Site unseen: Online fashion for beginners

Double Exposure's Hayden Richardson is an internet fashion addict. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

Sure, when you're shopping online you can buy a season ahead of everyone else. And you'll find some fine designer bargains. Even more exciting, you'll certainly get hold of labels that would normally be unobtainable without a long plane trip first.

But until relatively recently there's always been one big problem - when you shop for clothes you really want to try the garment on. Which meant the only things one could buy safely and easily online were accessories like handbags or shoes.

However internet fashion shopping has come a long way, baby. Many online clothing retailers now give as much information about products as technology allows in order to make clicking that Add To Basket button easier for potential customers.

One of these is the website just launched by local pre-loved designer label store, Double Exposure, currently in Newmarket but moving to 15 Surrey Cres in Grey Lynn at the end of the month.

In the late 90s the owners of the store, mother and daughter team Denise and Maria Williams, set up a website (www.designerexposure.com) on which they could sell their more exclusive and expensive recycled designer offerings to international customers. Prerequisites were that items were less than two years old and in immaculate condition. Prices are in American dollars and tend toward the prohibitively high end of the scale for New Zealanders. However in mid-February that will all change.

The store is now launching its own local website (www.doublexposure.co.nz) on which they will offer used clothing by New Zealand and Australian designers at more affordable prices. And most likely, they will be the first store of their kind to do so in this country.

"Basically with the New York-based website there's no huge demand for New Zealand designers [clothing]. And we get offered a lot of it, comments Hayden Richardson, the menswear manager at the store, who helped set up the site. But it's really sought after [in this country]."

A quick look at the popularity of clothes by the likes of Karen Walker, Zambesi and Kate Sylvester on local auction site, www.trademe.co.nz, is proof enough of that.

Richardson himself is a self-confessed internet fashion addict. He's been online for the past few months trying to find the latest, most perfect denim for boys. And as a result he's become particularly proficient at how to buy online. His first piece of advice involves what is known as flat measuring.

Rather than trying to do what a tailor might do and measure your own body, Richardson says the best way of figuring out whether something is going to fit is to lie a similar garment (that fits you well) flat and measure every important dimension.

For jeans this might include the front rise, the back rise, the waist, the inner thigh and even the leg opening. Then match those dimensions with the ones the online seller gives. A good website should list almost all the same kinds of measurements that you have and if they don't, feel free to email and ask for them.

"[A flat measure] will be a true measure because there's so much variation between manufacturers. You might, for instance, fit anything from a 27in to a 30in [waist in a pair of jeans], depending on who you're buying from."

As for colours, Richardson says the best websites should have tones portrayed as accurately as possible along with a variety of views of the item.

"The most reputable sites should have a decent returns policy. Just be careful when you're buying from overseas that the [international] shipping isn't going to be too expensive. This is because you, as the buyer, will need to foot the bill for returning the goods if they're not what you wanted."

It's for those kinds of reasons that as enthusiastic as he is about it, Richardson doesn't believe internet fashion shopping will ever replace the real thing.

"If you ever have the option of trying something on before you buy it, I'd always take that first."

However, as we all know, just trying something on doesn't guarantee wardrobe success. Nor does it mean that online shopping can't be just as much fun.

"Shopping [in real life] is a buzz, but then again, getting home and finding a parcel [from overseas] to open is also a buzz. And shopping in real life isn't foolproof either, he explains with a smile. People have always bought clothes they wear once or never. In fact, that's how [businesses like ours] survive."


MAKING SURE IT'S GOING TO FIT

How to measure for the internet

This could also be handy if you're selling or buying on local auction sites like www.trademe.co.nz

Sleeve length: Put your hand on your hip, arm bent at a 90-degree angle. Start measuring at the middle of the top of your back, go down your shoulder to your elbow and down to your wrist.

Bust or chest: With your arms at your side, measure around the upper body, under armpits and then across the fullest part of your chest. Make sure to measure across shoulder blades.

Waist: Measure around your middle at the height where you normally wear your pants, keeping your forefinger in between your waist and the measuring tape.

Hip: With your heels together, measure the widest part of your hips.

Inseam: Use a pair of pants that fit you properly and lay them flat. Measure from the seam at the crotch down to the very bottom of one of the legs.

Rise: Lay pants flat. Measure from the centre seam at the crotch directly up to the top of the waistband.

Best websites

Besides unobtainable designer goodies from the likes of Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Rick Owen's denim and Imitation of Christ, the best fashion websites now offer realistic colours, a variety of views of the item, more than one measurement, possibly a sizing chart and clear information on returns policies and shipping rates.  Try the links below.