Brand Loyalty

I like clothes, favoring the color blue. I’ve gone through retail loyalty phases over my adult years, the first being Nordstrom with its twice-yearly sales. A personal shopper hired by the store provided free wardrobe selection services, collecting clothes from sale racks throughout the department store to place in a large dressing room for my try-ons. No hunting and picking for me. That phase lasted through the ’80s, when I had to dress professionally. Mine was a balancing act: playful appeal for my toddler-aged clients in my speech-language pathology private practice, yet knowledgeable and in-command for their parents.

And then a friend began to sell CAbi clothes in home parties with drinks, snacks, and camaraderie galore. One didn’t have to rely on the possibly false flattery of a store clerk, because the girlfriends were straightforward and honest, as was the CAbi sales rep. The clothing was well-made and showed more funk and style than the mainline Nordstrom clothing. I learned the reason – Carol Anderson had been a Nordstrom designer and left to launch her own line. The woman had a flair. Sadly, that friend and her husband moved to the Midwest to be near her precious grandchildren and where they had childhood roots. So, I had to select a new favorite brand…

And I became a Chico’s girl, mixing in Karen Kane clothing because this clothing designer was based in LA and the clothing was 100% American-made, in the LA garment district. Here’s one of Karen’s dresses –

Nowadays, I most often shop online, which feels like a new type of brand loyalty. My reasons are simple and clear:

1. The floor of the last store dressing room was littered with the straight pins pulled when prior customers removed them to try on the clothes. This felt unsafe as well as unkempt.
2. I don’t have to drive to a mall now that gas prices are prohibitive.
3. I can key in a color and size – sort of like my personal shopper who used to screen the store’s clothing for me – so no hunt-and-peck is required.
4. Sales on the clothing seem constant, with frequent emails to remind me to shop, shop, shop…

No matter the brand, each item was most often a sale purchase, with blue the predominant hue. And, I’d like to think, I always looked chic.