A personal busy lifestyle led me to believe that it would be OK to break down and pick up some RTW fall clothing. I returned to a storefront (national) that I had used before, but not for about a year and a half, except maybe for a couple T-shirts. Knowing their sizing I ordered on-line, no try on.
Item #1, faux shearling coat with an interesting top-stitching. The coat was too small, the quality of the faux was miserable and the construction was poor with lumpy seams and tension ripples on the sleeve caps. And this was supposed to be one of their best sellers. Returned to a retailer in an upscale mall near me.
Item #2, a knit cowl neck tunic with knit pants. Sweater not so bad, the 3/4 sleeve is more like sort of elbow length, not 3/4, and the pants, well let me tell you, another person and I
could wear these babies at the same time. They are so big that they actually fall down. So I thought I will take in the waistband. However, with 3 minutes of wear the cheap quality pants are so stretched out I look like a sail on a catamaran!
Enter this sweater.
Item #3, and this one is the killer. A lovely tailored sweater jacket, in the theme of this falls colors (browns, blacks, tweeds although it looks gray in the photo) with an attached knit collar that lies flat forming a nice little lapel with the front panel. I wore this yesterday, for the first time, to Thanksgiving dinner. Most of the people at this function I only see once or twice a year. We catch up on careers, children, parents and other significant life events. Yesterday the discussion centered on my sweater. It was literally falling apart. The collar was fraying from the body of the sweater and unraveling before our eyes. It was an expensive sweater.
I am not happy, needless to say. I contacted an on-line agent when I returned home. Of course, it can be returned even though it had been worn. Of course, it will require me to make yet another trip to the storefront to do it. Of course, I absolutely refuse to mail it back, I want the opportunity to express my dissatisfaction to a person, in a place, eye to eye.
I'm done. Done! I am so tired of poor quality RTW. This is not bargain basement RTW, it is supposed to be the good stuff. Done. I have a huge fabric stash and it is going to get used. Quilting is going to be on hold for a while. This will be a focused project for me. Back to basics, get organized, return sweater! Until the water warms up at the "Creek," I will no longer swim!
Gratuity Moment: large fabric stash, enough machines to start my own sweatshop, motivation to get off my duff!
***If you would care to read an opinion about the current state of consumerism, new ready to wear versus second hand and a personal strategy, please visit Zoe at So-Zoe. The address:
http://sozowhatdoyouknow.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-i-consume.html
Item #1, faux shearling coat with an interesting top-stitching. The coat was too small, the quality of the faux was miserable and the construction was poor with lumpy seams and tension ripples on the sleeve caps. And this was supposed to be one of their best sellers. Returned to a retailer in an upscale mall near me.
Item #2, a knit cowl neck tunic with knit pants. Sweater not so bad, the 3/4 sleeve is more like sort of elbow length, not 3/4, and the pants, well let me tell you, another person and I
could wear these babies at the same time. They are so big that they actually fall down. So I thought I will take in the waistband. However, with 3 minutes of wear the cheap quality pants are so stretched out I look like a sail on a catamaran!
Enter this sweater.
 |
| the sweater, one button, knit is nice |
Item #3, and this one is the killer. A lovely tailored sweater jacket, in the theme of this falls colors (browns, blacks, tweeds although it looks gray in the photo) with an attached knit collar that lies flat forming a nice little lapel with the front panel. I wore this yesterday, for the first time, to Thanksgiving dinner. Most of the people at this function I only see once or twice a year. We catch up on careers, children, parents and other significant life events. Yesterday the discussion centered on my sweater. It was literally falling apart. The collar was fraying from the body of the sweater and unraveling before our eyes. It was an expensive sweater.
 |
| collar separating, no obvious dangling threads, just fraying knit fabric, inside about 8 inches in length |
 |
| outside of collar, It looks like the collar was cut a hair too small and there was not enough fabric to encase the neckline evenly, or it was just slapped on and run through a machine, one of many in that workers quota count for that hour, that day, that week. The quality control person was at lunch. |
I'm done. Done! I am so tired of poor quality RTW. This is not bargain basement RTW, it is supposed to be the good stuff. Done. I have a huge fabric stash and it is going to get used. Quilting is going to be on hold for a while. This will be a focused project for me. Back to basics, get organized, return sweater! Until the water warms up at the "Creek," I will no longer swim!
Gratuity Moment: large fabric stash, enough machines to start my own sweatshop, motivation to get off my duff!
***If you would care to read an opinion about the current state of consumerism, new ready to wear versus second hand and a personal strategy, please visit Zoe at So-Zoe. The address:
http://sozowhatdoyouknow.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-i-consume.html
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