ModCloth Review: Is It Still Worth Shopping?

If you shopped ModCloth ten years ago and you're wondering whether it's still the same place, the honest answer is no. Not really.

That's not a takedown. The site is running, orders ship, the dresses are still recognisably ModCloth-ish. But the company behind the name has been sold four separate times since 2017, and the version you're shopping today is a different operation from the indie darling people got attached to. Most ModCloth reviews skip that entirely, which makes them fairly useless for deciding whether to spend $120 on a dress.

So let's cover what actually changed, what's still good, and the return policy detail that costs people twelve dollars they didn't expect.

What happened to ModCloth

Susan Gregg Koger and Eric Koger started it in 2002 while they were students at Carnegie Mellon, selling vintage dresses online. It grew fast. $15 million in revenue by 2009, $100 million by 2012, roughly $150 million by 2014. For a stretch there it was one of the genuine success stories in independent e-commerce, with a fiercely loyal customer base built on retro silhouettes, extended sizing and a no-retouching photo policy.

Then in March 2017, Walmart bought it through its Jet.com subsidiary, reportedly somewhere between $51 million and $75 million. That's the moment a lot of long-time customers checked out, and the brand never fully won them back.

It's changed hands three more times since. Walmart offloaded it to Go Global Retail in October 2019. Go Global sold it to a retail tech company called Nogin in May 2021. Nogin then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2023, and by April 2024 a restructuring put ModCloth under a newly formed entity backed by B. Riley Financial.

Four owners in seven years, one of them a bankruptcy. That history matters because it explains most of what people complain about: inconsistent quality between orders, changing brand mix, and a shopping experience that feels less curated than it used to. It's not your imagination.

What ModCloth actually sells now

Here's the thing most reviews get wrong. ModCloth today is largely a multi-brand marketplace, not a single label.

Browse the dress section and you'll find around 395 products. Roughly 172 of those are ModCloth's own house brand. The rest come from partner labels: Princess Highway, Orchid Bloom, Dangerfield, Retrolicious, Collectif, Louche, Hutch, Gilli, Chelsea Crew and others, plus collaborations like ModCloth x Gunne Sax and ModCloth x Tamara Arcilla.

This single fact explains almost every quality complaint you'll read. When someone says "my first ModCloth dress was great and the second one was awful," they very likely bought from two different manufacturers. You're not judging one brand's consistency. You're judging a shop that stocks a dozen of them.

Practical takeaway: check the brand name on the product page before you order, and once you find a label that fits you well, stick with it. That's a far more reliable strategy here than trusting the ModCloth name alone.

Beyond dresses, the range covers tops, skirts, bottoms, sweaters, jumpsuits, denim, matching sets, shoes, jewellery, and a rotating pile of seasonal and Halloween product.

Sizing: the best thing about ModCloth, and the most confusing

Size range runs XS to 4X, and this remains ModCloth's genuine advantage. Extended sizing isn't tacked on as an afterthought here. Plus sizes get their own dedicated categories across dresses and clothing, not three token styles buried at the back.

The complication is the same marketplace issue. ModCloth's own size guide says outright that sizing varies between brands and tells you to check the chart on each individual product page. Some labels use alpha sizing, others numeric. A 2X in one brand is not a 2X in another.

So do this, and it will save you a return fee. Take your bust, waist and hip measurements once, write them down, and check them against the specific chart on every product page. Don't order by the size you usually wear. With this many vendors in the mix, your usual size is close to meaningless.

Is the quality any good?

It depends on the brand, which is an unsatisfying answer but an accurate one.

The house-label ModCloth pieces are broadly fine for the price. Prints are the main draw and they're generally well executed. Construction is mid-market: it's not fast fashion that dissolves after three washes, but it isn't heirloom sewing either. Fabric is often lighter than the product photos imply, which is the most common surprise people report.

The partner brands vary more widely. Established labels like Collectif and Princess Highway have their own reputations in the retro-clothing world and generally hold up well. Others are less known and harder to predict.

What you should not expect is the quality reputation ModCloth had in 2013. Multiple ownership changes, a bankruptcy, and a shift toward third-party inventory all pull in the same direction. Judge each item on its own brand and price, not on brand nostalgia.

Pricing and the permanent sale

Dresses list around $74 to $124. But look at the actual current prices and most things are discounted, often heavily. A dress listing at $124 sells for $57. Another at $94 sells for $35. There's usually a sitewide promotion running, frequently advertised at up to 75% off.

Take the list prices with some scepticism. When almost everything is on sale almost all the time, the list price isn't really the price. Judge whether a dress is worth what you're actually paying, not by how big the markdown looks.

The upside is real though. If you're patient and you shop the sale sections, ModCloth is genuinely good value. Paying $35 for a printed sundress is a fair deal. Paying full list for the same dress is less obviously so.

Free US ground shipping kicks in on eligible orders over $150, which is a high threshold, so factor shipping into smaller orders.

Read the return policy before you order

This is where people get stung, so here it is plainly.

You get 30 days from delivery, and returns are handled through a portal called Loop. Reasonable so far. But unless you paid for their Checkout+ add-on at purchase, a $12 processing fee comes out of your refund.

Twelve dollars is a meaningful chunk of a $35 sale dress. It effectively kills the common tactic of ordering two sizes and sending one back, which is exactly the tactic you'd want to use at a shop where sizing varies this much between brands. Those two policies work against each other, and you should plan around it.

A few more things worth knowing:

1. Store credit is processed faster than a refund, and it dodges the fee question if you're going to reorder anyway
2. Exchanges are only available on ModCloth-brand items, and only for the same style in a different size or colour
3. Partner brands like Chelsea Crew, Orchid Bloom and Princess Highway have more limited exchange and credit options
4. Final sale items can't be refunded or exchanged, though some may qualify for store credit through their ModCloset programme
5. Items must come back unworn and unwashed with tags on and the original plastic bag included, so don't bin the packaging
6. Shoes need their original box, swimwear needs the hygienic liner intact

International returns from Australia, Canada and the UK have shipping deducted from the refund. Elsewhere, you're paying return postage yourself.

Is ModCloth legit?

Yes. It's a real retailer with a two-decade trading history, it ships orders, and it processes returns through a standard portal. You're not risking your money by ordering.

The fair criticism isn't legitimacy, it's consistency. A company that's been through four owners and a bankruptcy restructuring has understandably had a bumpy time keeping quality and service steady. Read recent reviews for the specific brand you're buying rather than for ModCloth as a whole, because that's the level where the variation actually lives.

Who should shop here, and who shouldn't

Shop ModCloth if you want retro-leaning prints and silhouettes that are hard to find elsewhere, you wear a size between XS and 4X and appreciate that plus sizing is treated properly, and you're happy to shop the sale rather than pay list. The Gunne Sax collaboration and the established retro partner labels are the strongest things in the catalogue.

Skip it if you're expecting the ModCloth of a decade ago, if you need reliable sizing consistency across orders, or if you're a hard-to-fit size who'd normally order multiple sizes to compare. That $12 fee makes the try-and-return approach expensive here.

FAQs

Is ModCloth still in business?

Yes. The site is operating and fulfilling orders. Its previous parent company Nogin filed for Chapter 11 in December 2023, and ModCloth was restructured under a B. Riley Financial-backed entity in April 2024.

Who owns ModCloth now?

Following Nogin's bankruptcy restructuring in April 2024, ModCloth's reorganised equity went to a newly formed entity sponsored by B. Riley Financial. Before that it was owned by Nogin, Go Global Retail, and Walmart, in that order.

What sizes does ModCloth carry?

XS through 4X. Plus sizes have dedicated categories rather than being an afterthought, which is one of the brand's real strengths.

Does ModCloth run true to size?

There isn't one answer, because ModCloth sells its own label alongside a dozen partner brands with different sizing systems. Measure yourself and check the chart on each product page individually.

How much does it cost to return to ModCloth?

A $12 processing fee is deducted from your refund unless you bought their Checkout+ option at checkout. Returns must be opened within 30 days of delivery.

Is ModCloth good quality?

Varies by brand. The house label is decent for the price, established partner labels like Collectif and Princess Highway hold up well, and lesser-known vendors are less predictable. Check which brand made the item before ordering.

Verdict

ModCloth in its current form is a decent retro-leaning marketplace with excellent size inclusivity and near-permanent discounts, wrapped in a name that carries more nostalgia than the current operation can quite live up to.

Shop it for what it is now rather than what it was. Buy from the sale, note which partner brand you're actually ordering from, measure yourself against that brand's chart, and order once rather than ordering three sizes. Do that and you'll get good dresses at fair prices. Go in expecting 2013 ModCloth and you'll be disappointed, but that's a problem with the expectation more than the shop.