Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Does Fabric Matter?

I really, really does. The sad part is you probably just bought something made out of the worst fabric around. You probably paid about 5-6 times more for it than it is worth, and mostly likely it will become a hassle to care for (hand wash/dry clean) or it'll disintegrate over one season.

Over the past year I have started to learn this lesson well. I have been using a seamstress to make a number of dresses for me. When I have these dresses made we use good quality fabric. And let's be honest, I am past the age where I get away wearing flimsy materials. Which is why I am so offended lately when I go into what are considered high end stores and find dresses make out of 100% or 90% cotton, for $100+ dollars.

There is no doubt some of them are very cute, but even the funky patterns can't disguise that the fabric is cheap. When I check the tags to confirm my suspicions, I know they will never look as good again as they do hanging on the rack at that moment. They will shrink the first time you wash them. Then wrinkle so badly that you'll have to iron them if you ever hope to wear them again. Finally, after all this man handling you realize: the material is so thin it will be a miracle if it lasts two more washings.

Which leaves me hurriedly trying to clutch at pieces of my once splendid dress and wondering 'you are going to charge me that much for something so low quality?' And yet, people are lining up to buy the crappiest stuff. I figure they just don't understand material. Educate yourself. I think you will find it will have a wonderful impact on your closet.

Picture from Flickr

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen sister!! I hate when I buy something that is made of cheap fabric and it shrinks or loses its shape. My biggest pet peeve is when I shell out big bucks for an item and it turns out being a dud.

Anonymous said...

I hate that sometimes you don't get what you pay for. Big $ for crap.

Anonymous said...

Read all the tags before buying, ask every question you can think of about the fabric the article is made of (of course, the store employee will not be able to answer any of your questions because they have never received any information or training to sell what they are selling), or lastly, take your mother shopping with you--they know everything.