Rainbow Apparel

Cheap made clothes at affordable prices. I would only recommend teens and early 20’s young girls to shop here. Once you are past your 27’s move on somwhere else. I swear all this spanish grandmas look ridiculous shopping here. If you really look around you might be able to find a piece or two. The staff is incredible rude and 0 costumer service. Highly recommend leaving your expectations out the door.

I feel like this place has changed a lot since I was last here. Sure, it’s still cheap, and it might fall apart after a few wears, but what doesn’t now? Oh wait, maybe everywhere else has changed…
Shoes downstairs, security check is only a maybe, and there was a mysterious suitcase sitting near the front… maybe security should have checked that…

You want those applebottom jeans, boots with the fur? but not the price that comes along with it? Well, folks, shlep on down to Rainbow, the mecca of dollar divas and cent-​istas. It’s really affordable. You can find trendy stuff that will go out of style in a year and then after that year, not regret buying it because you didn’t overpay for it. I got stuff like velvet halter tops, polyester gold jumpsuits, and $ 3 camis. Not the best quality clothes, but if you are looking for some retail therapy but your wallet isn’t busting at the seams, then this is your paradise.
I love this place. I always end up leaving happier than when I came. At the end of economic recession and student debt, there is always Rainbow.

What I have good luck with here: Leggings, T-​shirts, the occasional random dress. I’ve run here after work on my way to a date for a one-​off shirt I could wear. I’ve wished they had boots in my size. I find myself baffled by the lack of skirts available (I do that at most stores, actually). Inexpensive clothes that probably won’t exactly last, but they’re not supposed to, really. This stuff gets the job done, for less. Weird return policies, FYI.

Anywhere I can find white jeans for $ 16.99 that are actually flattering, and a sleazy dress I can wear out to Golden Temple dance party, and spill a scorpion bowl on and not care is the kind of place I like to shop at. Is there anything wrong with that?!

Im sorry but if anyone here is rating this store anything more than 2 or 3 stars you need to go and shoot yourself!!! this store is disgusting and thats being nice in my eyes! There are clothes everywhere and it is so cramped and unorganized its ridiculous. I don’t understand how management can even hire people who have the most inappropriate conversations ever in front of customers and think its ok. Im sorry but i dont want to hear about how good your boyfriend is in bed. Or how you beat this chicks ass so bad that the cops had to be called o₀
I wouldn’t even waist my money buying anything here because it’s not even worth it! for what so it can break a few days later? Belts and some cute sandals is the only thing you will ever see me walk out that store with. The clothes are HORRIBLE and the fact that people are sitting here and saying their clothes are «cute» WTF?! You obviously must not have much taste in clothes and god knows what your closet looks like smh.

Ewww, this place is horrible. Staff acts like they couldn’t care less about their customers. Happened to run into this place for some shoes but after the experience I had, I will never step foot in there ever again and I advise you not to also!

I successfully avoided this place for a year and a half and that was oh-​so-​silly of me. But I took notes, so if any of you are a little curious about all that is Rainbow but, like I was, are a bit befuddled by it, I present to you:
The Unofficial Guide to Rainbow Apparel
–For every ridiculous piece of merchandise you see, just remember that there is — or will be soon — someone proudly sporting it down Winter Street and around Downtown Crossing. If you think you may have passed up something you would have loved, just look around for the real live model!
–Doesn’t matter what size you are, if you’re tall or a wee thing, a junior miss, a miss thang, or Miss Daisy: you’ll find something that fits you — your body and personality. That is, if your personality is ca-​raaazy.
–You can always find really funky jeans at Rainbow. Best part is: they usually fit well too, don’t quickly get ratty and old-​looking, and they cost less than a pedicure.
–Ignore the salespeople for the most part. Some are good, but many of them have better things to do than tell you that the store does, in fact, have everything, and yes, the color you are looking at is chartreuse with pink polka dots, and of course the pants are supposed to have a big hole under the butt.
–Don’t visit Rainbow Apparel after a nice day at the Container Store, or anything made for organization-​savvy people. Simply: if you love stores that have an easy-​to-​view, organized, clean layout, this is not the place for you!
–When winter is almost over, stock up on their clearance winter coats. You won’t wear them in January or February of the next year because they’re way too light, but they work quite well for March and April and are just as great as fall outerwear too. You can totally cash in on the fact that they don’t really know the meaning of winter coats.
–Have fun and remember to smile!

Here’s the straight dope:
1) This is where sex workers of varying degrees shop. No judgment, it just is.
2) I am really scared of some people in there/​the male cashier who CAN’T STOP GRUNTING. Is this sexual? Are you dismayed? Are you agreeing with me? GOD-​AHHH, just tell me which one and I will feel a lot better about this.
3) 98% of the merchandise is horrifying and baffling (hello, one-​shoulder shirt that just says «The 80s» on it) — but I just found
. For $ 19.99, and they are literally identical to a thrice as expensive pair I bought at Urban Outfitters.
They don’t even have jewels or chains or hideous embroidery on the ass pockets! Must be their bedazzler accidentally skipped over this pair. A miraculous stroke of luck for me, but literally everything else about this car-​trunk-​in-​Chinatown-​turned-​storefront made me want to vomit in my own hands.

Things I have purchased here and I am not afraid to admit it:
–A huge buckled belt to replace the one that broke on my Marc Jacobs’ coat. Yes, everything thinks it came with the coat.
–Several scarves. I wear them all the time. They actually last and they are like $ 4 each. Can’t go wrong with scarves. Especially in E.V.E.R.Y. color!
–A cropped knit sweater that looks perfect with a pair of high-​waist jeans I bought at LF.
–Several pairs of leggings in varying colors… black, purple, gray (with stirrups) and mustard. These also last cost me about $ 8 each.
A pair of purple ankle boots that I’ve worn once since I bought them. They were $ 25. If I worn them once more, I’ll be satisfied.
–A tweed black-​and-​white belted fall jacket. For $ 30, I can wear it for one season and not feel guilty if it gets wrecked or goes out of style. No, no one believes me when I tell them I got it at Rainbow. Yes, it unraveled at the inner elbow and now has huge whole in it… a less than a month. Eh, you can’t win ‘em all.

Damn this place is such a hot mess. So why do I keep going back? Perhaps because I, too, am a total f*cking hot mess? Maybe I like my clothes to fall apart within 2 washings? Or I enjoy being verbally abused in Spanish by sales reps? Oh yes, the list goes on…
Cluttered, disorganized, piled with mounds of crap clothes made in sweat shops, filled with more pleather, polyester, shoulderless shirts, and scratchy underwear than you can shake a stick at. Employees, if they even acknowledge your existence (rare), are rude, opting to chit chat in Spanish about how bored they are (hehehe I understand you!!! watch what you say!!!), rather than actually, I don’t know… work?
Oh, and the dressing room doors only go up about boob-​high, and the security guards have a nasty habit of standing next to them where they can totally see in while you change… pervert alert!!!
They’ll check your bags at the door. They’ll treat you like a criminal. They’ll abuse you and spit you out…
Buuut eeeeevery once in a while, I stop in just to scope the scene in hooker fashion and juniors-​style work clothes, only to stumble upon something truly fabulous (think: Ligaya’s high-​wasted jeans in that Boston dot com article… [
HOT!). A great summer dress for $ 15? Check. A trendy vest for $ 9? Check. A few basic tank tops, or some bangles to adorn your otherwise naked wrists for $ 5? Check!
So yeah, it’s a war zone in there. But I say go in ready for battle, with an eye for style in the strangest of places, and wearing a tank top to keep on while you change. Who knows, it might just be your lucky day.

Despite being rather dingy and disorganized, there’s a certain satisfaction knowing that anything contained within a place could be yours. The zero guilt factor makes a perusal oddly liberating.
Oh yes, most of the goods are chintzy and tenaciously body clinging. And with an inventory of trendy wear along the lines of Tello’s you’ll be hard pressed to dig up a find but when you triumph and find that oh-​so-​cute and ridiculously cheap piece, it’ll feel sooo good.
In my case, it came in the form of some HOT wide leg, high-​waisted jeans for $ 24.99, the single most complimented pair of pants I own. Booyah to the Brasilians and their imports!

Lowest quality stuff imaginable. They make you check your bag with a security officer at the door it’s so crowded that you can’t move.
No thanks.

I felt dirty being in this store. I was lured in by the brightly coloured elcheapo shoes displayed in the window. Until I realised that they have cardboard soles, and wouldn’t last more than a week. I’d like to echo what Pyla said, in all earnesty I thought it was a clearance centre. But no, that’s just the layout of the store. The racks of clothes are jammed so closely together that you scrape yourself just trying to weave through the overstocked piles of tops. And it is cheap stuff, that will fall apart after the second wash. Where I come from, this sort of store ain’t called a ‘urban hooker store’ for nothing. It’s crap quality goods, and terrible service also. The sales assistants were far more interested in yelling and squaking at eachother about what so-​and-​so said to bliggedy blah at the party they went to on the weekend, than putting my sale through. I was fortune’s fool for even setting foot inside the door… let alone convincing myself that the $ 6 shirt looked okay on me despite not being able to button it up across my chest.
DON’T BOTHER.

I don’t shop here because it’s not my style. This place is a few steps below Tello’s, and that says something.
That said, it’s ridiculous to give it one star or complain about the service or quality of the clothes. This shit is so cheap! You get what you pay for.
This place doesn’t pretend to be anything other than cheap, tacky clothes. It’s not couture. Most of the people that shop here can’t afford much more.

great place to grab a quick and cheap (not necessarily hoochie) outfit for the night/​weekend. yes, 70% of rainbow is full of the type of clothes you see girls wearing on the T, and think… where the hell can you still buy clothes like that (like those acid washed skin tight jeans with no butt pockets) but the other 30% (usually hidden in some corner) is cute. it’s still cheap, low quality clothes– but cute. i’ve gotten sweater dresses, and jumpers here that i’ve worn to work. also stock up on cheap accessories, and tees/​tanks.
there’s barely any space to move around, you randomly have to check your bags with the guard, and if you ever find a sales associate to unlock the dressing room for you, you’ll find that it’s pretty gross.
still, if you’re ever in need of a quick outfit afterwork, or wet seal is closed, you might as well stop in. i’ve found my best purchases hidden in the corner, right behind the window where the guard stands.

If you know how to shop — you can find some GREAT stuff here! Okay, its a little well, light on the décor indside, but If you are into trendy stuff they have some really good items. You have to be careful of little things like fabric, or the tacky belt that might be hiding a cute dress underneath, but there is great stuff to be found here. Keep your eyes especially peeled Lipsy brand — they sell that at Topshop in London (aka one of my favorite stores ever). Also make sure to try everything on! Yes, the dressy room is a little ghetto, especially if you are tall and can thus see everyone in the store, but some things that look cute fit totally awkward.
As a few people have mentioned, their shoes are SUPER cheap. So if you ever have anything you are just going to wear shoes once for — head here to buy them. I have bought several halloween costumes there. Not that their shoes are not good in general, but really walk around in them, cuz sometimes they can be really not comfy.
WARNING — Its really easy to walk out of somewhere like this looking like a fashion disaster. If you think you are at risk, DO NOT go alone. Bring a friend to talk you out of it.

This place is so cheap it boggles the mind. You can get trendy going-​out clothes for next to nothing. Obviously not the best quality stuff, but with these prices that doesn’t matter.

I got a pair of rediculously awesome red pumps here for $ 14 — cheap! I went in just to browse but I walked out with a pair of shoes and two shirts. Rainbow kind of reminds me of H&M — the store is packed with merchandise and everything is relatively cheap. Fun stuff. My one complaint is that the fitting room is in dire need of some makeover-​love.

Great shoes. Great prices on shoes. Lots of colors and styles. Not top line quality but the price is right. A step up from payless, but not quite DSW, but again, they have tons of shoes for $ 7, $ 9 and $ 14. Located right near Macys and Filenes in downtown crossing.