A little shopping help?

General discussion of skirt and kilt-based fashion for men, and stuff that goes with skirts and kilts.
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Ralph
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A little shopping help?

Post by Ralph »

With winter coming on I thought I'd like to try a heavy wool skirt. My search skills are usually pretty sharp, but I'm coming up dry when I try to hunt for a skirt meeting all my criteria:
  • wool or wool blend
  • maxi (ankle) length
  • fits a 40 to 42 inch waist, or women's size 20-22
No matter how carefully I phrase the search terms, putting them in quotes to ensure they're all in one phrase etc. Google will direct me to pages that match the various words anywhere on the page in any order. Usually in the form of Ebay or Etsy search result windows (WHY oh WHY does a search engine return the results of other search engines???) where there might be a wool cardigan, a maxi skirt (silk or rayon or something equally useless in winter), and a plus-sized cocktail dress in separate listings, but all showing up on the results page. And Pinterest! Pick one or two of my search terms and send me thousands of Pinterest results that just match a couple of words at random. Even on the rare occasion I actually find the pin that contains all my search terms... it's just the image, with a dead link (if any) to ebay or a blog or something equally useless.

Here's a typical "stealth search aggregator": the site calls itself "Ava's Clothing", making it sound like a retailer, but all it does is just hijack the Google search and throw together a list of ebay sales matching one or two of the terms. In this case my search was:
intext:"wool maxi skirt" "size 20"

Oh, and lots of results from vendors in China who think "5XL" means waist size 34, if they mention waist size at all.

Surely some of my brothers here are equally ample, and have bought wool skirts. Can you point me in the right direction? Preferably North America for the sake of shipping costs but I can at least look at .uk vendors if they have what I need.
Ralph!
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r.m.anderson
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by r.m.anderson »

You are better off fighting windmills Don Quixote !
Those damn search engines think they are oh so smart !
They know all about you and every time you use one
their specific knowledge is enhanced thus it is not getting
easier to search for the holy grail you seek.
Continual misdirect is their game.

At least on Ebay after you have centered your search down
to a category on the left hand side of the web page you will
perhaps find a size menu; colors and other related data.

BEWARE the Asian sizing - dem people are smaller have
shorter arms and legs and in general are not bulked out
on physical form with a junk food diet. There are no apple
orange or even vegetable charts for comparison.
ALWAYS ASK FOR THE MEASUREMENTS BE IT IN INCHES OR
METRICS !
Caution about disclaiming statements that measurements
may be OFF 2-3 centimeters difference - that is over an inch
difference - critical on fix measured fabrics not so much with
spandex stretchables.
The photos shown in the web pages are stock photos - DO
NOT RELY on using interpolation methods of determining the
fit from these photos.
Find something of interest - click on sellers other items.
May find a measurement chart for similar items but not an
absolute guarantee of the same thing.

Find something of interest - flag it to your WATCHING file.
Then save you search ravaged fingers by looking to the right
side of the page and use the drop down menu to FIND SIMILIAR
ITEMS - click on that and fine tune your search from that point.
Check on the sellers competition for better pricing and often a
better shipping and handling break.
Buy more than one item or a series of accessories ask for a
combined shipping and handling break.
Note pricing in ITALITICS indicates money pricing in other
that US dollars. Check the monetary exchange to see if the item
you seek - is it time to buy now or wait for a favorable exchange.

With Ebay you can always back track on your search and redefine
the parameters.
Learn how to outsmart the smart search engines.
Ebay frequently misdirects the search for a SKORT to a skirt and
does the reverse when searching for a skirt with an internal panty.
Yes some skirts come with internal support underwear but obviously
not all skirts have this feature. You have to be a bit knowledgeable
about the structure of the clothing item you are in search for.

There is so much to being a savvy ebay shopper.
Don't forget to check the sellers sales track record (FEEDBACK)
Is the type of guy I really want to do business with ?
Will he fix correct adjust for your mistakes and his ?

Good Luck - Good Searching - be that satisfied buyer !
"YES SKIRTING MATTERS"!
"Kilt-On" -or- as the case may be "Skirt-On" !
WHY ?
Isn't wearing a kilt enough?
Well a skirt will do in a pinch!
Make mine short and don't you dare think of pinching there !
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SkirtsDad
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by SkirtsDad »

Have you tried Google Shopping? Also, if you want to get rid of some search entries you can put a minus infront of that word such as -Pinterest for instance
Bertino56
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by Bertino56 »

Try Mouseworks and Skhoop Insulated Skirts, both
in the "men in skirts links."
skirted_in_SF
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Location: San Francisco, CA USA

Re: A little shopping help?

Post by skirted_in_SF »

If you are up to spending some serious money (~$200) check out the site for Pendleton Woolen Mills. (Google Pendleton it will come at or near the top.) I just checked and they had one ankle length wool skirt on offer. I just bought one from a local consignment shop for $50 that probably would have been ankle length if it wasn't a Petite. It's mid calf length as it is.
Stuart Gallion
No reason to hide my full name 8)
Back in my skirts in San Francisco
skirted_in_SF
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by skirted_in_SF »

Ralph wrote:Oh, and lots of results from vendors in China who think "5XL" means waist size 34, if they mention waist size at all.
Boy, I know that. I have a made in China leather jacket that is marked XL that fits even though I usually wear a Medium. I bought it at a local leather goods shop and the sales person knew to direct me to the correct size.
Stuart Gallion
No reason to hide my full name 8)
Back in my skirts in San Francisco
Gusto10
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by Gusto10 »

ave you tried ixquick.com? i claims to combine the various search machines. It did help me to find info on oncology which was not found by Google or Bing.
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oldsalt1
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by oldsalt1 »

I just went to amazon i put in wool maxi skirt and got about 50 or more choices. and while the majority seem to have an Asian feel there seemed to be some other manufacturers
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Judah14
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by Judah14 »

It would be better if sellers provide actual measurements like this one, for example. Note that while the example is a costume, it lists both men's and women's sizes for an item that is a skirt suit, which should be a good thing :wink:
らき☆
Ralph
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by Ralph »

oldsalt1 wrote:I just went to amazon i put in wool maxi skirt and got about 50 or more choices. and while the majority seem to have an Asian feel there seemed to be some other manufacturers
And therein lies the rub. Yes, you can get TONS of results for "wool maxi skirt" (with or without quotes, which determines whether it looks for the exact phrase or just any appearance of the words in any order). But when you drill down into the details, you find that *every* *single* *one* of the results fails at least one of my criteria -- mostly the size. If I were a size 14 I could wear any of the hundreds of choices, but when it has to accommodate a 40-inch or larger waist, not so much.
Here you see over 500 hits on "wool maxi skirt":
Image

Then go over to the filters on the left and limit the results to size 22 (approximately waist size 42)...
Image

Suddenly the field is reduced to one hit, and even that is wrong because even though the search terms include "wool" it's a velvet skirt. It's nice, albeit a bit expensive for me, but I have a couple of velvet skirts.
Image

This ain't my first rodeo :D . I spent a good two weeks hunting in vain before it occurred to my the skirtaholics here might have already solved this conundrum.
Ralph!
pelmut
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by pelmut »

I wanted a long woollen skirt a few years ago and decided to make my own; even then, it wasn't cheap. My waist size is 9" smaller than yours, but the skirt is so incredibly heavy that I only wear it in the dead of Winter - and then only on special occasions.
There is no such thing as a normal person, only someone you don't know very well yet.
Ralph
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by Ralph »

Thanks, pelmut. I was thinking about going that route too -- how difficult could it be to make a big circle with an elastic waistband? -- but it's starting to sound like I'm better off staying with the velvet skirts I already have rather than keep hunting this great white whale which may or may not exist, and which may come at too great a price to be worth it.

Thanks, also, to the folks who pointed me at shopping sites that specialize in cold-weather or men's skirts. Sadly, those choices are either not wool, not long enough, or not sized for big guys but at least they gave me new avenues to explore. Those quilted, insulated arctic skirts are a fascinating approach to extreme cold! But when it gets cold enough to need that, I'll just stay bundled up in my office with a space heater 3 inches from my feet.

Before I close this thread (no pun intended) out I should also apologize for the surly tone of my last reply. I should just stay away from the keyboard when everything I have tried turns into frustrating disappointment, so I don't take it out on friends who are trying to help.
Ralph!
DonP
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Re: A little shopping help?

Post by DonP »

Sounds like a kilt would fit your needs
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