Online shopping began in 1979, and it’s a strategy that has benefitted many designers and brand and clients. However, the fashion industry did not take advantage of this until recently.

Laura Medrano, sophomore linguistics major, said one of the biggest perks of online shopping is the commodity of not having to leave one’s bedroom in order to skim through items in a store and purchase them.

“Many people tend to go to certain stores just to look at the clothes, and many times, if they can’t find anything that they like, they just leave the store,” Medrano said. “Online shopping gives an opportunity for clients to check out the merchandise without having to come all the way to the mall.”

Online shopping is a relatively new trend and many people, even those who love the experience of shopping and walking around stores, gladly take advantage of it every now and then.

Promotions and sales are constantly available on many online stores, something that might only happen a couple of times a year in physical stores.

Thanks to the trend of online shopping, many stores around the globe are creating their own online shopping websites.

Pure Denim, located on 5860 N. Mesa St., Suite 110, will open an online store March. It will allow clients to skim through catalogs online and place their orders to be delivered right to their doors.

Carolina Franco, senior art history major, who works at Pure Denim, said a large part of their customers travel from Mexico, so online shopping allows for them to save money on their trips to the store.

“The advantage is that their clothes will be shipped right to their house,” Franco said.  “It works for us too, for now our reach will expand.”

Just as online shopping benefits businesses, it can also benefit consumers.

Daniela Cervantes, junior marketing major, said she enjoys online shopping because of the commodities and discounts.

“I am the number one fan of online shopping,” Cervantes said. “I love it because I’m able to find many peculiar and unique clothes and accessories that I would otherwise never find in any stores here at El Paso.”

Online shopping also has its many downsides. Companies on the Internet sometimes make their merchandise appear better in photos, and the colors and structure of the items may even be enhanced to motivate online shoppers.

Quality is never a guarantee, no matter how many disclaimers they might have placed on their websites. A person is not able to try on a piece of clothing before buying it, thus many clients end up sending back their purchases or never wear them.

Cervantes said people save money when purchasing clothes through online shopping due to their inexpensive prices, but to be careful about the quality of the brand.

“I recommend 100 percent for people to only buy from stores and brands that they know sell good quality clothing.”  Cervantes said.  “When your clothes arrive, you might find out that the items’ fabric is falling apart or tearing at the seams-not b-ing able to use them-you have got to be careful online.”

Aimee Gallardo, freshman organizational and corporative communications major, said that although online shopping for clothing might sound like a practical choice, it truly is a complex market that holds concealed disadvantages for the clients.

“I’ve done it only a few times and every single time I’ve made an order, something goes wrong,” Gallardo said. “They either take too long to ship my clothing or send the wrong size. Once I had to return a dress and they charged me for the shipping, even though the store guaranteed no additional charges.”

Gallardo said returning a purchased item can be a pain and you cannot ask for your money back. With online shopping, many stores do not accept returns, and those that do might require the client to pay for the shipping of unsatisfactory clothing when sending it back to stores.

Jesus Lopez may be reached at [email protected].