As an avid online shopper, I occasionally come across fashion retailers that spark my interest thanks to their social media prominence or advertising reach. Missguided is one of those brands that first caught my attention through Instagram ads showcasing gorgeous clothes at almost unbelievable prices. But are they truly as good as they seem?
After taking the plunge and ordering a number of items for myself, I wanted to share an honest, detailed review based on my first-hand experiences as a Missguided customer. Consider this your no-holds-barred guide to one of fast fashion‘s most talked-about labels!
Overview of Missguided
Founded in 2009 by Nitin Passi in Manchester, UK, Missguided primarily targets young women seeking the latest fashion trends, drawing influence from celebrities and social media. The brand delivers new products at breakneck speed to keep up with ever-shifting trends.
Some fast facts about Missguided:
- 6 million Instagram followers
- $250+ million in annual sales
- Over 8,000 new products launched every month
- Ships to 170+ countries globally
Missguided stocks everything from dresses and jeans through to loungewear essentials and clubwear. It‘s definitely geared more towards shorter-term fashion rather than long-lasting investment pieces.
In this 2500+ word review, I‘ll analyze Missguided‘s positives and pitfalls across factors like:
- Product variety and range
- Pricing and value
- Sizing and fit
- Quality and durability
- Customer ratings
- Promotions and discounts
- Sustainability and ethics
- Delivery, returns and customer service
After ordering over $400 of clothes for myself, I feel well placed to judge how Missguided performs across these areas as an impartial customer. So read on for the full verdict!
Huge Variety of Trend-Led Fashion Choices
Scouring through Missguided‘s website for the first time, I felt like a kid in a candy store. The product choice is simply mammoth, spanning around 10,000 items at any given time. From loungewear like hoodies and sweatpants, through to jeans, tops and accessories, their selection ticks every box.
As a twenty-something female who loves variety, Missguided instantly appealed thanks to the enormous range covering both wardrobe basics and going-out fashion. In particular, I appreciated the breadth across sub-categories:
Dresses – Available in over 30 unique cuts like milkmaid, mini, midi, maxi and more. I loved the split hem and asymmetrical styles. Over 2500 dress options in total.
Tops – From cropped and cami fits through to oversized sweaters and off-shoulder designs. Great for layering and mixing casual with evening looks.
Shoes – Trend-led boots, heels, sandals and slippers. Not the highest quality but fun statement styles.
Plus Size – Dedicated plus size line goes up to size 28 with great variety. Underserved market.
Maternity – Much less choice than standard range but key staples covered.
Face + Body – Expanding into beauty, skincare and perfume too.
I credit the buyer team for monitoring new collections extremely closely, reacting to micro-trends and replicating catwalk-inspired styles at breakneck pace. Avid fashion lovers genuinely struggle to keep up!
While fast production allows such variety, it likely comes at the cost of sustainability – an area I analyze later.
Affordable Pricing But Varying Value For Money
As a bargain hunter at heart, Missguided‘s pricing pleased me across most items. Their prices mainly sit between $10 to $40 per piece, which feels affordable for disposable fashion you may only wear once or twice.
However after inspecting product quality first-hand, value for money varies hugely depending on the item.
Some products like simple tops and dresses represented fantastic value at under $20. More delicate or embellished pieces tended to skew quality downwards somewhat. You certainly get what you pay for.
I suspect production costs are cut to the absolute minimum for Missguided to uphold ultra-low pricing across thousands of product SKUs. They likely sacrifice paneling, stitching and fabrics to maintain high margins while keeping consumer prices down.
If you temper expectations around longevity and instead cherry pick trend-relevant statement pieces, the value shines brighter. Just don‘t expect your Missguided clothes to endure multiple washes without signs of wear and tear. This is fast fashion through and through.
Warning: Missguided Sizing Is Wildly Unpredictable!
Now for my biggest gripe and area of warning around Missguided – their unpredictably poor sizing. Simply put: do not trust the size charts!
As an average height, US size 6-8, I carefully consulted Missguided‘s online size guide before ordering a handful of items in my regular size Medium. But when my order arrived, I was shocked. Some Med items squeezed my body in an unflatteringly tight way, while others drowned my frame in excess material.
After some trial and error, I found each product varied so much in fit that I needed to order 2 or even 3 sizes of each to find the right match for my body. Their sizes defy logic. A Small in one product might fit like an XL in another!
Friends I shared this with echoed similar frustrations around the guesswork required to find well-fitting Missguided items. It‘s such a shame given the excellent style and price points.
Speaking to customer service, I learned inconsistency stems from Missguided sourcing finished garments from a myriad of third party suppliers and factories. With no standardized production or sizing implemented, bizarre fluctuations occur leaving customers exasperated.
While the 14 day free returns policy allows sizing experimentation, I resent spending unnecessary time and money sending back ill-fitting items before finding the right size. It also makes purchasing Missguided clothes as gifts tricky.
Overall I wish the brand invested in size standardization to remove frustration for us customers. When so much else hits the mark, poor sizing really lets Missguided down.
Hit and Miss Quality – Don‘t Expect Long Lifespans
Delving deeper into Missguided‘s production ethos, their extreme priority on speed inevitably leads to quality control issues. As a cost of pumping out thousands of different clothing items at breakneck pace, robust manufacturing checks get thrown aside.
Inspecting my orders first-hand, products ranged hugely in terms of fabric quality, panel cutting and finish neatness:
Hits: Some items like simple jersey dresses or cotton t-shirts represented fantastic quality for under $20. Decent heavyweight feel and strong seam stitching.
Misses: More delicate or embellished products tend to drop in quality with flimsier fabric, uneven stitching or loose threads.
Don‘t expect your trend-led Missguided impulse buys to endure endless wears and washes. Their life cycle favors short term cost per use vs long term durability. Fine for a fun night out; less ideal for staple pieces.
Delicate items require gentle care too – several of my Missguided tops clearly state dry clean only, which customers complain about.
Customer Ratings Show Missguided Performs Fairly Well
Checking independent customer ratings offers useful insight into real experiences beyond the glossy Instagram ads.
Overall Missguided performs reasonably well:
- Trustpilot – 4.2 stars based on 50,000+ reviews
- SiteJabber – 4.2 stars from 500+ reviews
- Influenster – 4.3 stars across 85,500+ reviews
The sheer volume of ratings carries authenticity. If scores solely reflected shill reviews, I‘d be more suspicious.
Positive praise focuses on affordable pricing and massive choice to fit ever-changing tastes. Customers enjoy receiving complimentary style inspiration from trend-conscious products.
The most frequent complaints involved unpredictable sizing, fabric quality variance, and items wearing out faster than hoped for the price range.
I feel the reviews capture Missguided fairly – they deliver accessibly priced variety catering well to customers wanting fashionable clothes for single wears rather than investment pieces. Just set expectations accordingly around quality and sizing.
Be Aware of Controversies Too
During my research, I also came across concerning claims made around Missguided‘s business ethics and sustainability practices. As a conscious consumer, these worried me.
Specific controversies and criticisms have included:
- Allegations of unauthorized usage of artist‘s designs without consent or payment
- Apparent infringement of major brand‘s trademarks e.g. Coco Chanel
- Lack of initiatives to promote sustainability or reduce environmental impact
- No transparency around safe and ethical working standards for manufacturing staff
For a brand targeting young female spenders increasingly considerate of ethics alongside aesthetics, I expected better practices. Missguided has scope to implement positive programs around eco-friendly fabrics, supply chain auditing and philanthropic partnerships.
While high street fashion inherently carries ethical issues, I believe Missguided could still do more to uphold integrity, pay creative talent fairly and nurture supplier relationships. As consumers become wise, brands must react.
Be Sure To Use Discounts, Vouchers and Sales!
As a bargain hunter at heart, I felt compelled to research Missguided‘s promotions and discounts for extra savings given their already low prices.
The brand constantly issues new voucher codes, offers free delivery windows, and runs sales events across the year – both site-wide and product category specific.
Some of the best Missguided discount I found included:
- Student Exclusive – Unidays verification provides 10% off everything
- Download App – Bag an extra 10% app-only discount
- Newsletter Codes – Subscribing unlocks subscriber-only coupons
- Black Friday – Previous years saw up to 90% off absolutely everything
- Birthday Discount – 20% off for you special day!
I stacks student discount, app download deal, plus a newsletter code to maximize my order saving over 25% instantly.
If you can be a little patient, the very best deals launch around peak sales event like Black Friday and Christmas when Missguided slash prices further on older stock.
Just don’t hold off too long on trend-led pieces as the most covetable unique products do still sell out in peak sizes early. Useful styles vanish fast!
Delivery, Returns and Customer Service
Shipping Costs
- Standard delivery: $8 to USA (6-9 days)
- Standard delivery: $10 to Canada (9-13 days)
Return Policy
- Full refund if returned within 28 days
- Return shipping fee is $8.50 in USA / $13 CAD for Canada
Customer Service Channels
- Live chat
- Social media DMs
- Phone
- Feedback online praises Missguided‘s friendly and prompt customer service team. Most queries get resolved positively.
I fortunately didn‘t experience any delivery issues or faults needing returns. But contacting their chat agent with a product question, I received a comprehensive response within 60 seconds!
Considering millions of site visitors monthly, Missguided clearly invest heavily in customer support – backed up by reviews. Rest assured solutions come quickly if you face problems.
The only common complaint seems to be delayed refund times after returns get processed compared to sending items back. But money does eventually get credited.
Final Verdict: Missguided Suits Trend-Focused Shoppers
If you highly prioritize staying on-trend with affordable fast fashion for going-out or social media selfies, Missguided delivers big time. The choice and variety around instantly recognizable looks straight off TikTok or the catwalk is unrivaled – even more so when discounts enter the equation.
For trend-focused shoppers not fussed by luxury fabrics or maximum ethics, Missguided brings fierce competition to the likes of PrettyLittleThing, Boohoo and Nasty Gal. Their styles excite fashion lovers wanting to emulate influencer or celebrity outfits on a strict budget.
However, more selective spenders prioritizing quality over quantity, seeking versatility or worried by ethical concerns may leave disappointed. Inconsistent sizing, quality fluctuations and lack of transparency on supplier relationships undermine Missguided‘s positives.
If you know their weaknesses and set expectations accordingly, savvy shoppers absolutely can gain huge value from Missguided‘s breakneck production of catwalk replica looks. Just be prepared for some trial and error finding items that fit, satisfy quality needs and prove worth cost per wear over time.
