Stitches

Stitches caters to the 13−19-year-old girls with a taste for trendy clothes on a shoestring budget. The content is highly seasonal and nothing in the store seems to be much over $ 49, a rarity in this country at times. They serve up heaps of fast fashion by way of thin t-​shirts, dresses, skirts, and sportswear in bright colours and prints, a selection of inexpensive jackets, and lots of shoes and accessories for both genders. The guy’s section consists mostly of t-​shirts, printed shirts, a few hoodies, and pants. For essential basics like tank tops or a couple of cute t-​shirts in this season’s colours, Stitches fills a useful niche. Sales for $ 5 or buy one, get one half off are common. It might be fair to call the store Canada’s answer to Forever 21, Delia’s or even H&M, but it’s not an accurate description. Stitches falls closest to Delia’s for low prices and frequent sales, which are essential to keep Stitches competitive and appealing because most of their clothing won’t survive more than a season or two of regular use. Quality is not the name of the game. Extremely thin fabrics don’t stand up to wear and tear well, though the outerwear might be somewhat sturdier. In truth, I wouldn’t drop $ 40 on a fleece peacoat to find out otherwise.
I avoid the Windsor store like the plague after more than one brush with a distressingly disorganized interior. Wall-​mounted hangers above eye level tend to be the best place to thumb through offerings, and associates are usually nearby to pick the size you need. Anywhere the customers get their hands tends to be a disaster zone. Unfolded shirts litter the tables in unvaried sizes by midday. It’s not like this; at opening and probably near close, those stacks are straight and sorted by size and style. Get a few teenagers through treating the store like their closet floor and I’m soon dodging piles of mismatched t-​shirts and discarded miniskirts that wouldn’t fit a 10 year old, desperately doing my best not to break my neck slipping. The front of the store shoes more of this hard use than the back, possibly because those responsible already carted off their products to try on.
Fitting rooms line up against the back wall and need an associate to open them. It’s an annoying congestion point for bored teens on their cellphones sitting, taking up the bench. If you bring your partner, friends or kids, tell them to flee to the Starbucks in Chapters if you value their good opinion of you. The rooms are not especially friendly for tall girls like myself and I feel the need to slink down to avoid being seen in the event of pulling something over my head. Another sign it’s best suited for short tweens and people not at their full growth spurt? I don’t know, make of that what you will. The checkout area is in the centre of the store and predictably very busy, heaped with returns, wrong sizes, and stock to hang up.
Their website doesn’t show a lot of functionality for finding clothes, though it works for careers and locating stores just fine. I haven’t used any online shopping features, a shame given I might take advantage of finding cheap belts or jewelry for an outfit were there a way to search.