Cynthetiq

Having worked in the garment center for several years and learning the craft and trade, I have a different opinion about outlet malls. Yes, the article is accurate in stating that manufacturers would make lower quality goods just for outlets. That is still true.

But here is something else that is happening. When a store like Macy's/May Co/etc places an order for goods they can reject the order if it doesn't arrive at the scheduled time, even if it's 15 minutes late.

Why? Because there is stiff competition in todays market place. From design to showroom floor has reduced from a couple of months to a couple of weeks to sometimes even a couple of days. The seller needs to respond to the buying public and what they want to buy now, not what they want to buy 2 weeks or even 2 hours from now.

So now, the manufacturer's 3rd party didn't meet the deadline but the product has been cut, sewn, labels inserted, and tagged. It's ready to be sold, but now there is no buyer. So the manufacturer takes it and brings it to the outlet centers.

Another scenario is that in order to keep the buyer happy, the manufacturer does a consignment deal, so that the buyer takes the least amount of risk. Whatever is not sold gets returned and the manufacturer has to get rid of the items.

I am sorry to break this to all of you but making clothes is CHEAP. It costs around US$3 per piece to manufacture and that is including most fabrics and all labor. Markup is HUGE! One of the reasons why I try hard to not pay lots for clothing.

Here's some tips. Look at the stitching, if ther is alot of material making up the seams, it's a good garment. Why? Because if you need to let it out, there is space. Most of the manufacturers can leave close to 1" of material in the seams, which if they were "saving money" they diminish that area as most people don't notice it missing.

Also stripes, plaids, patterns. They should all match up. If the lines match up in stripes and plaids, there's alot of wasted material in the manufacturing process. The best women's plaid suits line up the ALL pieces on the body and skirt, so that the effect is EVEN all around.

I have friends that swear by Gucci, Armani, DKNY, suits, costing them in the thousands. I however can find suits for around $100 each, italian designed and manufactured, and it looks just as good as theirs.

As far as getting items tailor made. Well, that's always going to be expensive since you are getting a one off.

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