As many of you probably know, Donna, the plus side brand better known as Donna Claire, has merged with Foschini.
Donna announced this on its Instagram page on the 20th of August 2021 and this brought a lot of confusion and quite frankly an unsettling feeling amongst us its consumers.
Donna brought the news as a better shopping experience for inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness.
Like I said, a lot of us were not really looking forward to this change and for good reason.
Firstly Foschini has never included big sizes in its range.
Second, Donna gave us our own safe space, to be comfortable in our own bodies, even its employees knew how to treat us and help us understand our body size and our perfect fit.
Below are some other concerns Donna’s customers voiced out on the brand’s instagram page.
There are many more concerns voiced out on their Instagram page.
Here is my personal opinion, South Africa has the least number of plus size stores where one can go in and find a flattering outfit with the right fit.
Donna had significantly improved the quality of the clothes it sold, specifically its style and variety.
It took forever for the brand to remove the granny clothes from its shelves but it did and we had great progress, finally getting sexy swimwear design, sexy colourful bras, panties and sleep wear,
It is common knowledge that plus-size clothes are 5 times more expensive than those of slimmer women, you could never get a full outfit for R500 as a bigger woman unless it’s a set which is on sale, or you go shop at Ackermans which extended its sizes to 50+
Donna came to the rescue and made lay-by available to its customers, which was awesome. I’m glad Foschini also has that service.
So, I believe the customer experience Donna had was great because it was personalised and customized, it spoke to and represented plus-size women, there was definitely room for improvement when it came to its fashion but we had space.
Going into Donna stores, their website or instagram, it gave us a vibrant identity, from the plus size models to the plus size mannequin. It didn’t just cater to the big bum, bust and small waist women, which the world accepts as the only beauty standard for plus size women.
Also Read : The Plus Size Hype… All A Charade?
As we know that the ideal plus-size body most stores cater for its 42.., 44 if you lucky and the fit would just be horrific.
I will be visiting one of the stores soon and I will come back with an update once I have been in store.
Here are some things to take note of:
1 – If you previously shopped at Donna, your regular size may have changed, so you need to check the size charts for each item, especially if ordering online.
2 – You will now shop for the clothing on the Foschini site, but there will be tabs to direct you to items that come in bigger sizes.
3 – If you are shopping on a Donna account, all details remain the same and your order, return and refund history will be moved over to Foschini.
Change can be uncomfortable but I’m hoping for the best.
Wow Wow, nowbit will be easier for me to get something for my plus size friend when I go shopping
Great article, can’t wait for the update!!!