TULIO still prints 10–22 on the homepage. The size buttons go further.

The banner still does not match the buttons

The hero strip — no, wait, the homepage banner — still sold sizes 10 to 22 when I opened tulio.com.au on 27 September 2026. Then I clicked a dress. Eight sat on the left of the selector. Twenty-four sat on the right. I sat there a second, slightly annoyed, because a shop that packs from Geebung should not make you do that reconciliation before breakfast. Instagram copy on the same brand still talks 8–22/24. Dress-aisle text talks 8–24. The 10–22 line is a map they like, not a ceiling. Treat it as marketing furniture.

TULIO — Tulio on the About page — is a Brisbane mail-order house, Australian-owned, and it has never been a walk-in shop. Ron Stephens and Stacey Dale built it in 2014 after a website job turned into a partnership. They shot early photos in a spare bedroom and packed from a shed, while other fashion firms they later shut were still running. The packets now leave a warehouse of about five hundred square metres at 4a/229 Robinson Road East, Geebung, Queensland 4034, the same address you will write on a return. Weekday desk: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. AEST, customerservice@tulio.com.au, 07 3265 7245. The contact page is blunt: there are no stores. A warehouse with a tracking number.

Petite is a mood, until the title says otherwise

Here is the word that will trip you. Petite. That pants aisle is partly a mood board: staff picked shapes they think sit better on a shorter frame, and they say so. The pieces that are actually shortened have Petite in the garment title. If you are 5'4" or under, that title is the filter, not the collection headline. I got fussy about this because a midi that grazes mid-calf on a 175 cm model will puddle on a 160 cm wearer. A tall range was unpublished on the pages I opened. Unpublished means unpublished. I will not invent a long pattern.

Their size guide calls the cut generous and tells you to ignore most waists, because the clothes are not built tight there. When a waist actually matters, that style's own chart says so. Staff measure a piece flat, double the figure, and tug elastic toward a hoped-for fit — then warn you the number is not exact. I did their method on a Sunday with a dress already on the dining table and someone hovering because lunch needed the surface back: underarm, hip, double both, open the garment chart above the buttons. They sell a tape on that page for about five Australian dollars. Model notes (Emma 10–12 at 175 cm, Stacey 16 at 165 cm, Caitlin 16–18 at 176 cm) are a sketch, not a promise.

One pocketed dress, one tapered pant, then stop

I am naming two pieces so this does not become a rack list. Stella is the suitcase dress they keep photographing: V-neck, cap sleeves, pockets, crinkle jersey, knee length, mostly polyester with a bit of stretch, listed near eighty Australian dollars the last time I trusted the tile. They sell it as no-iron, and it will travel. It will also feel warm on a Brisbane afternoon if you expected cotton. That is the trade. Pockets are why I would click it. The crease is the finish, not a packing failure.

Gianna is the house pull-on I would open next: tapered jersey, elastic waist, exclusive on several colours, listed near sixty Australian dollars, with a shorter cut for frames 5'4" and under. Same cart, different leg. Reordering "the same pant" without checking the maker is how you get a straighter ankle from another supplier on the same floor. TULIO is a multi-brand webshop with a house line called Avalon, not one factory label. Everyday cards sat between about forty and one hundred thirty Australian dollars. Occasion outliers climbed toward two hundred. Letter sizes live on bamboo tees. Numbers live on dresses. A 12 in a woven midi can still want Large in a tee if you like slack drape.

Read the fibre line before the suitcase

Travel copy here is fabric behaviour, not a packing miracle. Stretch polyester jersey shrugs off a fold and can feel clammy in heat. Woven rayon breathes and wrinkles unless you roll it. Bamboo viscose tees are sold as soft; the same pages also claim moisture-wicking, antibacterial, UV-protecting, and hypoallergenic performance. Treat those extras as marketing, not lab work I saw. Bamboo shows fold marks from parcels because the fibre compresses. Steam usually lifts them. If a chart is still pending, the page says so. Wait, or email. Do not guess from a neighbour colour.

I keep saying measure it. Measure the dress you already wear. That is the whole job before you pick a number, and it is the same job after a free size exchange if the first number is limp on you. Afterpay and ZipPay appear on some collection pages if you prefer to split payment. A three-week price-drop credit gives store credit for the difference if your size is marked down and still in stock. Final Clearance is excluded from that credit once the size has sold out. Sale tiles move. I am not going to paste last week's dollars as if they were carved.

Buy here if you already dress this way

TULIO fits a mature Australian shopper who wants A-line dresses, elastic-waist pants, and travel knits in sizes that commonly run through 22 or 24, posted from Queensland with a tracking number. It is a match if you already know your number from a previous order, or if you will lay a favourite garment flat and use a free size exchange. It also suits a cruise, a family lunch, or a warm day when a crinkle dress beats a shirt. You fit at home. You read the Returns Hub before the card is charged. If that is already how you buy mail-order clothes, you are in the correct line.

The skip list below is the fence. I will not walk it twice in the same tone. One extra note that does not fit a bullet: international duty sits with you, not with Geebung, and a pretty midi will not argue with a customs form.

• Walk away if you need to try the garment on in a shop; TULIO is online only.
• Walk away if the box has to land in the United States; that lane was closed when I looked.
• Walk away if you want a tailored jacket or a structured evening piece rather than pull-on jersey and printed dresses.
• Walk away if earrings, candles, or other hygiene-blocked bits might need a return.
• Walk away if Final Sale is the only price you can afford and you need cash back, not store credit.
• Walk away if you need a size under 8 or a published tall pattern.

How a Geebung order actually leaves

You pick a size, you pay, Robinson Road East picks the piece. Packets usually leave within forty-eight hours, weekends and public holidays excluded. Express in before 2:00 p.m. often goes the same day. You get a tracking number. The clock is Australia Post, not a private courier vow. Western Australia and the Northern Territory go Express Post by default, usually two to four days — unless TULIO pulls that upgrade after what it calls unfair cancellations or returns. Change-of-mind refunds repay the garment, not the outbound stamp. People miss that line when they treat free postage as reversible.

The live shipping table on that same visit was clearer than the page title, which still mentioned free shipping over sixty dollars. Inside Australia, standard is free over one hundred dollars (two to five days) and express is free over one hundred seventy (one to two days). Under those marks: about ten dollars for standard, about fifteen for express. New Zealand is a real lane — free standard over one hundred ninety-nine dollars, about sixteen under that, three to seven days before customs. Norfolk Island sits near fifteen dollars under that same mark. Rest of world is thirty-five dollars and four to fourteen days. Paid domestic express does not apply to NZ. Use the NZ rows.

Fees in words, not a price table

• Domestic standard: free once the order clears one hundred Australian dollars; about ten dollars under that mark.
• Domestic express: free over one hundred seventy dollars; about fifteen dollars under that mark.
• Western Australia and the Northern Territory: complimentary express unless TULIO withdraws it after what it calls unfair cancellations or returns.
• Cash refund: prepaid label about ten dollars; outbound postage stays with the shop on change of mind.
• Size exchanges and store-credit returns: prepaid label included; Australia Post can print it if you have no printer.
• Final Sale: store credit only, label about eleven dollars. Return to Sender on the box: fifteen dollars can apply.
• New Zealand: free standard over one hundred ninety-nine dollars; about sixteen under that. Rest of world: thirty-five dollars. Duty sits with you.

Start at the Returns Hub with the order number and checkout email, within thirty days of delivery. The piece must be unworn, unwashed, tagged, and free of marks, scent, pet hair, or damage. Earrings, candles, and other bathroom-shelf extras cannot come back. Credit used at checkout refunds to credit, not to a card. Credit can appear within a day of lodging; cash waits until Geebung scans the parcel. Keep tracking. A lost return without a scan is not finished. Return to Sender is not a clever shortcut. It is a fifteen-dollar scold.

The limits under the sale tiles

Jewellery is a keep-or-gift buy. Hygiene rules lock earrings out of the Returns Hub, so a pair at about forty dollars is not a try-on. Final Sale is a locked door for cash. You can send it back for credit if it meets the unused test, and you will still pay that eleven-dollar label. The three-week markdown credit does not rescue a Final Clearance size that has already sold out. I am repeating the money rules on purpose, the way you repeat a postcode to a call centre, because the sale tile never writes them in the same point size.

The United States lane is closed. The page blamed tariffs. I did not find a workaround on that visit, and I will not invent one. Under a size 8, the selectors I opened did not offer a six. A named tall pattern was unpublished. Facebook messaging sits beside email and the Queensland phone as another desk. None of those replaces a change room. A structured jacket is a weak use of this shop even when a tunic looks right on the model.

Use TULIO as a Geebung packet service for pull-on clothes, not as a change room you can drive to. Measure a dress that already fits, open the garment chart, and swap the size for free if the first number is wrong. Ignore the 10–22 banner; the buttons still show 8 and 24. Read postage and the Returns Hub before you pay, especially from overseas or on Final Sale.

— Sophie Winters

Questions I would ask before the card goes through

Can I try TULIO clothes on in a store?

No. The contact page says online only. Fitting is at home, which is why the guide pushes a tape and a free size exchange exists. Packets leave 4a/229 Robinson Road East, Geebung QLD 4034. Want a change room? Use a local shop first, then order a TULIO colour once you know a number. Staff answer sizing by email or phone Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. AEST. That desk will talk you through a chart. It will not pin a hem on you.

What size should I pick if I have never ordered?

Open the garment chart on the colour you want and compare it with a piece you already wear, laid flat. The homepage still said 10–22; dress copy said 8–24; plenty of house pants run 8–24; some tees run S–XXL or S–3XL; some dresses stop at 18 or 20 when stock is thin. No size 6 on the pages I reviewed. Length is a second axis: named petite styles are cut shorter; the petite collection is not always a petite pattern. A European 38 is not automatically a TULIO 10. If the chart is still being measured, wait or email customerservice@tulio.com.au.

How do I send something back, and what will it cost?

Use the Returns Hub within thirty days with the order number and checkout email. Size swaps and store-credit returns include a free prepaid label. A card refund deducts about ten dollars for that label, and outbound postage stays put on a change of mind. Final Sale comes back as credit only, label about eleven dollars. Credit can show within a day. Cash waits for the warehouse scan. Do not write Return to Sender unless you want the fifteen-dollar fee. Credit used at checkout refunds to credit, not to a bank card.

Will TULIO post to New Zealand or the United States?

New Zealand, yes. The United States, no — not on the shipping page I read, which blamed tariffs and said the cart will not send there. NZ standard is free over one hundred ninety-nine dollars and about sixteen under that, three to seven days before customs. Tax and duty sit with you. Extra charges in transit are not TULIO's problem. Keep tracking until a return is closed. Rest of world is thirty-five dollars and four to fourteen days, and the border is still yours.

What if the price drops after I pay?

For three weeks after purchase, TULIO says it will give store credit for the difference if your size is marked down and still in stock. That payout is credit, not a card refund. Final Clearance is excluded once that size has sold out. I would screenshot the paid price and the later tile if you plan to ask. Staff hours are weekday Queensland hours, not Saturday night. If a number is unpublished on the style you want, do not borrow it from the neighbour colour.

Do letter sizes match the dress numbers?

Not cleanly. Bamboo tees and some tunics use S–XXL, sometimes 3XL. Dresses and most pants use numbers, often 8 through 22 or 24. A 12 that fits in Stella can still need Large or XL in a tee if you want the same ease. Open the chart on the colour in the basket. Letter and number are not a secret handshake. They are two rulers hanging on the same warehouse wall, and they were not cut by the same hand.

Can I refuse the parcel at the door?

You can refuse a delivery. Do not treat that as a free return. Writing Return to Sender can trigger a fifteen-dollar fee, and change-of-mind refunds still skip outbound postage. Use the Returns Hub, get the prepaid label, keep the tracking. If the packet is lost on the way back and you have no scan, the return is not finished. That is a boring rule. It is also the one that decides whether your ten dollars, or your eleven, or your fifteen, comes back as credit, cash, or a shrug.