It’s interesting reading different perspectives, I prefer to buy clothing online because it’s much easier to return items than go to a store and try items on, just print a label and drop it off locally. I also hate buying anything without reading reviews, lots of clothing can seem fine but doesn’t wash well. I also pay attention to fabric labels.
It probably depends in part to how well someone can shop in stores. My husband while super tall has almost no issues purchasing pants online, it's the shirts he has an issue with because his arms are long, so is his torso (so he needs tall but not big).
With me I have to be super careful in store and often am trying on different sizes at the same time that buying online (especially Amazon with tens of thousands Asian made products not sized to U.S. as well) has a high rate of failure. I mean even at Costco I'm often buying 2 to 3 different sizes and then returning to the store. I would love to try on at Costco prior to purchasing to eliminate that issue but don't expect that from a warehouse place.
I recently went shopping for pants for our Europe trip. In store at JCP with 3 different brands I have pants that I bought that were XL (though I could have gotten away with a L but they didn't have that size), 2 other pants are a M. Pants bought at
Walmart were M but a shirt I bought on the same trip at Walmart is a S when other shirts I have from Khol's are a L (tek gear brand) but then a Sonoma shirt I have from them is a M (and could have gotten away with a S but they didn't have that in the color I wanted).
It's a wasted effort to scour online for comments about fit, some items don't even have reviews (especially if not on Amazon), wait for shipping to come in, try it on and hope it fits or buy multiple sizes which is a hassle in itself so I just prefer vastly to instore shopping where it's just a fitting room then I'm done type thing.
I agree about some things not washing well but unless a ton of reviews online say "pilled after the first wash or so" or "fell apart at the first wash" you'd encounter the same potential issue in store. My fav pair of leggings are from Costco and they pilled the first time even after washing inside out like the directions said but after that first time it didn't and a mini fabric shaver took care of the issue largely.