Today's topic is a little different. If you follow style blogs then you're probably familiar with Asia-based fashion sites. They become very popular as of late. You might also notice I feature items from them often. In this post, I will be sharing my thoughts on these sites as well as a few shopping tips.
Why I shop there:
1.
Unique and trendy: I get bored easily shopping the typical mall brands (especially living in a small town with limited options)
2.
Petite-friendly: Since they are based in Asia, most items are cut to fit a smaller frame.
3.
Affordable: I am a true believer in affordable clothing. I rather put money aside to fund my next handbag than spend it on a pair of designer denim.
That's just how I am.
Sheinside is one of the overseas retailers that I work with regularly. They first contacted me in July 2012. I've been working with them on and off for almost 3 years. Even though I feature their items regularly on this blog, I do follow a "standard plan" behind the blog to determine if an item is worth mentioning. I get that it's not easy for bloggers to criticize courtesy items. At the same time, it's not fair for you guys when bloggers give c/o items a positive spin just because they got it for free. Believe me, it's not hard to make a crappy item look good in photos.
That sparks a new idea! -
Why not showcase both hits & misses? Readers then can decide for themselves if they like or dislike the items.
A few tips when shopping at Asian-based fashion sites:
1. "
Shop" frequent: The sheer number of items on these sites can be overwhelming. I usually spend 5 minutes in the morning to quickly look through their "daily new" section. If there is something I like (usually 1 or 2 items), I bookmark the links. When it's time to go back, I only need to revisit those links instead of clicking through hundreds of items.
2.
Always check the measurements: It's very important to always check measurements under each item. I use
this site to convert cm to inches.
3.
Read online reviews: Always read online reviews as well as check out photos from real customers. It's always a good thing to see how a particular item would look on a person. I notice oftentimes they use stock images from Zara and ASOS.
4.
Keep your expectations low: Like mentioned previously, their stuff is super affordable (between $10 - $40). Because of that, you cannot expect much out of it. If your expectations are higher, I highly recommend that you DO NOT shop from these sites. However, if you are OK with the quality of clothing at F21/H&M then there are certainly pieces that pass the expectations from these sites. I firmly believe that it's not fair to associate Asian-based retailers with cheap items.