I do better shopping online. I am tallish and there’s not much available locally, so much more available online.

Generally you can write to customer service for actual measurements, I have to do that sometimes. Reading reviews can help too, especially when people say their measurements and what size they got.

My kids (as I did when I was their age) do love shopping at the thrift store, trying things on.

I personally enjoy irl shopping in general. Online is fun too and gives you access to much more products but I don’t think I’ll ever stop wanting to go to a book store, cloth shop etc.

For clothes in particular, I wanna try on clothes to know how it feels and if they fit

I think you’re just gonna have to double-down on returns if you want that in-person experience online without jumping through hoops. Just make sure to shop online at places that have a good policy, some clothing websites know this is how it works so their policy is setup to compliment that (free returns, awesome customer service, decent return time policy).

Think of the mail delivery as your personal entourage, they bring you clothing to try on at your leisure (which you’ve pre-selected the style/etc) and you just give them back if you’re not satisfied. You can schedule pick-ups easily without needing to go to the post office every week if the company has a decent enough packaging system (some even send return slips/packages or are printable etc).

To make it easier, I would suggest getting into the measurements of your body. It’s not like your body is going to dramatically change from day to day so it should be something you’ll be able to monitor and get used to real quick (male centric video/female centric video). It’s a little more work, but will last you a lifetime as a skill to better understand your body. It will probably help lower the number of returns as well since you’ll be better informed.

I hate shopping online. There are very few things I will order. I will absolutely never buy clothes or furniture online. I will happily pay a little bit more for the opportunity to buy in person. However, I am not a good consumer, rarely buying much of anything. So my support of local stores goes unnoticed as more and more stores close and shipping of return items grows.

The only things I would consider buying online.

Levi 505 jeans because they measure by the inches. Doesn’t matter if you get in the store or online . An inch is an inch.

My socks. I always buy the same brand and the size doesn’t change.

Same for underwear.

Other then that. Only in person. Every company measures differently. Some companies have multiple manufacturing plants who also measure differently.