Fabletics

What Is Fabletics?

Tired of sporting drab workout wear? Fabletics claims to offer clothing that’s cut to keep pace with your active lifestyle, from brightly patterned printed leggings to fashionably designed crop tops and more.

While Fabletics is promoted by co-founder Kate Hudson, the Hollywood actress known as much for her super-fit shape as starring in a slew of romantic comedies, the brand isn’t a solo celebrity venture.

Instead, Fabletics is manufactured by Just Fabulous, Inc.—parent company to several other fashion and lifestyle brands, including JustFab, Shoedazzle, and FabKids.

But will Fabletics clothing hold up to your workout routine, and is the company transparent about their costs? To help you decide, let’s take a look at what the brand claims sets them apart.

How Does Fabletics Work?

The appeal of Fabletics appears pretty straightforward. The brand claims to offer high-quality, stylish activewear at affordable prices.

Shoppers can surf collections by sport or look at their complete range of tops, sports bras, leggings, accessories, shoes, and even swimwear.

Unlike some top brands, Fabletics clothing is available in a wide range of sizes. You can choose from XXS (0 to 2) up to XXXL (18 to 20).

Just note that sports bra sizes are categorized in the same way, not by standard bra sizing of cups and bands—a potential problem for women with larger bra sizes who need support during high-impact sports.

We should note that Fabletics isn’t claiming to beat prices you’ll find at cost-conscious retailers, such as Old Navy and Target.

Instead, they compare their stylish offerings with more fashionable activewear brands like Lululemon, Lorna Jane, and Nike.

But here’s the catch—these low prices aren’t available to just any shopper. While you can shop Fabletics without signing up, taking advantage of their slashed prices means first signing up for a VIP Membership.

With that in mind, the average Fabletics ensemble would cost a non-member about $100. Alternately, members would pay about $49.95 for the same outfit with the added perk of free shipping.

How the Fabletics VIP Membership Program Works

When you make a purchase on Fabletics and choose the lowest listed price, the company will automatically enroll you in its VIP Membership program.

There’s an option to opt-out of VIP membership before purchasing, but not all shoppers are likely to see it, and doing so may more than double the price of your initial purchase. Later, we’ll talk about how that’s causing some customer complaints.

If you do enroll in the membership, Fabletics will share a recommendation for a handpicked new outfit on the first of the month that takes your personal style into account, as indicated by your profile and buying history.

If you don’t buy an outfit in the first five days of the month, Fabletics will charge you $49.99 for a “credit” you can redeem for $49.99 worth of clothing.

Fabletics applies the credit price to your purchase—if an outfit costs more, you’ll be charged the difference.

There’s also no obligation to buy any or all of the recommended outfit.

Some of the other perks of membership include the following:

• Monthly personalized recommendations
• 20% off all listed items
• Access to members-only sales
• Earn rewards points for future purchases
• Free shipping and returns
• Workout tips from celebrity health trainers

What if you want to skip a month of Fabletics? You can do so as many times as you’d like. However, you must log in between the first and fifth of the month to select “skip a month” to avoid charges.

Suggested outfits won’t ever ship without your approval. However, if you forget to log in to either shop around or skip the month, you’ll still be charged the $49.95, and the funds will be credited to your account for a future purchase.

How to Cancel the Fabletics Membership

You can cancel your Fabletics membership at any time by calling (844)322-5384, then press “4” to speak to someone about closing your account. You can also use the company’s online chat service.

Note that some reviewers state customer service will offer additional credit to your account if you’re willing to give Fabletics one more chance.

Is Fabletics Good Quality?

All Fabletics clothing is purchased online, meaning that shoppers can’t try on items before they buy them. This leads to a common question: Is Fabletics good quality?

HighYa reviewers (which we’ll address later) aren’t convinced. Most cite quality concerns as their biggest complaint with Fabletics, stating that the too-thin material was see-through, pilled easily, and had low-quality stitching.

Fabletics quality may also be inconsistent between pieces. Jessie Quinn, writing for CheatSheet, reported that her first pair of leggings were nice, but the rest of her orders looked and felt cheaply made, especially the sports bras. She also thought the sizing varied wildly between items, even for the same size leggings and workout tops.

However, not all Fabletics customers agree with this verdict. We found dozens of reviews on Influenster from shoppers happy with the quality of their purchases.

For these reasons, your mileage might vary with Fabletics in regard to quality. As the brand gets inconsistent marks, there’s a chance you will find particular products you purchase to be higher quality and a better fit than others. That’s one reason to keep the return policy in mind.

About the Fabletics Shipping and Return Policy

Standard shipping throughout the United States costs $4.95 per order but is free for orders over $49.95 and for VIP members. You can also select rush shipping for $8.95. First-timer shoppers will often qualify for free shipping as well, regardless of their order size.

Fabletics permits returns and exchanges for your first VIP order within 45 days of the date of shipment in new, used, or damaged condition.

After that initial order, the company will only accept returns and exchanges for brand new clothing that’s still in its original packaging within 30 days of shipment.

Any store credit that was used to pay for returned items will be returned as credit, and any items purchased through the Fabletics rewards program aren’t eligible for returns.

Comparing Fabletics Prices to Other Athletic Brands

Much of Fabletic’s branding is based around the idea that the company offers quality clothing at budget pricing. How does it compare to other brands?

We decided to look at the cost of purchasing an outfit from Fabletics and comparing it to equivalent products from both high end and budget brands.

As this chart shows, Fabletics clothing falls in the middle of the pack from a price perspective. Our chosen budget-friendly brands (Target and Old Navy) consistently cost close to half as much as Fabletics, even when accounting for VIP membership discounts.

However, we noticed on Fabletic’s website that the company often runs deals that bring prices lower.

For instance, new VIP members will currently receive 70% off their first purchases. For example, this would take the Bri Mock Jacket price down to $19.48. That beats the price for our equivalent finds from Target and Old Navy.

Surprisingly, the Fabletic’s membership non-membership prices don’t differ much from the established athletic brands we looked at (Nike and Lululemon).

While the company claims to offer a less costly option for athletic clothes, we noticed that the prices between them barely differed by much, and in some instances, it’s possible to find better deals with Nike.

Analysis of Fabletics Customer Reviews and Complaints

Browsing Fabletics outfits, there’s little doubt that the brand offers brightly-colored and stylish activewear, or that initial prices are lower than the competition.

However, the majority of customers who’ve reviewed Fabletics on HighYa have been less than impressed with quality and fit. Common complaints include:

• Poor quality fabric and stitching
• Material that is thin enough to be see-through
• Pilling of fabric on the inner thigh and underarm areas
• Tops that are too revealing

While some customers have been satisfied with wearing their Fabletics apparel as casual wear, we’re cautious to recommend this brand to those looking for athletic clothing that can keep up with more vigorous activities.

However, we found that shoppers seemed more upset about Fabletic’s business practices than the clothing’s questionable quality: specifically, unauthorized charges.

HighYa reader Anna shared her experience after realizing she’d been charged more than $600 for VIP credits she didn’t know she signed up for:

“Turns out this is a commonplace problem and that I did not ‘forget’ I signed up for a membership. Like many others, I was unaware that I had been signed up in the first place. When you confirm your purchase, you are also confirming authorization for them to sign you up for their membership and take money from you monthly -- didn't read that part? Yeah, it's in the fine print.”

Other complaints surrounding unexpected charges include Fabletics failing to make good on their promised offer of a $25 initial purchase and difficulty canceling. Combined, HighYa readers have rated Fabletics at an average of 1.3 stars.

The Bottom Line: Is Fabletics a Good Buy?

While Fabletics promises high-quality fitness wear at reasonable prices, the number of negative reviews stating that items wore out faster than normal or just plain didn’t keep them covered leads us to believe that the brand might not perform as highly as they claim.

That being said, those who are looking for a cute alternative to their loungewear might be pleased with what they find at Fabletics.

The only caveat? Make sure you read the fine print. While ongoing membership charges might not be an outright rip-off, enough reviewers were taken by surprise to raise red flags.

Should you decide to make a Fabletics purchase, know that you may need to keep an eye on your credit card statements to avoid getting too familiar with their customer service.

Overall, we think Fabletics makes sense for anyone looking for mid-range activewear, and that wants to buy new pieces regularly.

So long as you fully understand the company’s terms and conditions (and pay attention to the date so you know when to skip your membership), there’s a good chance you’ll be happy with this service.

If, however, you don’t plan to buy new workout gear every month, you might do better buying pieces you love from Fabletic’s competitors.

In many cases, they aren’t much different in price, and you won’t feel obligated to purchase things you don’t need to use up your credits.