Last year I bought some clothes that were made with “stretch” materials in them. I thought this would be a good idea because they would be comfortable and my weight, like many women’s weight, tends to fluxuate over about 3-4 lbs on any given day.

But I found that stretchy clothes made by the Faded Glory brand at Walmart lost their shape quite easily. For example, I bought jeans with stretch material. I was glad to find $15 jeans that were comfortable, stylish, and long enough. But the jeans easily lose their shape and become too long (a problem I’ve never had). I tried on a size lower, but they were too tight.

The jeans thankfully return to their shape upon washing and a belt holds them up quite nicely. I’ve worn them dozens of times, so it wasn’t a wasted purchase. It just wasn’t my best purchase either.

I bought a black courderoy jacket, also from Walmart’s Faded Glory brand, also with stretch materials. The jacket had the perfect look I wanted. But one day it stretched out and it never has regained its shape, even with washing. I hardly wear the jacket at all anymore.

Some clothes stretch and look great. If a piece of clothing is made primarily out of spandex or other synthetic material, you’ll probably be ok. It’s when 2-5% of spandex is added to cotton that you get into trouble.

But not always. I bought two pairs of Walmart capri pants that were stretch that have been fantastic. They were both made by the George brand that Walmart sells. The aforementioned jeans and jacket were both made by Faded Glory. I’ve had great success with the Faded Glory brand in the past, so I was a bit surprised by the disappointment in these pieces.

Hopefully they will master stretch soon, but when you’re buying on a budget, you have to be careful how much you’ll experiment. I might wait for the reviews to come in before I buy more stretch products from Faded Glory. But George is still fine by me.