I am seriously challenged with all things related to fashion...I have been all my life. I'll have brief moments when I buy and wear somewhat trendy items, but I always go back to my jeans, t-shirts, yoga pants, and work attire that's just dressy enough to get by. After having my son and still carrying a fair amount of baby weight, I've recently become borderline obsessed with overhauling my closet. I think partly because I'm not happy with my body, and partly because it's one of the few things I feel like I have control of these days. With two young kids and two working parents, you kind of just have to go with the flow of things. I've spent a fair amount of time looking at outfits online, trying to learn how to pieces and colors.
Most of my clothes come from Target, Kohls, and Old Navy. They are all within 5 minutes of my house and are budget friendly. The problem is that I rarely. ..RARELY have time to actually shop. Sure I can grab a top here and there when I run in to buy diapers, but that's about it. If I actually try to shop for myself, I will spend more time telling my daughter to stop touching things and to quit hiding in the racks of clothes than I will looking at anything. IF she decides to cooperate, that's when my son decides he's had enough and starts fussing.
When you become a parent you temporarily give up certain things (you gain so much more). Shopping is one of those things. I digress.
While scrolling through Facebook one day, I passed over an ad for something called Le Tote. Curiosity won and I clicked on it. For $50 a month, Le Tote will send me 5 items at a time. Shirts, skirts, pants, jackets, jewelry and even handbags. All I have to do is fill out a style profile and add items to my closet. You can browse all of the available items and "like" them to add to your closet. A stylist will hand pick 5 items for you, and then you approve and switch out anything you don't like. They send it to you, you wear it, and then send it back. They send another tote. Wash, rinse, repeat. As many times as can in a month. You also have the option to keep and purchase any of the items if you like them that much (I'll talk more about this further down). So, I threw caution (and $50) to the wind and signed up.
The style profile was pretty thorough, but I still felt like it didn't capture "my style" or lack thereof. Thankfully, you can add as many items as you want to your closet, so I figured this would give the stylist a good idea of what I like. I mean, technically they could just send me items from my closet and things should be on point, right?
Sadly, that was not the case with my first tote. I was SOOOO excited to get my first tote. When I got home from work and saw the box at the front door, I ran inside, settled my kids and immediately opened it. My first thought? "What the hell is that smell?" I know they dry clean all the clothing, but there was some chemical that just smelled awful. If I had worn any of the pieces, they would have needed to be washed first.
I wish I had documented my totes with photos, but here is a shot from the website:
I'll start with the jewelry. I liked both the necklace and the earings. In fact, I ended up paying the $16 for the earrings and keeping them. The necklace was cute, but the bar kept tilting off center and that annoyed me. Also, it's $54 and that's a little steep for me (as are most of the Le Tote prices).
The first shirt pictured is a wrap back top from Octavia and the Le Tote purchase price is $54. I liked this top, but the wrap back was too open for me.
Next, is a fleece cardigan. I REALLY wanted to like this when I saw it on the website, but it was so big and frumpy. In the website pic, it almost looks like a casual blazer. It was also very heave...way to heavy for Florida in Sept/Oct.
Last, is a tunic top that I also REALLY wanted to like. This is a style I buy often, but the actual shirt was way too large and too heavy. The fit was also strange in that it was loose at the top and more fitted through the hips.
All in all, I hated my first tote. By noon the next day I had it all packed up in the postage paid envelope and dropped at my local USPS station, and then I went to the site to review my items. Kudos to Le Tote for emailing me almost immediately afterward. It was a bit of a generic email, but I replied and gave more specifics on why I was unhappy. They responded in less than 24 hours addressing each of my concerns. Thumbs up on customer service! They also included an extra item in my next tote, which was ready to approve less than 24 hours after dropping my previous tote in the mail.
Number 2 was much better:
The only item I didn't like from my 2nd tote was the blazer. It had shoulder pads and those are a big no-no for my broad shoulders. The grey tunic went really well with my red Old Navy pixie pants. I wore the black shirt with some jeans, and the blue sleeveless with a pair of khaki shorts. I liked the wristlet, and thought about keeping it, but it just wasn't big enough for all that I needed to stuff in it. I did keep the necklace since I have a very limited jewelry collection. Tote #2...success! After wearing the three tops, I packed up all but the necklace and stuffed it in the mail to return, then started checking my email every hour hoping to see that my next tote was ready to be approved.
As with the 2nd tote, less than 24 hours after returning the last one, my next one was ready to approve. This is when the real disappointment hit. Only one of the 5 items was from my closet, and it was an item that I had actually removed from my closet after realizing the style was not something I would wear. There were TWO bangle bracelet things that were hideous, in my opinion. One of the shirts was a basic t-shirt. I don't even remember what the last item was. Thankfully, they will let you swap out the items if you do not like them. Unfortunately, when I went to swap out all 5 items, there was almost nothing available. The only other jewelry items available were earrings, and my only other clothing options were a few shirts. So I swapped out for three shirts and two pair of earrings that I don't really like. I'm hopeful that at least one of the shirts will work for a girls night out I have this weekend.
My last complaint about tote #3 is the shipping. I put #2 in the mail on Saturday and they still have not sent my new tote. Assuming they send it later this afternoon, I still won't receive it until Thursday afternoon at the earliest. So this week is a complete loss.
I really like the idea of Le Tote. Being able to constantly wear new/different things is really cool. And the company has great customer service. That said, I do believe I'll be cancelling after my 3rd tote. It's just not for me. I feel like the prices for the items are too high considering that these are technically used items. I'm also way too nervous about one of my kids turning into Captain Distructo and spilling something or spitting up on a shirt that I don't own. I have been unable to find out much about the brands they offer, and the quality for most of what I have received does not seem to match the price. If I had decided to purchase all of tote #2, it would have been $275!! And, the aqua colored shirt had a tiny hole in it.
Also, they should consider offering a jewelry/accessory only option. Maybe in another 6-12 months I will try them again.
The style profile was pretty thorough, but I still felt like it didn't capture "my style" or lack thereof. Thankfully, you can add as many items as you want to your closet, so I figured this would give the stylist a good idea of what I like. I mean, technically they could just send me items from my closet and things should be on point, right?
Sadly, that was not the case with my first tote. I was SOOOO excited to get my first tote. When I got home from work and saw the box at the front door, I ran inside, settled my kids and immediately opened it. My first thought? "What the hell is that smell?" I know they dry clean all the clothing, but there was some chemical that just smelled awful. If I had worn any of the pieces, they would have needed to be washed first.
I wish I had documented my totes with photos, but here is a shot from the website:
The first shirt pictured is a wrap back top from Octavia and the Le Tote purchase price is $54. I liked this top, but the wrap back was too open for me.
Next, is a fleece cardigan. I REALLY wanted to like this when I saw it on the website, but it was so big and frumpy. In the website pic, it almost looks like a casual blazer. It was also very heave...way to heavy for Florida in Sept/Oct.
Last, is a tunic top that I also REALLY wanted to like. This is a style I buy often, but the actual shirt was way too large and too heavy. The fit was also strange in that it was loose at the top and more fitted through the hips.
All in all, I hated my first tote. By noon the next day I had it all packed up in the postage paid envelope and dropped at my local USPS station, and then I went to the site to review my items. Kudos to Le Tote for emailing me almost immediately afterward. It was a bit of a generic email, but I replied and gave more specifics on why I was unhappy. They responded in less than 24 hours addressing each of my concerns. Thumbs up on customer service! They also included an extra item in my next tote, which was ready to approve less than 24 hours after dropping my previous tote in the mail.
Number 2 was much better:
As with the 2nd tote, less than 24 hours after returning the last one, my next one was ready to approve. This is when the real disappointment hit. Only one of the 5 items was from my closet, and it was an item that I had actually removed from my closet after realizing the style was not something I would wear. There were TWO bangle bracelet things that were hideous, in my opinion. One of the shirts was a basic t-shirt. I don't even remember what the last item was. Thankfully, they will let you swap out the items if you do not like them. Unfortunately, when I went to swap out all 5 items, there was almost nothing available. The only other jewelry items available were earrings, and my only other clothing options were a few shirts. So I swapped out for three shirts and two pair of earrings that I don't really like. I'm hopeful that at least one of the shirts will work for a girls night out I have this weekend.
My last complaint about tote #3 is the shipping. I put #2 in the mail on Saturday and they still have not sent my new tote. Assuming they send it later this afternoon, I still won't receive it until Thursday afternoon at the earliest. So this week is a complete loss.
I really like the idea of Le Tote. Being able to constantly wear new/different things is really cool. And the company has great customer service. That said, I do believe I'll be cancelling after my 3rd tote. It's just not for me. I feel like the prices for the items are too high considering that these are technically used items. I'm also way too nervous about one of my kids turning into Captain Distructo and spilling something or spitting up on a shirt that I don't own. I have been unable to find out much about the brands they offer, and the quality for most of what I have received does not seem to match the price. If I had decided to purchase all of tote #2, it would have been $275!! And, the aqua colored shirt had a tiny hole in it.
Also, they should consider offering a jewelry/accessory only option. Maybe in another 6-12 months I will try them again.
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