Is Using Prime Wardrobe a Good Way to Shop for Clothes? Let’s Find Out...

Picture this: you see the UPS van approaching your curb. You get excited; your Amazon order has arrived! You greet the delivery guy, take the package and bring it inside. You eagerly open the box, excited to finally see the product that seemed like the perfect solution to your problem on the website, only to find out... It’s terrible.

The quality is atrocious; or the color doesn’t match; or it’s not even the actual brand you thought you were buying!

I can’t be the only one who this has happened to. It feels like shopping on Amazon these days has become this hit or miss game, where you may end up with something great, or you may end up wasting your money on something that is practically trash.

This is why I have personally stayed away from shopping for clothes on Amazon in the past. I just don’t trust that what will arrive at my home will be worth my money or effort. And I have done an excellent job at ignoring all the cute clothes that Amazon shows me on their ads on Instagram, until now.

We cannot ignore the convenience that comes with shopping on Amazon. I do my best to shop small and local, but sometimes when I need something specific, and soon, getting it on Amazon is the best way to do it. And they know that. That’s why they have grown to being the giant that they are.

Now, needing new clothes ‘soon’ is not ever a situation I find myself in, but because I dress from a capsule wardrobe, looking for something specific is something that comes up frequently for me. At this point, I know what I like. I know how to identify the holes in my wardrobe and how to determine what item would fill it. And searching all over the internet for that one item, paying for shipping, trying it on and seeing if I like it or not, and then going through the hassle of returning it if I don’t, is frankly not something I enjoy.

What is Prime Wardrobe?

Enter Prime Wardrobe, Amazon’s “Try Before You Buy” service for Prime members. Prime Wardrobe lets you select 8 clothing items to order and try in the comfort of your own home, without charging your credit card to do so, for a period of 7 days. Shipping is free both ways (included in your Prime Membership), and you only pay for what you keep. It seemed like a pretty risk-free way to try clothing from Amazon, so I decided to try it out. Because Prime Wardrobe allows you to order up to 8 items, I figured I would put together an 8 piece capsule and go from there.

Pretty quickly, I found myself discouraged by the quality of the inventory that was popping up first. None of it looked promising, and sifting through millions of items was taking up a lot of my time. I decided to do some research on how to best navigate the website to get better shopping results, and I found some very valuable tips.

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Best Tips & Practices for Shopping for Clothes on Amazon

Shop the Amazon brands for better quality

Amazon, like most of the big box stores, has their own line of clothing (just like Target or Walmart), and their brands apparently are of better quality than the majority of the clothing for sale on their website.

You can filter your search by checking the “Our Brands” box on the left hand side of the screen. Most of the items I noticed under this filter were basics, but finding good quality basics is becoming more and more difficult, so I appreciated finding that tip.

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Shop brands you are already familiar with

I don’t know why this had never occurred to me before (because that is basically how I use Amazon anyway) but you can use Amazon to shop for high quality brands that you already know and love. Brands like Kenneth Cole, Levi’s, Eddie Bauer, Calvin Klein, and countless others have inventory you can shop directly on Amazon. This comes in very handy if you already know the style and size that you want.

Filter the reviews for a clear picture

When reading the reviews, read only the 4-star and 1-star reviews. This will paint a clear picture of the true quality of the item, since a fake review is unlikely to leave 4 stars, and the 1-star reviews will truly inform you of any repeating issues with the item.

The Prime Wardrobe Capsule

I built and ordered a capsule using a modified version of my Capsule Wardrobe Formula. Here are the items that I ordered:

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Overall, the quality of the capsule as a whole was all over the place. Some items, mostly the ones from brands I already knew, were of excellent quality, while others were so bad I didn’t even trust they would make it through me trying them on. The construction of the garments themselves was not the issue, but the materials were truly lacking.

Would I use Prime Wardrobe again?

This capsule, I have to admit, was not great. I kept only one item out of the 9 that I ordered, but I have to say, I do see myself using Prime Wardrobe again. After I finished filming the video and thought more about how I could use this service as a tool, it occurred to me that perhaps the best way to use it is to order 8 versions of a specific item that I need to fill a hole in my wardrobe; for example, ordering eight pairs of winter boots so I can compare and try them all on, with the intention of keeping only one. This would be a great way to try many items that are difficult to select without charging hundreds of dollars on a credit card, and having to manage returns for many different retailers.

Have you ever shopped for clothing on Amazon? What was your experience like? Drop me a comment below if you have, and I would love any tips for shopping better on Amazon. As always, thanks for watching!

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