I have been buying Fabindia
clothes, almost exclusively for over 15 years. My size gradually moved from M
to L and now to XL over the years ☹. However, I continued to buy Fabindia as I love the
style, the fabric and the fit. Typically, I make a couple of trips in a year to
the Fabindia outlet, spend ½ day and pick out a lot of clothes, accessories,
furnishings and anything and everything that catches my eye. I rarely try the
clothes on as by now I am very familiar with their fabric, fit and cut and know
what works for me. As this point, close to 90% of my wardrobe comes from
Fabindia.
Last December, while my daughter
was home, as usual we went to the Fabindia store for our shopping binge. The
first thing that surprised me, was the very diminished variety in the “XL”
size. But more was in store. In the weeks that followed, I was surprised and somewhat
disappointed when I realized that almost everything that I had bought during my
last shopping, were not fitting right. Everything seemed a bit on the tighter
side… while not completely unwearable, they weren’t as comfortable as I was used
to. Surprisingly, even the salwars seemed a bit tighter, which was confusing as
until a few months ago I was still fitting in fine in even my older “L”
salwars. I was disappointed but blamed it in on my ever-growing girth and
promised myself with renewed vigor that I would make an effort to lose the
weight.
A few days later, I noticed that
the salwar I was wearing fit very comfortably, even though it was over 2 years
old. I was surprised but thought maybe it was a one-off piece that was probably
stitched on with the wrong size label or something. But then, in the days that
followed, I became aware that my old “L” salwars seemed to fit the same as my
latest “XL” salwars did. However, on most days, I am running in the morning in
my attempt to get to work in time and so didn’t have the time to actually
check. Each morning, I paid attention and made a mental note of the fit and
kept intending to find the time to actually do a proper check and measure the
clothes etc.
So last weekend, I actually made
the time and here’s what I discovered.
- My XL salwars from the previous year/s were larger by 3” than the L salwars at the waist.
- My XL kurtas were larger then my L kurtas by nearly 2” (nearly, because it varied with the style of the kurta)
And now comes the surprise
- My new XL salwars were EXACTLY the same size as my old L salwars at the waist!
- Not just that! The salwars had much lesser “chunnat/pleats” and had lesser “ghera/circumference” on the thighs! Not even as much as there was in the old L salwars!!
- My new XL kurtas were SMALLER than my old L kurtas on the arm and the same in size as the old L kurtas on the chest and hips.
The questions I have for Fabindia are,
- What exactly are you trying to say with the smaller selection in XL? Currently, in India, the women who prefer to wear salwars as against churidars, are essentially women like me, who are large in girth and prefer to be comfortable. My minimizing the selection, you are telling me that I should not be shopping for your brand. Is that being consciously done?
- What’s the thought behind decreasing the size and uplabelling? So that women who need to wear a L/XL feel shitty and mistakenly believe that they have added weight when they actually haven’t? Or is this a new way to cheat and make more money?
Here’s my dilemma –
I like to be
comfortable and yet elegantly dressed, especially while at work. Fabindia has
given me the correct blend of the two, while most other Indian, ethnic wear
brands have never come anywhere near it in providing the fabric, the style, the
cut or the fit… not to speak of the variety, that has enabled me to simply shop
in one store. However, with Fabindia trying to shame me for my size while also
cheating me on the sly, I am disinclined to continue shopping there. BUT, then,
where do I go for my clothes? Tailors are a pain and most other ethnic wear
brands prefer to cater to a style that is really not appealing to me and
designer clothes are not my league!
Suggestions PLEASE!
