think that the bras I had ordered would both fit the same person – different brands that have differences in their cup size. Speaking of the rack of doom, the bras I ordered were J-cup, and they offered much bigger ones. They also classify their bras by breast shape, so you can figure out if it’s worth trying some of them before you order. Their shipping is cheap and returns are no problem.

Their “house brand” sleep bras are cheap and really nice if you like wearing a bra to bed (whether you’re nursing or not), and they make it up to 3X (I realize that won’t work for some women here, but it’s a lot bigger than I can find elsewhere for an inexpensive sleep bra).

By: Jill

Jill — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:21:35 +0000

Nice clothes at B&Lu — but no petites.

I’ve settled into a nice groove of buying my pants from the Woman Within catalog (Mainstreet Blues stretch twill in a 16P fits me perfectly and comes in boot-cut for a nice long line — for under 30 bucks) and my tops from the sale section of J. Jill. I realize that 16 isn’t that big as big goes, but they recognize that a 16P is different from a Misses 16. And they also recognize that not everyone who’s big is 5’9″ or taller.