Paying a high price for items made in China

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#16
Factory conditions outside of China deserve the same scrutiny, as the Bangladesh incident brings to mind in recent days.

Maybe the OP can come back and clarify her own concern: was it quality, or conditions, or both?

This happens in cycles, by the way. It used to be "Made in Japan" and "Made in Korea" were black marks to Western consumers. See how that has changed.
 
#18
jellyv said:
The quality should be different according to the quality control of the manufacturer. This means you can have excellent quality or lousy quality from China. Let us not forget that China is the source of some of the world's finest consumer goods and craftsmanship, from textiles to carved gemstones, and not only the source of the opposite end of the spectrum.
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Totally agree!

Another point worth noting is that the labour rate in China has increased so much in the recent years, you will be very surprised to find many low end brands now shifted their production to other part of Asia and even east Europe! I now notice many are made in India, Bangladesh, Romania and even Latvia.
 
#19
choko said:
Ultimately, it depends on how much the brands want to spend on QC and quality material. The cost dictates the quality, because at the end of the day, what matters is the bottom line.
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100% agree!

Whats disappointing is that companies high and low end only seem to care about the bottom line. They seem to forget (or just not care) that if an item is well made, customers will come back.....at least this one will. If I buy something and its falling apart on the second wear AND I've paid and arm and a leg for it, trust me, I won't buy anything from that brand in the future. I'd rather spend my money on items from a company that takes the time to do it right, regardless of where its made.
 
#21
edsbgrl said:
100% agree!

Whats disappointing is that companies high and low end only seem to care about the bottom line. They seem to forget (or just not care) that if an item is well made, customers will come back.....at least this one will. If I buy something and its falling apart on the second wear AND I've paid and arm and a leg for it, trust me, I won't buy anything from that brand in the future. I'd rather spend my money on items from a company that takes the time to do it right, regardless of where its made.
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Unfortunately, most customers aren't like you. Most are like the OP, who won't spend $150 for a blouse when Forever 21 has one for $15. Customers want prices to keep going down, while costs keep going up. So companies have to cut corners to compete with fast fashion and to keep prices steady.

I can't blame the companies when most customers aren't willing to pay the extra price for quality material and craftsmanship and ethical business practices.
 
#23
As long as people want something for nothing, shoddy items will continue to be sold in stores.

I have to admit though, I do have some bias when it comes to items made in China. If a domestic company is outsourcing work to a country as far away as China (and is willing to pay the extra taxes/shipping associated with getting the stuff shipped here), I would suspect are skimping on things like workers' wages and clothing quality.
 
#24
NCC1701D said:
You really believe that all clothing made in a particular country is of the exact same quality? You truly believe that?
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I would HOPE a blouse that cost $150 is of better quality than a shirt that cost $10 both coming from China. However I don't KNOW and neither do you, we are not there to see how the clothes are being made and exactly what difference is being put into the $150 shirt vs the $10 one. I've found threads hanging off $150 shirts and seams not being straight just as I have with $10 shirts. So what am I really getting that is so special in the $150 shirt compared to the $10 and both are made in China.

Yes I'm really starting to believe there isn't much of a difference between the 2 that makes it necessary to pay $150 vs $10. The same with some handbags that have labels of being made in Paris when the bag was shipped to Paris only to add a zipper. The bag itself wasn't made in Paris only the zipper but since Paris was the last place the bag went for manufacturing, they can stamp Paris even though the bag itself was actually made in China.
 
#25
Sweet Fire said:
I would HOPE a blouse that cost $150 is of better quality than a shirt that cost $10 both coming from China. However I don't KNOW and neither do you, we are not there to see how the clothes are being made and exactly what difference is being put into the $150 shirt vs the $10 one.
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The proof is in the product. I know the difference between a low-quality blouse and a high-quality one, and I deconstructed some of those differences from two blouses from my closet. A low price pretty much guarantees low quality, but a high price doesn't guarantee high quality. That's why you have to be able to discern the quality differences using your eyes and hands. The country of origin is not that instructive. More to the point, saying that ALL clothes made in China are of the same quality is patently untrue. There are very, very high quality goods coming out of China along with a lot of junk as well. By the way there is a lot of crap made in the U.S. and Europe also!

If you are upset with declining quality standards, then it makes no sense to capitulate to the cheap fashion that's responsible for declining standards across the board. That just compounds the problem. A better approach is to look for high-quality goods and continue to buy them, even at higher prices, to encourage those companies to keep producing quality.
 
#26
I have found some very good quality clothes at lower prices, too. You have to look harder, but they are there. Some of my best quality/lowest price and longest lasting clothes come from, surprisingly, Target and The Gap. You have to look at seams, lining, material, and fit no matter where you shop.
 
#27
NCC1701D said:
The proof is in the product. I know the difference between a low-quality blouse and a high-quality one, and I deconstructed some of those differences from two blouses from my closet. A low price pretty much guarantees low quality, but a high price doesn't guarantee high quality. That's why you have to be able to discern the quality differences using your eyes and hands. The country of origin is not that instructive. More to the point, saying that ALL clothes made in China are of the same quality is patently untrue. There are very, very high quality goods coming out of China along with a lot of junk as well. By the way there is a lot of crap made in the U.S. and Europe also!

If you are upset with declining quality standards, then it makes no sense to capitulate to the cheap fashion that's responsible for declining standards across the board. That just compounds the problem. A better approach is to look for high-quality goods and continue to buy them, even at higher prices, to encourage those companies to keep producing quality.
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I agree with you. No I don't think they're all the same I mean obviously there are higher priced items worth the price tag regardless of where its from but it becomes very discouraging for me to see high price items coming from the same place as lower cost items. So in turn I begin to question what am I really getting with the high price item. If all high priced items were guaranteed great quality, that would solve my problem but the truth is you can get a crappy $150 blouse thats basically the same as a $10 blouse. Which is why I've recently become very picky of where I choose to spend my money. I honestly don't feel anyone really knows what they're getting anymore.
 
#28
katran26 said:
I also wanted to note that sometimes it's not the quality issues we should be concerned with - but the factory issues of countries that don't have minimum wage or safety as a top concern. I'm sure everyone saw on the news the deplorable conditions and fire that killed a lot of people in Bangladesh. Today they announced that it was a Gap / Walmart factory that refused to pay extra for safety measures. Very sad.

I would rather pay more knowing that someone gets a good wage and is safe when they go to work.
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I've actually heard about that factory years ago and have never shopped at Gap or Walmart because of it.
 
#29
jellyv said:
Factory conditions outside of China deserve the same scrutiny, as the Bangladesh incident brings to mind in recent days.

Maybe the OP can come back and clarify her own concern: was it quality, or conditions, or both?

This happens in cycles, by the way. It used to be "Made in Japan" and "Made in Korea" were black marks to Western consumers. See how that has changed.
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Quality was my initial stance but I do take into account conditions as well which is one of the reasons why I don't shop at V. Secrets. Yep I do remember the Japan and Korea fiasco.
 
#30
NCC1701D said:
Unfortunately, most customers aren't like you. Most are like the OP, who won't spend $150 for a blouse when Forever 21 has one for $15. Customers want prices to keep going down, while costs keep going up. So companies have to cut corners to compete with fast fashion and to keep prices steady.

I can't blame the companies when most customers aren't willing to pay the extra price for quality material and craftsmanship and ethical business practices.
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No that is not what I was saying. I don't shop at Forever 21 and only buy select items from H&M. All my clothing is high end that I paid full price for but not all high end equals good quality. That is the issue I have. Why spend $150 for a blouse that isn't going to do anymore than the $25 blouse sold at H&M. A higher price tag doesn't automatically equal better quality. I want to get my monies worth and not pay 3 times for something that I can get the same wear out of for a lot less. If the quality is there, I have no problem paying the price obviously since everything I wear is designer however I don't feel the quality is what it use to be so I don't feel as confident paying $150 for a blouse anymore depending on where its from.

I agree with the other post you made about not turning to the cheaper brands because that won't solve the problem but when you're paying full price for high end clothing that is not of good quality, you have to ask yourself is it really worth it.
 
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