Where to Shop for Plus Size Clothing – Bargains!

I wanted to write up some information for you about how I shop for plus size clothing. There are several ways in which to shop that are budget friendly and on trend, and will have all that you need to build your plus size capsule wardrobe.

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Places to Shop

“Despite the fact that the plus-size apparel market was worth an estimated $21.4 billion in 2016 — representing a growth of 6 percent — and the fact that two-thirds of American women are above a size 14, there remain huge gaps in the retail space for plus-size consumers looking to get involved in fashion.”  Tyler McCall, Fashionista May 2018

There really are gaps in the market, as you plus size women already are well aware!  But with a little digging, you can find great apparel at great prices.

You already know that my favorite stores are Amazon, Target, Walmart, Ashley Stewart, and Ulla Popken,

Here are several more that you might be interested in:

Woman Within, Jessica London, Roamans, Hanes, Just My Size, and Lane Bryant, all of which can be found on Amazon, and usually at discounted prices, because Amazon gets the leftover styles and sizes that don’t sell in the company’s first promotion.

Also try TogShop, Catherines, and ModCloth.  These are great plus size stores with a lot of choices, and terrific sales!

How I Hit the Online Sales

I, like you, have a limited budget, so most of what I buy for my plus size capsule wardrobe is off the sale rack. Most online stores have a “sale” or a “clearance” drop down menu. I sign in to the store and then go straight to the sale menu.

You might be tempted to only look for what you’re shopping for, be it blouses or dresses or pants. But when given the choice in the sale menu, I select ALL. Then I go through all the pictures to see what clothing fits my rules. When I find something that works with my capsule criteria, I open the item.

The next thing I look for is color and size. Do they have the color I want in the size that I need? If they don’t I hit the back button, and go on. No sense wasting time on it. If they DO have the size and color, I put the item in my shopping cart.

I repeat this process until I have either been through all the sale items, or until I get tired of it and have 10-12 items in my cart.

What’s In Your Cart Now?

Now it’s time to look at the cart. I sort though the clothing pieces one by one. I ask myself, do I need this item? Is it close to something that I already have? How much do I really like it? How much does it cost? (even though you’re in the sale menu, the cost of the item can still be prohibitive. I like to keep my blouses under $20, my pants under $30, and my dresses under $40). I delete all the items that I’m IFFY on.

By this time I am down to 2 or 3 items that I really like. Then it’s time for the budget to kick in. How much do I have to spend this month? If the total in the cart is more than my budget, I weed the items down a little more.

The point here is to not get emotionally attached to a garment, if you can possibly help it. Emotional buying usually puts you over on budget. Think back on some items you really wanted to buy but didn’t because of your budget. Do you even remember what you passed up a year or 2 years ago? No? Trust me, if you keep this practice up and do it over and over, items you LOVE will go into the sale bin and you will be able to get them.

Watch for the Sales

Pay attention to the sales your online stores are having. Lots of times I’ve logged in on a day when the store is having a BOGO sale or, just before Christmas last year, I logged into a store that was having a 60% sale. Watch for the codes for these deals, and enter them in the Promo Code blank when you are checking out. They usually don’t give you the deal automatically, so keep an eye out for the promo code.

It Pans Out!

Once I get my cart down within budget, I buy the items. I am thinking back to last year when I had perfected this method:

I had only $150 to spend. I picked probably 12 items in my cart. I whittled it down to just 6. The store was having a great sale; buy one, get one half price. I was able to get 3 dresses, 1 completer piece, and 2 blouses for that $150. That got my items down to $25 each, which is pretty good for a higher end store like Lane Bryant, where you can throw down $150 and get maybe 1 nicer dress.

I usually rotate stores when I do this. Sale items don’t change that quickly, and you get a better variety if you change stores from one month to another. I don’t get to do this once a month either. Generally I buy my clothes spring and fall, just because that’s when I have the funds, and that’s when the best sales are, and that’s generally when I need clothing for the new season.

Buy Second Hand

There are HUNDREDS of online organizations that sell gently used second hand clothing, shoes, and accessories. Here are a few:

Poshmark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swap.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curve Consign

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EBay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full Figure Resale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ThredUp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was lucky to know a person that worked in a second had shop. She knew my size, and would basically pull everything in that size and give it to me in great big garbage bags. I would go through the bags, take out the items I liked that fit, and give her back the rest. All for free! Here are some items I received:

Buy Factory Leftovers

Stores like Ross and Marshalls have great finds in plus sizes that were overstocked when they were first introduced. You won’t find shopping online for either of these stores, as the garments they receive for sale differ wildly, even between the stores themselves. Granted, you won’t find every style in every size. But there is usually something for everyone in these stores. And what’s really cool is that inventory changes rapidly, so if you’re anything like me, you can visit once per month and find completely different garments. And, you will find brand name clothing!

Stores like TJMaxx have the same type of overstocked garments as Ross and Marshalls, but you can actually shop online for them.

My strategy when shopping at a store like Ross, is to grab everything in my size (there’s usually very few 4x or 28) and try them all on. I almost always get at least one outfit from Ross, at a really discounted price. Ross was headquarters for character pieces years ago, but sadly there isn’t a Ross near where I live now.

Go Forth and Shop!

There are so many shopping venues you can explore to find where to shop for plus size clothing at bargain prices. You can even find brand name things, brand new or gently used, and no one will ever know you got it cheap, unless you brag about where you got it and for how much! And finding these bargains is so much fun! It’s a little bit like a treasure hunt, finding deals and getting great mark downs. So explore! Be ready to do a lot of clicking.

Visit the stores through my links please! Or comment below with your bargain plus size shopping ideas. Thanks for reading and have fun shopping!

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