Sunday, August 19, 2012

Tight Jeans & Retail Integrity

Hi folks!!

You were waiting with bated-breath, hoping....dreaming that I'd write again?? Well, of course I will...I've just been super busy with stuff lately. Anyway...here's some rambling for your Sunday afternoon, about integrity in retail that has pleasantly surprised me.

The other day I was perusing good ole H & M in the mall, looking for grey-ish, slim/tight jeans that I could wear to my friends wedding reception BBQ (was yesterday...was a grand time!). I found a few styles that looked "painfully" slim (har har har) and really cool. Problem was, after my first pass through the store, I couldn't find a size bigger that 32" waist!! At first I just thought that all the "not-emaciated-not-extremely-skinny-and-possibly-slightly-portly people had already purchased all the 34" and up sizes of this cool-looking skinny jean. Yeah, that's it. These jeans look so cool that the "larger" people have pillaged the sizes I was looking into (no, I'm not fat. No, I'm not skinny...get it???)

My search continued. I even asked the very busy, and very uninterested retail clerk who was stocking clothes, for clarification about the "European" sizes that all the clothes had listed. She informed me that they're basically the same as American sizes. Oh. Okay...damn, H & M is cool....anyway, I could not find ANY size over 32" waist despite my effort. Then it hit me:

They don't even offer sizes past 32" waist on those type jeans.

Now that's called integrity folks! See, I can buy skinny jeans all I like (which I will) but they'll never look the way they're supposed to on my not-too-skinny self (no, I'm not fat, per-say). I can parade around town in them, wear them on the stage and in casual use at parties, but they still will have a slight gut protruding over them (slight people...very slight). They still won't look the way they can --and should-- look on a person who happens to be "larger" than the average person (such as myself). Anyway, I was impressed by H & M's integrity. Rather than even make it possible for a person to buy those jeans, resulting in a "less-than-optimal" appearance in future use, they don't even make sizes past 32" waist available! Not 33", 34",35",36"...nope! Shit, I had to scour the place to find even size 32!! Hats off to H & M company for making smart decisions for their customers who may just be a bit delusional about what they (we) can fit into and what would look "good" when eventually fit into.

But! I will find some grey-ish skinny-type jeans for my days and nights at The Whoo Space in Northampton, MA between September 4th and 10th!! But wait ZFJ, what's going on at The Whoo Space on 11 Market St. in beautiful Northampton Massachusetts between September 4th and September 10th you ask?? Well reader, it's the week where my band (Swillmerchants) is making our new album "I Don't Remember The World" available to YOU! Alright!! Yep. We're real excited about this music folks...we'll be there playing favorite records, eating, drinking, hanging, talking, breathing, farting (occasionally), laughing....you get it. Shameless promotion is fun!!

Check this out: http://www.facebook.com/events/276652089102665/

So, today we've learned that skinny jeans are a privilege, and that H & M respects all of us enough to make decisions for us, at times. We've learned that some of us will continue to seek out and wear skinny jeans. And we've learned that Swillmerchants have a new album called "I Don't Remember The World" that will be available between September 4th and September 10th (and beyond) @ our own little temporary retail location in Northampton...come get some!


~ZFJ