A great place for summertime clobber! (republic.co.uk)

Member Name: sakura8

Product:	republic.co.uk
Date:	26/06/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice range for men and women, reasonable delivery charges

Disadvantages: Strange returns by post policy

Republic is a fashion retailer that specialises in casual men's and women's clothing. They have stores all over the country and you can also order online from their website.

My fiancé hates shopping for clothes, but his wardrobe was in desperate need of updating (the holes are from old age and not moths!), as we've been together for nearly 4 years and he's only bought a handful of new things since we met! So after my failed attempt to buy him some new clothes from Joe Browns, I suggested he have a look at the Republic website, even though there is a nearby store in Kingston, I knew he'd prefer to shop online.

THE WEBSITE:
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I think the website is very well designed and laid out, so it is very easy to find what you're looking for or simply to browse around. The main menus are split into:
- Just In: for all the new additions to the range.
- Women: menu opens up into more specific categories.
- Men: menu opens up into more specific categories.
- Offers: they have lots of deals, such as any 2 for £10, £30 or £50.
- Brands: they carry brands such as Bench, G-Star, Henleys and SoulCal.


There is also a Search function where you can enter either a keyword or product code, but type carefully as it won't suggest items if you misspell a word.

We headed straight to the Men's section to have a look at what they had to offer. I was confident that my fiancé would find something he liked, as I knew from previous visits to the Republic store what kind of styles they stocked. The shorts and combats are casual and baggy, so they're perfect for keeping cool and comfortable. They come in a range of colours and the usual camouflage pattern, so he ordered a few pairs. The prices start around £19.99, but they have quite a lot in the 2 for £30 Offer. He also found a few T-shirts and tops he liked, which ranged from £9.99 for a plain long-sleeved top up to £19.99 for an Addict T-shirt. Even though we were shopping for my fiancé, I couldn't resist having a look around the website and unfortunately for my bank balance I found a few things I liked!

The products are very well laid out and well described, but what I like best is the photographs of the clothing. You can enlarge the main image and then you can look at other images of the clothing taken from different angles.

The sizing guide is also brilliant as they have different sizing tables for different brands, so it took out a lot of the guesswork involved in choosing sizes.

It also tells you if an item is low on stock online and if that is the case then you can click on a link to see which Republic stores have that item in stock, which is really handy.

Ordering is very simple and straightforward; just add items to your basket and checkout. You register and create an account, which is simple enough and this allows you to view your order history. One complaint I have is that when you view the items in your basket, it doesn't tell you which items are on Offer, so it's not very easy to see if you've got enough items to qualify for the 2 for £30 etc., however I made sure all the Offers were honoured and the discount had been applied when I checked out.


PRICES & DELIVERY:
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I think their prices are fairly reasonable, especially if you buy things in the Offers section.

As we'd spent over £100 our order qualified for free express delivery. However, I think their other delivery charges are very reasonable:
* Express: arrives next day if placed before 5pm Monday to Friday
- Free on all orders over £100
- £2.99 on orders between £50 - £100
- £4.50 on orders less than £50
* Standard: takes 2-4 working days for most of the UK
- £3.95 on orders less than £50


CONFIRMATION OF ORDER AND DISPATCH AND DELIVERY:
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I placed my order in the evening of Thursday 4th June and I received a confirmation email straight away. 2 days later I received another email to confirm my order had been dispatched and it arrived later that day by courier, so speed of delivery was excellent.


RETURNS
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We were pleased with the majority of items, although my fiancé was disappointed that a pair of shorts were too small, even though he ordered the same size as the other shorts. They were a slightly different style, however it still amazes me how the sizing can be so different!

He also really liked the Addict T-Shirt he bought, but after one wash in the machine it was ruined. The T-Shirt was white, but the small Addict label on the outside was dark blue and it ran in the wash, leaving patches of blue all over the T-Shirt.

So I looked into the returns procedure on the website and it said:
"All items can be returned to us via post within 14 days of receiving your order for a refund".

OK, so far so good.

However, I found the next part a bit confusing/annoying:
"Items returned by post can only be exchanged if they are part of one of our 2 for £30 or 2 for £50 offer. Please note an exchange will only be issued if just one item within the offer is returned; if both items in the offer are returned a refund will be issued back to the card used for payment instead".

None of the items we wanted to return for a refund or exchange were part of an Offer, so I assumed we couldn't return them by post. So a trip into Kingston to visit the Republic store had to be made.

Unfortunately they didn't have the shorts in stock at all in this store, so I couldn't get my fiancé a bigger size. I just assumed that all the stores carried the same stock as online, but they don't, so it's a good idea to use the stock checking system online!

They refunded the money back to my credit card without any question and I received the money within a few days.

OVERALL:
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Republic sell the kind of clothes that both my fiancé and I like to wear, so it's very easy to spend a lot of money, especially online! I also find visiting the actual store in Kingston a pleasant experience as it has a relaxed atmosphere and the staff are friendly - the changing rooms are also nice and never have a very long queue. We were disappointed that we had to return some things and I found their returns policy by post a bit strange, but you can never get it 100% right with online clothes shopping and I think we did quite well. At least my fiancé has some new clothes to wear this summer!


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For reference:
The shorts my fiancé ordered were:
Soul Cal Jolla Short II - size 34 waist, these fitted
Soul Cal Crazy Camo Short - size Medium, these were too small (and actually the size guide says Medium = 32-34 inches and Large = 34-36)

Summary: I could spend far too much money here!