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My philosphy is - It pays to get samples before placing a large order - of anything.
I received an Alternative Apparel Baby Eco Heather tee about 40 minutes ago today to determine if I want to invest in their products. The color is nice, the fabric is soft.
However, the sew quality is awful. The sleeves were not sewn evenly (noticeably), the neck is crooked, the stitching around the bottom is not straight at all. Also, some of the bottom & left arm thread is exposed and stitched like it came apart and a quick fix was done.
The tag says the tee is made in the Dominican Republic and even the tag is crooked. Ok - I can accept a crooked tag as I can tear or cut it out. This shirt retails for $18.00.
WOW.
This is very disappointing. I know that babies spill food/drink and wipe all kinds of interesting "things" on their clothes. They even grow out of clothes at lightening speed. But, it does not mean I want my child in a poorly crafted tee, not unless I purposely & knowingly buy an "imperfect" baby tee. It's not easy to find top quality, fashion-driven & eco-friendly clothes for children.
My search goes on for a much better quality, fashion tee for babies. Nevertheless, I wanted to share this with the TSF family. Pics of the tee are attached.
Re: Who Is Sewing The Shirts At Alternative Apparel?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AdriaticBlue
My philosphy is - It pays to get samples before placing a large order - of anything.
I received an Alternative Apparel Baby Eco Heather tee about 40 minutes ago today to determine if I want to invest in their products. The color is nice, the fabric is soft.
However, the sew quality is awful. The sleeves were not sewn evenly (noticeably), the neck is crooked, the stitching around the bottom is not straight at all. Also, some of the bottom & left arm thread is exposed and stitched like it came apart and a quick fix was done.
The tag says the tee is made in the Dominican Republic and even the tag is crooked. Ok - I can accept a crooked tag as I can tear or cut it out. This shirt retails for $18.00.
WOW.
This is very disappointing. I know that babies spill food/drink and wipe all kinds of interesting "things" on their clothes. They even grow out of clothes at lightening speed. But, it does not mean I want my child in a poorly crafted tee, not unless I purposely & knowingly buy an "imperfect" baby tee. It's not easy to find top quality, fashion-driven & eco-friendly clothes for children.
My search goes on for a much better quality, fashion tee for babies. Nevertheless, I wanted to share this with the TSF family. Pics of the tee are attached.
Anyone else having the same experience?
Actually, I think the quality of Alternative Apparel garments are very high.
I can show you a badly sewn t-shirt from any manufacturer you can name. It happens to the best of them.
Should they have sent you a sample with a poorly shown shirt? No.
Is that indicative of the quality of their brand as a whole? Not in my personal opinion.
I used Alternative Apparel t-shirts for the first run of t-shirtforums t-shirts and they were very nice tees.
Re: Who Is Sewing The Shirts At Alternative Apparel?
Up until just a couple years ago, they had much of their stuff made in the USA. Now they have most of their stuff made over seas, in various countries. Sometimes it is hard to do quality control when you have your items being manufactured in multiple countries.
However, I have several alternative samples, and I like most of them and didn't notice any major sewing problems. I really like their burnout. I have a Continental burnout and an Alternative burnout and Alternative's is better by far!
Re: Who Is Sewing The Shirts At Alternative Apparel?
Thanks for the replies.
Rodney - Are you speaking of fabric quality, sew quality or something else? As well, have you only used their adult tees, or both adult and baby?
I agree that bad tees are created. What's good is when it's pointed out by a customer and corrected by the company. What's great (and what I expected) is when a company QA specialist sees it before it ever ships outside of the company.
Another level of disappointment about this is that prior to this tee shipping, I specifically asked AA if they have "imperfect" tees for those wanting to test decorate & wash the fabric only. I was told no.
Therefore, I did not expect to get what I was told was not an option, though that's what I received. I expected much better, especially given this was my first impression of AA products. I would be embarrassed shopping this tee to a client to use for decorated baby apparel.
Yes, AA has been made aware of this. It's just my opinion that I should not have to make them aware. It was not sent pre-packaged in any shrink wrap done by a machine. Hands touched this tee before I got it based on the way it was packaged.
Re: Who Is Sewing The Shirts At Alternative Apparel?
Quote:
Originally Posted by edski
yes, buy don't they have inspectors making sure their shirts are up to par?
Yes, inspectors are humans and humans make mistakes. I've had poorly sewn t-shirts delivered from just about every t-shirt brand out there. It doesn't happen all the time, but with the volume of t-shirts they are dealing with, and with the human element, it's possible a mistake will happen.
Who Is Sewing The Shirts At Alternative Apparel? 
