Clothing and Shoes from China (Ebay)

[LandJ]

I'd like to ask about clothing and shoes made in China and especially via Ebay.

a. Is indeed?their quality lower in comparison with clothes that we can buy fromEuropean/American retail shops?

b. Of course their price is much lower comparing to that of clothes from European/American retail shops, but maybe this price difference has to do with other factors such as intermmediaries, taxation, low wages of Chinese etc, and not with the quality factor. Am I wrong?

c. And when we buy clothes from European/American retail shops, how can we know that their quality is good? (I am not referred to famous brands like Lacost etc). There are numerous unknown brands that European/American retail shopssell. Are these of better quality compared to Chinese clothes?

d. Chinese clothing on Ebay are wholesale?

e. What are the pros and cons of unbranded clothing and shoes?

f. In case that the low prices of Chinese clothing is due to Chinese workers' low wages, why don't they charge higher when it comes to sell and ship to Western countries?

g. Furthermore, there are numerous clothes and shoes that we buy fromEuropean/American retail shops but are made in China. Does it mean that their materials' quality is like Chinese Ebay clothing? Or their materials are of better quality? To be more understood, the Western known and unknown companies what materials do they use? Do they use good materials and send them to China for manufacturing or do they use the same materials as Chinese companies?

[Wuzzums]

A brand is not a product. A t-shirt is a product. A branded t-shirt is still a t-shirt, but it has its quality approved by said brand. This is what the brand sells, reputation. The reputation that it sells products of a certain production quality. 

 

Gucci, Armani, whatever, they all commission workshops from around the world that they tested and found on par with their requirements.  If the workshops are in China then so be it. We can't go to China to look around for such shops to buy the same quality goods at a fraction of the cost, nor do we know all the intricacies of exporting such goods, nor do we have the blueprints of creating such goods. Gucci does however and if we wanna have the goods delivered comfortably to us we must pay for that service additionally. 

 

For example, Luxottica is the world's manufacturer of eyewear. A pair of glasses from them is worth let's say 50$ if you're living right next to the factory. If you're an ocean away and that same pair of glasses has a brand on it then it will cost you up to 950$ extra. I myself used to live next to a clothing factory. They had a store and the prices there were crazy small, I remember buying a 1$ t-shirt. Because it wasn't branded I took a gamble on the quality and in this particular case I won. That 1$ t-shirt lasted me a lot longer than other t-shirts (branded) that I paid 20 times more. Of course, the same factory might also be commissioned by Lacoste but I can't possibly know that because them advertising it is tantamount to them stealing the Lacoste brand.

 

Another thing. These branded products must pass a quality test. If one stitch is a little wonky on some purse or the 'S' on some Sony product is inverted they're gonna get rejected. Sometimes these rejected products are sold to cover some of the losses (but still at a fraction of the price we see them valued in stores). This is how the "Low, Low, Low Crazy Prices" stores get their merchandise. When you're buying a PS4 from such places it's a gamble. The PS4 might be there because it was rejected for having an inverted 'S', or it was rejected for having something wrong with its GPU.

[dsayers]

By American retail shops, do you mean K-mart or Gucci? I ask to make the point that referring to shops by their country of origin is too vague to be able to answer your questions.

[AustinJames]

I buy most of my clothes from Wal-Mart.  The rest I get from 2nd-hand joints, or sometime sporting-goods stores (for specialty items).  I don't pay much attention to the place a product was manufactured.  Some brands do tend to ensure a higher quality (a company like North Face, Marmot, or Columbia have reputations to maintain).  I don't really have any idea what you're talking about concerning the location of fabrication.  I rely a lot on the feel of the fabric.  I weigh in the cost of the item, the reputation of the brand, and the return-ability factor of the merchant, and buy clothes according to a specific rubric.

[Bipedal Primate]

I buy most of my clothes from Wal-Mart.  The rest I get from 2nd-hand joints, or sometime sporting-goods stores (for specialty items).  I don't pay much attention to the place a product was manufactured.  Some brands do tend to ensure a higher quality (a company like North Face, Marmot, or Columbia have reputations to maintain).  I don't really have any idea what you're talking about concerning the location of fabrication.  I rely a lot on the feel of the fabric.  

 

AustinJames, we have something in common!

 

I buy about 90% of my clothing (shoes, coats, bras, scarfs, gloves, winter coats, socks, etc.) at Goodwills in high end neighborhoods. I do have a nice North Face winter coat, but I bought it on sale. --who doesn't love north face :-p

 

I now consider Walmart too expensive (this happens when you exclusively buy at thrift shops), but when I need underwear or a specific bra etc.. I also will go to Walmart. I don't pay any attention to the labels, like AustinJames,  I touch it, if it's soft I buy it, if it holds up in the wash and doesn't fall apart, I become a loyal customer.

 

You can find great deals if you spend some time shopping around and reading online customer reviews, if there are specific brands you are interested in, try posting your question on Fat Wallet www. fatwallet . com.

For example:

Forever 21 has 100% cotton tank tops/cami's for US$1.50

GAP has women's 100% cotton underwear on sale often for .99 -$1.50 a pair

 

I live in Beijing, and I don't buy any of my clothing or shoes here. I find it's a lot cheaper to shop at goodwills in the US. As far as quality, here in China, it is hit or miss at the markets. To repeat, i feel it's important to feel the fabric in order to know if it's nice cotton with a high thread count. I also look for quality stitching, like french seams. I would suggest ordering one item from 'wherever' and if it's nice, order more! :-)

 

Good luck and I hope you find what you are looking for. :-)

[J. D. Stembal]

I don't know about clothes and shoes in particular, but there have been indications that eBay has become a clearing house for counterfeit goods.

 

http://www.cnet.com/news/ebay-settles-lengthy-lawsuit-with-lvmh-over-counterfeit-goods/

[LandJ]

If Chinese clothing were of low quality then, why these products have flooded European and American markets? Obviously the economic crisis made clothing purchases from China soar. But having in mind depreciation, wouldn't it more economical to buy 1 sweater of good quality instead of 3 of low quality that will be damaged shortly? Even if they are very cheap, people might prefer to buy 1 item that will last instead of more that will last less time. What I want to point is that maybe there are quality levels even among Chinese products. I have bought many clothing products and items from China, and most of them fit well and haven't been damaged. Only few were unsuccessful purchases.

 

Another question is what about famous brands that manufacture in China? For example Nike. Nike apart from Chinese workers, utilizes Chinese cheap raw materials to manufacture its products or they send raw materials from other countries to China and they only utilize the cheap Chinese workforce?