Bride in Tears Today

The most troubling thing happened in my store today.  Two ladies came in looking for bridesmaids dresses.  They knew exactly which style they wanted and as we were talking the bride revealed to me that she had already ordered her wedding dress from the internet.  "The company is in California," she told me.  I asked her which site.  She hesitated.  I asked her how much she paid for her wedding gown.  She said it was $100.  A zillion red flags went up.  She then remembered that the website was www.dinodirect.com .  I pulled it up and explained to her why I know it is a Chinese knock off site.

Ladies, please, please, please do your homework!  Google "review" and the name of the website you are considering ordering from.  Keep in mind that many testimonials are fake so it is a good idea to take them with a grain of salt. 

Here is a review site on www.dhgate.com  It is quote enlightening.  Click Here for Reviews

The other thing you should know is as a designer doing business in China I know what it costs to make a wedding dress, any wedding dress and what shipping from half way around the world costs and you can't do both for $100.  My theory is that it is kind of like a wedding dress lottery.  Many girls tell me that they never did receive the merchandise they paid for and their money is gone too.  Some who actually did receive a dress got a really bad, unwearable, disappointing dress.  The company takes all the money and sends out a dress every once in a while.  Hence the "Wedding Dress Lottery".

You might think that in store wedding gowns are expensive but you wouldn't go to a restaurant and pay $1 for prime rib without some suspicion.  What if you paid for your dinner and never received it?  What if you paid and saw people at another table served prime rib while all the other people in the restaurant go away hungry.  If you get something for nothing, somebody else gave something and got nothing.   Be smart and keep your money in the U.S.

Sad Knockoff Story

No Amount of Money Saved Can Compensate for a Bad Dress



Knock Off Disaster

Yesterday afternoon, one of
my brides visited my store with her mom and asked if I could show her mom a
Maggie Sottero gown recently purchased by one of her friends.  No
problem.  As an authorized retailer,  I'm familiar with almost all of
the Maggie Sottero styles.  However,  the description of her friend's
gown was vague.  It didn't match any of the Maggie Sottero styles in my
store.   I was confused.



The bride then told me that her friend bought the gown online.  Her friend
ordered it from a website that guaranteed that the style was
"identical" to a Maggie Sottero gown pictured in an ad.  The web
site represents a Chinese manufacturer that sells $200 knock-offs of many
popular designer gowns.  According to her friend, the price was low
because there was no middle-man in the negotiation.  It was a
"factory direct" cost. 



$200 would be a great price for a good Maggie Sottero copy if all things were
equal.   However, "good" is a relative term when describing
a knock-off and all things definitely were not equal.  Based upon the
brides description, her friend's gown couldn't be categorized as a
"good" copy of anything.  



Everyone should be suspect of a deal that offers an "identical" copy
for 10% of the original cost.  Realistically, $200 couldn't even pay for
the fabric to make the dress.  If a deal sounds too good to be true, it
usually is. 



The bride went on to say that her friend was on a tight budget and felt that
buying a knock-off was her best option under the circumstances.  However,
she wasn't prepared for how different the original and the
"identical" copy would look.  She also wasn't prepared for how
differently the gowns would fit.



My heart goes out to anyone in a desperate situation.   Many people
take risks -- hoping that they can cut corners and still fulfill their
fantasies for a dream wedding.  Truthfully, sometimes it is possible to
cut corners -- but not always.  Sometimes the cards are stacked against
you.  In the end, the money is lost and the dream can  become a
nightmare.



It makes me sad when I encounter the disappointment and tears shed after
precious resources are wasted by gullible girls who want to believe that they
will get an unbelievable deal by buying "direct" from a factory in
China.   Several girls told me that they were assured that the gown that
they ordered would be "identical" to a popular designer style.
Not one gown has been identical so far.  Some factories take it a step
further and assure the bride that the gown will be custom made to her
measurements to avoid alteration costs. 



To the best of my knowledge, this never turns out to be true.  I lost
track of the number of calls that my seamstress receives from

girls who are desperate to obtain professional alterations on gowns

ordered from a factory in China.   I don't believe that my seamstress
has been able to help even one bride because the gowns they received were made
of such inferior quality fabrics and were sewn so poorly at the factory that
alterations couldn't be made.  



If the quality concerns aren't enough to discourage you from off- shore, online
buying, think about this:  all gowns shipped to the United States are
subject to Customs Inspections.  There are numerous laws that prohibit the
distribution of knock-offs in the United States.  Customs Inspectors can
enforce these laws and confiscate your knock-off gown.  The money you
spend on the gown and the shipping will not be refunded.



In some instances, Customs Inspectors make an arbitrary decision that the gown
may be worth more than the price specified.  In these instances, the
Customs Inspector is permitted to increase the import duty from 17% to 20% --
up to an additional $1,000 in duty charges.  Again, you are responsible
for these charges. 



Consumers who select to use their personal checking accounts or credit cards to
pay for their online purchases are faced with a legal battle.  While a
gown may be 100% refundable, shipping charges (ranging from $50 to $150) are
not refundable.  Therefore, some consumers are caught between a rock and a
hard place -- paying as much as $300 in shipping charges on a gown that they
will never receive.



Even if you receive the gown you ordered -- even if it looks vaguely similar to
the gown you wanted -- even if it's wearable -- you're still not out of the
woods.   The fabrics used to make knock-off gowns are so inexpensive
that pressing the gown becomes a major issue.  In most cases, you can't
use an iron.  Instead, the gown must be professionally steamed.  Many
professionals will refuse the job because the substandard fabric, lace, and
beading will make it impossible to achieve good results.  In fact,
steaming could damage the gown.  Similarly, many professional dry cleaners
may refuse to clean the gown after the wedding because it won't withstand the
cleaning solvents or the cleaning process. 



Problems with gowns order from factories in China are becoming common.  If
you've had a problem with a knock-off gown, we'd love to hear from you.
Your experiences may help to save someone from disaster. 

U.S. Feds more involved every day in the knock off trade.

You might think it doesn't affect you and there are enough positive comments online to justify ordering a gown from overseas but is it really the best idea? If the unscrupulous overseas pirates would say that they make your dream gown for the designer and if you order direct you can save $$$$,  if they would steal copyright images and post them as their own, take your precious money and sell you a very inferior gown don't you think that they would also flood the internet with positive reviews, positive feed back and articles about how safe it is?   Read the article below carefully and you will see that you could order your dress, pay your money and they could disappear.  You also might not be aware that you are not protected with you use your credit card for an outside of the U.S. purchase. Be sure to back click after you read the article because there is more below. (Read More click below)

Bridal Guide

I just got off the phone with the Editor of Bridal Guide Magazine.  He wants some input on the problems that brides are facing with the issue of buying wedding gowns off the internet.  It is a big problem because un suspecting individuals are being tricked into thinking that the picture online is a representation of what they will receive.  All I can say is the immortal words of Clint Eastwood  "Do you feel lucky?  Well, do you?"

I met a bride to be at a recent bridal fair who told me that she had ordered 4 wedding dresses online before she got the one she was happy with but she said it was OK because they were all really cheap.  Is that really what you would want?  She also was wondering if my seamstress could stand by to make her a jacket because she had two on order and wasn't sure either of them would be here in time for the wedding.

I can't imagine anything more stressful.

I have researched online at what is available.  Any time a bride to be comes into my store wanting a price match to a website offer I go to my computer and pull up the site.  Sometimes I find deep in the recesses of the website in teeny tiny print that these aren't pictures of the real dresses but a version or replica gown.  Often I have to go to a whois site to find out who owns the domain and most of them are hiding behind a registration service.

If  the place from which you are considering buying the most important dress you will ever wear is not in the U.S. and connected to a real brick and mortar store you might want to reconsider. 

Be sure to follow our blog so you won't miss out.  In upcoming posts we will visit ways that you can tell whether you are looking at a real designer gown or a copy and the dangers of sending your money out of the U.S.  The best ways to pay for a wedding gown, the most knocked off designers, etc.

Knockoff Formal and Bridal Gowns on Internet Shopping Sites

Knockoff Formal and Bridal Gowns on Internet Shopping Sites


Submitted by Fashion Belle on Sat, 12/11/2010 - 12:20

Brides shopping online in preparation for spring weddings may want to be cautious of websites that appear to sell name brand dresses at a fraction of retail prices. These sites, many in China, are creating knockoffs, a topic addressed by this article, Cyber Monday Crackdown: 82 Sites Shut Down in Anti-Piracy Bust. This Huffington Post article refers to November 29, 2010, the Monday after Thanksgiving in the United States, which has become one of the biggest online shopping days of the year as companies have started a tradition of offering online coupons and discounts to garner an extra share of holiday sales at the end of the busy Thanksgiving shopping weekend.



Products of all types are counterfeited, and in the apparel and accessories categories, luxury brand handbags are a common target as are designer formal and bridal gowns. Formal and bridal dress industry expert Lynette Robinson, whose Gallery by Lynette is featured in the Fashion Belle reviews, has created a special Buyer Beware of Replica Gowns blog to showcase photos of original dresses compared to cheap copies of the same styles from companies selling counterfeits. In a phone interview, Robinson shared with the Fashion Belle Editor that because of the lack of copyright protection in China, manufacturers in that country will often take photos directly from a competitor's website, post it on their own site, and offer to make the dress for far less than the original dress sells at retail. Robinson, who produces her own original designs in partnership with factories in China and elsewhere, said that often the counterfeiters have never seen the original dresses. They refer to photos of popular dresses and cut copies based on measurements submitted by their online customers. The fabric and construction quality of the counterfeit dresses is usually far inferior to that of the original gowns.



Bridal and formal gowns can easily run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, which is why shoppers would understandably be drawn to websites that appear to offer deep discounts on styles, especially modest styles which must be ordered online if the shopper does not have access to local stores that specialize in modest styles. However, be aware that not only are counterfeit goods illegal, the quality may be far below what is expected.



For the Cyber Monday crackdown, agents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) had been making purchases from suspected sites, and if the products shipped were confirmed to be counterfeit, the domains were seized. The following notice was placed on the closed sites, "This domain name has been seized by ICE - Homeland Security Investigations pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court . . . . Intentionally and knowingly trafficking in counterfeit goods is a federal crime that carries pentalties for first time offenders of up to ten years in federal prison, a $2,000,000 fine, forfeiture and restitution . . . ."



Special agent John Chakwin is quoted on the ICE website regarding the importance of stopping illegal imports, "These counterfeits cause legitimate U.S. industries to lose billions in revenue annually which deny Americans good-paying jobs. Counterfeits may be funded by criminal organizations, and they deliver shoddy and sometimes dangerous goods into commerce." The ICE encourages the public to report information on counterfeiting and trademark violations at the Intellectual Property Rights toll-free hotline, (866) IPR-2060

Source

Reviews

It's hard to imagine how these websites offering replica designer gowns can possibly have so many wonderful reviews unless you realize that anybody who would steal copyrighted material and claim it as their own would not think twice about fabricating reviews.  Saving money on a dress is attractive but the disappointment of getting a dress that bears little resemblance to the original gown might not be so nice. 

Replica Gowns VS Original Designer Styles