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

Shopping at Wal-Mart for example for clothes is one of the most underwhelming experiences I ever get. They did away with Fruit of the Loom shorts and even their cotton-branded shorts with AthleticWorks. Now there’s too many jersey sports like shorts and that’s all that they ever have. On top of that, all that they got for clothes is corporate branded shit and I don’t want to be a walking billboard for corporate. As well as those shirts with dumb sayings on them to try and appeal with people.

Shopping online is obviously better.

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 feel the opposite just because I rarely find clothes that fit me well in person, whereas online they can have a broader stock. The sizing is not necessarily an issue because I know what my size is, and I’m hesitant to buy from online stores without a size guide (though my guess is usually right). If it has a size guide I just measure myself to check it’s in line with their sizing.