Comically inconsistent sizing across brands (sometimes within brands)

As a 135lb 5'6ish woman with a generally hourglass-ish figure, I can wear anything from size 2 to size 8.

The model looks fabulous; me, not so much

The disconnect between the fantasy of what the brand is selling and the reality of my mirror can be a real bummer. On the contrary, sometimes I've had purchases that look great on actual women but I would never have picked out myself based on the product pic.

Fabric or quality is completely different from the product pic

I remember a time when I thought I was buying a slinky peach silk dress. What arrived in the package was a neon orange monstrosity in cheap polyester. #gaslit

"Easy Returns"

Sure, in theory. The reality is we've all had moments where we missed the return window or had a fight with a call center to get our money back, leaving us with a purchase we don't love that languishes in the back of our closet and eventually gets thrown out.

The Final Sale Trap

This is the one that really gets me. I'm a total sucker for final sale items of my favorite designer items that I wouldn't (couldn't) ever purchase at full price. But I've been burned so badly by online shopping that it's really tough for me to pull the trigger and actually buy the item. I'm sure the analytics teams at these brands hate me as I constantly add items to cart and then drop off.

The sheer waste created by online shopping

Returns make up some obscene percentage of all online clothing purchases. The environmental cost of constantly returning items, the inefficiency of brands producing items that shoppers don't want… There must be a better way