In response to the master blogger Matthew Rudd sharing with us his love for TK Maxx and clothes shopping, I thought I'd share with you my recent experience as a clothes shopper. I had started writing this post and left it 'on-hold' as I couldn't decide whether it was worth publishing. After reading Matthews post though, it has decided it was so here goes.
I too, like clothes shopping and have done ever since I began earning a wage. My colleagues at work believe that I am crackers for wanting to go clothes shopping. They don't see the appeal in being able to choose what you wear in a shop. They'd rather just wear what the wife/partner brings home for them from the latest shopping trip with their friends. As someone who is very concious about his appearance and what people think of him, this definitely doesn't appeal to me. Also, I tend to dislike more items of clothing that Mrs. S buys than like. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for me to go and choose my stuff as there is only me to blame if I don't like it when I get home!
Having looked through my wardrobe last week, I found that many of my t-shirt and polo shirts that I wear for work were looking 'past their best'. It's not surprising if I think about it as they are getting on a bit in years, the oldest being 8. Alot of these older polo shirts were from sports shops who had them in the sale or on Buy One Get One Free deals. I think a few were from Allsports (now there's a blast from the past) and Sports Soccer aka Sports Direct.com.
Anyway, earlier this week myself, Mrs. S and the little one decided to go shopping for a few replacements. This is the norm on our household as a trip usually involves a bit of female clothes shopping and maybe some household shopping (depending if there's a Debenhams wherever we go). As you can tell this will mean heading for a shopping centre like Meadowhall or The White Rose Centre.
However, we differed this time as I wanted to go to a TK Maxx. The previous time buying clothes involved a trip to their Leeds branch which was very successful. I found jeans that fit perfectly and were really comfortable, something which isn't always achieved with a bit of a belly, a big back side and large thighs. With everything arranged by size rather than garment I thought this will be ideal. There's nothing worse than finding a shirt which you like and then to be disappointed that there's no XL size in stock. How wrong was I? There were plenty of polo shirts to choose from in said size, but some were only any good if you weren't fat and the others I just didn't like. Not wanting the world to know that I love pies and cakes, I departed and moved on to try and find items with a little more room in them.
The afternoon was spent looking in Burtons, Next and H&M. Again, there was nothing I really liked or they were labelled 'slim fit'. This started to become rather tedious.
I finally came to the conclusion that my taste in clothes clearly hasn't moved with the times. This was reached when I looked at the stock in Marks and Spencer, a place where my younger self wouldn't be seen dead in. I was still reeling from this revelation and couldn't decide on any garments and ended up coming away.
I even resorted to looking at the clothing section in ASDA. I usually avoid them because the few garments I've bought from them only last a few washes before they tend to shrink or go all out of shape. Well you do get what you pay for. I managed to get one t-shirt in the sale for £3. However, I don't think a Johnny Fartpants t-shirt is suitable for work.
This started to raise a couple of questions for me. Why bother shopping for items when you know you think you need them? My best purchases thinking about it have been when I wasn't really looking for that particular garment probably because there was no pressure to buy. The other was where does someone who is larger than he should be, with a 'none modern' taste in clothes shop? I've not been able to find the answer to that one as yet.
So, next time you do decide to go clothes shopping with a particular item or items in mind, my advice is don't because you'll probably not find it.
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