Shopping for Clothes

When my husband shops for clothes, he generally is able to do it in well-ordered surroundings.  All the pants are in one general area, grouped by size and style, and maybe even by color.  Shirts are ranged in tidy racks, easily visible for quick and efficient selection.  Suits – the same thing.  Socks, ties, sweaters; it’s just incredibly easy to find out if what one is looking for is available in any given Men’s department.

Why do they torment us women?

I had a job interview recently, and since it had been a while since I had to wear anything as formal as socks to work, I thought it would be a good idea to buy something businesslike to wear to the interview.  My quest – that’s what it ended up being, anyway – led me through both floors of every major department store in the local mall before finding something in the “Jones New York” department of one of them.

You see, women’s clothing is not organized by garment or anything useful.  In most chain department stores, it’s organized by manufacturer (designer, if you will; it amounts to the same thing).  Sometimes, they have a couple of layers of organization – instead of the “Jones New York” department, you might find yourself in the “Jones New York Casual”, or worse yet, the “Jones New York Casual Petite” department.  They have really nice looking stuff in the “Jones New York Casual Petite” department – nice looking stuff that is not replicated in a normal size in the “Jones New York Casual” department, either.  But that’s an entirely different rant (where I will also discuss the utter non-existence of size 10-1/2 shoes).  Some stores are worse yet, and name their departments with words that offer no clue whatever to the goods on offer – I mean, what exactly is for sale in the “Outlook” department?

Now, I’ve heard a theory about why stores are arranged in this horrible fashion (no pun intended).  Men, traditionally being the “hunters” referred to in the term “hunter-gatherer”, and women being the “gatherers”, the theory posits that men are only happy and willing to spend money when they can make a beeline to the item for which they are hunting, while women like to wander aimlessly, gathering the odd garment that strikes their eye.

Well, maybe that held true when women were homemakers with the entire schoolday to fill with shopping for clothes.  But I have a full-time (and more) job, compounded by responsibilities to my family, and I don’t find it fun at all to spend an entire day trying to find one lousy dress.  And I know I’m not the only woman in the same situation.  Wouldn’t you expect that the stores would change to make our lives easier?

George Zimmer, if you’re listening – I want a Women’s Warehouse!