J.Crew Phone & Online ordering review

In my last post, I did a mini-review of J.Crew's retail store, to get a peek at all the stuff short people can't buy in store. Because of a complete lack of petites in store, I decided to chronicle my experience with J.Crew's mail order service.

It's possible to order J.Crew's merchandise through its catalog, online, or over the phone at 800-562-0258. However, all 3 of these methods require you to pay extra for shipping. Now, I don't know about you, but I get annoyed whenever I have to pay extra to purchase something I may not even wind up buying (incidentally, there is free shipping with code NFS-100 until August 4th with some restrictions...but this is very rare!). Since most of the special sizing selection is only available through the mail, I don't consider free shipping a perk anymore. It's bad enough that stores don't stock my size or enough items in my size - stores should definitely comp for the shipping and extra annoyance!

One little know fact is that if you can actually get free shipping to your home if you order on the red phone in any J.Crew store, as long as at least one item is full price. If you don't want anything, you can return everything in store as well. It's a pretty straight forward process; the only annoyance is that size 0P clothing disappears quickly (not one dress was available), and the sales associate on the phone with you can't filter by size - only by style number. If you're cheap like me, my suggestion is to browse online, and jot down all the style numbers you're interested in. After purchasing 2 sets of suits and a blouse, I waited for my order to arrive.

My order arrived in less than a week to my apartment. I was very impressed with the packaging job. As you can see, everything was on an individual hanger and then plastic wrapped. The hangers were good quality - the pants hangers even had a rubberized elastic that held my slacks in place. I typically order from Ann Taylor or Banana Republic, and J.Crew definitely did a better job with wrapping its mail ordered items.

Unfortunately, I didn't wind up liking the clothing very much. Everything was huge on me. This short-sleeve French Oxford Shirt was a size 0P, and needed to be taken in a lot! Even so, I thought that it was a a pretty good quality shirt and not terribly expensive at $58.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the wool twill suiting or the wool gabardine suiting I got either. Besides the fit issue (when is it even not an issue for me? - just look at the photo at left), I didn't particularly care for the fabric itself. On the plus side, while I was returning everything, I learned that all J.Crew button cuff jackets are actually functional - so you can 'roll' up your jacket sleeves a bit. Price wise, they weren't that bad, at $228/$198 for the jackets, $128/$118 for the pants, and $98 for the skirt. But without any subsudies for alterations, J.Crew suits are a costly option for me.

Sizing is just obsurd - the pants in particular were just falling off of me! In fact, a nice strong tug would have them swimming at my ankles. I literally would need to have them taken in 4 1/4" to fit correctly. They measured 30" around - completely unfixable unless I were to get them taken in through the back (the seat was too big as well) and through both side seams. On a particularly outraged note, the size charts for J.Crew indicate that a size 0P should have a 23" waist and 33" hips. In reality - according to its size chart, the true measurements indicate that the pants should accurately be sized as a 6P.

All in all, aside from the sizing, I found this crop of suits from J.Crew a little disappointing, but not terribly so. The suits were, after all, well constructed and shapely. I wasn't fond of the fabric choice, but I am admittedly a fabric snob. When the Super 110's come out again, I'll be pawing at the suits again. It's just a shame that I'm really too small to wear them.

If you're a bit longer limbed than me, J.Crew might be a good option for you. Fit really is everything, so if it works for you, its not a bad price for the quality. If all you need is a hem, then this is a great bet. Otherwise, I would suggest a trip to Brooks Brothers, where old-school suits come with cheaper alteration options. Finally, it is again worth noting that J.Crew doesn't carry any petite sweaters, which is truly a shame. I'm glad I made the effort of looking at its items - but for me, J.Crew just won't cut it unless it makes its business attire smaller. Hopefully, J.Crew will be willing to create a size 00P like Banana Republic did last year!

J.Crew - A Quick Store Visit

J.Crew
347 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212-949-0570

As I noted in a revision to my previous post, Finding Petite Stores - Where Can I Go?, J.Crew does not in fact, stock petites in any of its retail locations. They do, however, have a petite selection that can be ordered either online or over the phone. I decided to take a closer look at the large J.Crew on Madison to check out the quality of some of the items in person.

This store is one of J.Crew's largest in Manhattan. It's really close to several other traditional suiting stores due to its Midtown location near Grand Central. Brooks Brothers, Paul Stuart, and Ann Taylor are literally across the street. The store is laid out all on one floor and includes both men's and women's selections. I found the staff there to be extremely nice and helpful. Yet again, I discovered another thin salesperson to commiserate with - she also has to get 0's taken in! She was very good about explaining the alterations policy to me.

Alas, J.Crew is rather miserly and won't pay for any alterations on non-full priced items. And even for the full priced merchandise, only basic hems are free! Hmph! But I did walk out of there with the card for the store's tailor. Not only does he do all the alterations for this store, he also has accounts with other retailers so I'm pretty sure he's good. J.Crew and he have an arrangement so that if anything happens to mess up the garment, it's handled so you won't get screwed. I'll have to give him a try some time on some stuff I have already.

Right now, they're running a summer sale, but the only things I actually took a fancy to were the cheap ribbon belts and the men's bowties (yes, you read it correctly). I never got the impression that the 'J.Crew Man' wore bowties - but I guess that's why they're on sale. I snagged a ribbon belt for myself, and two bowties - one as a gift and one for me as a gag. Yes, I do know how to tie one!

I poked around the non-sale items but wasn't particularly impressed there either. Ok, I fully admit that I really don't like J.Crew merchandise in general - but its traditional suiting and work wear is definitely classic and wearable. A few seasons ago, I was taken with the quality and pricing on the Super 110 suits they had. If only more of its corporate stuff fit!

Searching a bit, I latched onto a J.Crew's cashmere sweater. I honestly thought they were better than Ann Taylor's or Banana's. And they're about the same price (this one's $138), if not cheaper. Pity, as it seems a cruel joke that none of the sweaters in any fabric or style are made for petites. So, this woefully huge XS cashmere sweater (at least on me) is as close as it gets for me in J.Crew. In the picture, you might be able to tell that I'm trying to extend my fingers as far as possible. Yeah, sleeves are way too long (19" from armpit to cuff) and wide, along with everything else!

I promise! The review for my petite phone order at the J.Crew store will be up very shortly!

Finding Petite Stores - Where Can I Go?

Finding a good petite selection can be a difficult task - especially when you don't live near dense metropolitan areas. Certainly, online selections are much better at giving a broader range of goods - but nothing beats the positive aspects of in-store shopping. Although many department stores carry petite clothing, the selection is highly variable depending on location, and sizing usually begins at 4P for most items. I'll also admit that eBay has been a source that I look to more often than not.

Here's a compiled list, along with short descriptions, of the more accessible stand alones, sans department stores. I'll be adding to this as I find (or remember) more:

Ann Taylor - The tried and true for corporate and casual wear. Think classic rather than trendy. For the dressy stuff, it's sophisticated and safe, not sexy. The casual stuff is definitely geared towards a more matronly audience, but when you need a suit, you can't go wrong here. I have tended to stop shopping here as everything needs to be taken in for me - but if you're slightly bigger than me, you're all set. (link is for expanded petite selection)

Banana Republic - Mainstream trendy and fashionable, their petite selection is pretty good, but certainly not as wide as the regular sizes. It definitely caters to a younger audience - the non-corporate stuff would be appropriate from late teens to thirties up. I am annoyed that their 00P selection is only available online, but they offer free shipping for petites to make up for it. I tend to think their pricing has raced ahead of their quality and/or style.

Brooks Brothers - Definitely corporate and old school classic. Quality is definitely a high point here - and the price reflects it. If you fuss over fabric quality/feel, BB doesn't disappoint. If you don't mind the country club-like image, it's a great place to pick up really nice stuff. It's more pretentious than AT, but hey, you're just looking for stuff to wear. I find that the price point to quality ratio is better than most of the other petite stores. The shirts seem more billowy than fitted - even the ones that claim to be fitted. For online, you have to pay for shipping unless there's a promotion.

J.Crew **- Ok, I have to admit that this is not one of my favorites, as it screams "Prep" to me. Color choices are also a little more outrageous - but a bold color might work well for you. They seem to have fewer petite carrying stores, which makes it a little more difficult. I find that their suiting is of much better quality (relatively speaking) than you'd expect from some of their casual wear - it's comparable or even better than BR. You have to pay for shipping for online orders.

Talbots - The best I can say about this place is that you get a decent value. This is definitely geared toward a matronly set. It caters to the audience that upscale department stores don't like, as noted here. The store is actually cheaper than the others, and when they have sales, prices drop down very, very far. Fit and cut are generous, and the style is frumpy (if you're being very nice about it, conservative). Fashionable, it is not, but it's great when you just need something to fill an essential in your wardroble gap. The thing that turns me off most is that most of the stuff is made from synthetic mixes that are obviously geared towards slashing costs, instead of blending for particular qualities (like stretch or wrinkle-resistance).