Anti Pirating Group files charges against gown knock off websites

Maggie Sottero Monterrey available at

The Gallery by Lynette

According to the latest issue of Vows magazine ABPIA's July filing in a New York federal court against over 50 named online counterfeiters and piracy websites is having a near immediate impact, as several of these sites have contacted the association's legal team to discuss resolution.  Defendants named in the filing for trademark counterfeiting and infringement, cyber-squatting and unfair competition includes dhgate.com, milanoo.com, dreamprom.com, magiebridal.com, and moorepromdress.com. 
These are surely not the only sites that will be compromised in the near future because Chinese knock off owners have been known to have as many as 30 different sites all funneling back to one owner.

The complaint was filed on behalf of over 20 manufacturers including Maggie Sottero, La Femme, BariJay, Alyce Paris, Allure Bridals, Watters, Mon Cheri, Mori Lee, Emme Bridal, Essence of Australia, Edward Berger, Jovani, Precious Formals and Jordan Fashions. 


If you or a friend buys a dress online from other than the authorized retailer for that designer, you risk your money as well as your dreams because these knock off/pirate sites may very well be gone with your money and your dress and you may be shopping for an emergency replacement at the last minute
.  IS IT REALLY WORTH THE RISK?
We recommend that you shop in a real bridal shop where you can see and touch the gowns before you buy and where you can do business face to face with someone under US jurisdiction.  Once your money goes overseas there is very little recourse in the event you are unhappy.

Please visit our sponsors listed at the side.  Thank You.

Bridal Shops Can't Fix the Problem

Shop locally and save money, time and more.

Even bridal shop owners feel bad when a consumer gets cheated by China.  I have hundreds of friend nation wide who own bridal shops and have posted a few of their recent comments regarding Fake Chinese Dress Copies.

A website can never give you the security and ease of a brick and mortar shop

"Knockoffs seems to be a common occurence anymore.  Last year a girl came into the store and wanted to purchase a tony bowls dress that retailed for a little over $700.  Her mother had sticker shock, and did not purchase the dress from me.  A few months past and she came back, desperate for the dress she tried on, and unfortunately we had already sold the sample. Her mother then told me she ordered it directly from china, 'to cut out the middle man'. It was hard not to laugh at this statement, but I let her continue with her story. She said she was able to get the dress ordered for $150. She asked me if I could check the order for her, because it had not arrived and prom was in two weeks!  I told her I was unfortunately not able to do anything because it had no been placed under my account.  I told her the best I could do was check hanging stock, and see if there were any left in her size, so we could order her one from our store, but she would have to pay our price. Luckily there was one left in stock!  The dress arrived from Tony quickly and we did a few minor alterations.  The knock off arrived a month LATE, and was sewn with purple, red, green, and blue threads, made of organza instead of silk/taffetta, and to top it off the sequins were glued on! I don't understand what people think they are going to get for $150. Why does the red flag not go up in peoples' minds?"BR

"I had a girl come in a couple of weeks ago with a really bad knock off.  Dress was glued together and sequins were glued on.  It looked AWFUL!  Money was not the issue (her dad is a local plastic surgeon) she just had to have THIS dress and couldn't find it in any store.  She bought something from me to replace it but was still upset it wasn't "THAT" dress!" DS

"Had a pageant girl and her mom in on Wed. with two eBay specials that were supposed to be Tony Bowls knockoffs.  The mom had ordered the gowns, spent over $600 and had two pieces of trash.  Mom had the printout from the eBay site and both gowns plainly had the TB logo.  The dresses were hideous.  Nothing was salvageable and she ended up buying another pageant gown from me.  Ka-ching!  You just CANNOT educate people about these knock-off gowns!!!" Tricia

How to Spot Fake Reviews

 When you understand the nature of the Chinese knock off business it becomes easier to spot the fake review.  Look at the grammar.  The order of the words can be a tip off as well as using the wrong form of a word.  The review below is from a thread on this very subject.  There are girls who state that they got what they expected but I do wonder if they are just too embarrassed to say that they got cheated after so many warnings.

"Laura,
I went through DHGate and bought 2 dresses. I had found “MY” dress and they had the picture that was from the model that you would see in the magazines. DON”T DO IT! Both dresses were poor quality and not what is pictured. They use the pictures and send you cheap imitations.
Even with their no hassle money back claim – i was never able to get a refund. Even the veils I bought were horrible. I could’ve had a kindergartner make them look nicer. Save yourself the money and go find a dress you can try on and a bridal shop you can hold accountable in the USA! " Click here to go to the thread.   Click Here for another site with photos of fake wedding dresses.

Good Morning America Report

Here is Jenna by Maggie Sottero.  You might find Chinese websites with this same exact photo but you will only get this dress from an authorized retailer.  See knockoffs below.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the knock off people are not professional seamstresses.  They have never even seen the real Maggie Sottero Jenna or any of the real dresses of the stolen pictures.  Some of the comments (after the tears stop) have been, "Cheap looking, It wasn't finished, It smelled like fish, I had to pay $200 more in duty to get my dress from the Post Office." And more.

How to avoid wedding dress blues.  Still think you might be ordering a wedding dress, bridesmaid dress or other dress directly from China?  Click Here to see the video aired recently on Good Morning America investigational  report on some who actually ordered and what they got.

Buyer BeWare!

You've found your dream gown but the price is more than you want to pay.  Then you find a picture of the dress on the web saying that you can buy it direct from China for a fraction of the cost.  I have always heard "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."  You might have even found glowing reviews about the source of the Chinese gowns.  Anyone who has done any research will tell you that you are playing wedding dress roulette.  If you actually do receive a gown, and that is a big "if", it will likely be very late, in a package the size of a shoe box and will bear little resemblance to the beautiful designer dress.  You would be better served to buy second hand or borrow if you really don't have sufficient funds for your own wedding gown.  There are also sale racks where you can actually buy a real wedding dress for about what you will pay online and you know what you are getting.  Once your money is sent overseas you might as well kiss it good bye because it is not coming back.  Buy your dress safely more.
At The Gallery by Lynette we carry real designer labels as well as gowns designed and created for our store.

No matter what, you will know exactly what you are getting from the very beginning.  Please visit us http://www.lynettes.com

Still Waiting for my Chinese Knock off Gown

My Chinese Knock off copy of Sottero and Midgley Adorae that was supposedly shipped the 4th of April has still not arrived. What a big surprise!!! They were happy to take my $117 for a $1200 gown but quit responding to my inquiries with I asked for a tracking number that actually works. I got paypal involved and hopefully I will get my money back but in the meanwhile who has months to wait to see if they will even get a dress let alone something you can wear.  

I found some rather interesting comments on a website that you can go to at the end of this post with some pretty interesting feedback. I have copied one below also "The problem isn't the chinese websites, it's the cheapskate customers who use their services. The chinese factories are only selling online because gullible Americans are waiting in line to buy their cheaply made products. Ladies, I know you want a "good deal", but get a conscience to go with it. If you are so immature that you believe wasting a salesperson's time is okay, you are not mature enough to be getting married. If your budget is so low that you have only $100 for a wedding dress, you are not financially stable enough to be getting married!

If you get ripped off by one of these websites, you only have yourself to blame. Same goes for the USA sites like best bridal prices. They have countless complaints for non delivery, late delivery, sending sample gowns as "new". Look it up! The "good" comments you see online are posted by their employees. (You can tell, usually. They tend to read like an ad, and they always mention the "Free veil and shoes" bit)."


Click Here to read more reviews. The site you are going to is not ours.

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.