Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you ordered from them before? I have literally never had SHEIN or Temu suggested for me.

No, I haven't! Which is why it's so annoying. Not just talking about clothes, but also random home goods like book ends, decorative items, kids' items. I don't have the budget for brands like The Row. I can spend $100-150 dollars on a shirt and $200-300 on a sweater, not $800. Are there good mid brands people suggest? I still use GAP and J Crew sparingly for basics, LL Bean for cotton sweaters, and I actually buy children's XL underwear because I trust that it's actually organic cotton.

I've been browsing Boden, Tuckernut, Vineyard Vines, because I'm sort of preppy and a little eclectic, but a lot of their items are also made of cheap or cheap looking materials.

It's expensive, but AYR has really great quality basics. I like Gap's modern tees and tanks (Tall sizes for the extra length) and jeans from Madewell or Pistola (which you can find in-person at South Moon Under or Nordstrom to try on). And the business-casual pants I get the most compliments on are from Costco and Nordstrom Rack, respectively (DKNY and Theory brands) - they're definitely polyester, but they fit well and aren't shiny. The 100% Italian wool pants I tried from J.Crew were see-through garbage, comparatively.

Anonymous wrote:I've used Amazon for years and am fine sorting through stuff. Most of it is from China, but it doesn't mean it's poor quality. The one thing I've done since day 1 on Amazon is to read reviews and judge for myself. Some reviews may be problematic, but mostly they're pretty sincere.

I don't shop at Target or other stores much, except Poshmark for clothes, where I easily figure out the quality of an item.

Reviews are manipulated garbage.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nicolenguyen/amazon-review-reuse-fraud

You only need like 2 pieces from the Row. A dress, and then a blazer/coat or bag. It's the same price as buying a bunch of cheap temu crap over the course of the year. Just buy less and wear it more.

Anonymous wrote:Have you ordered from them before? I have literally never had SHEIN or Temu suggested for me.

No, I haven't! Which is why it's so annoying. Not just talking about clothes, but also random home goods like book ends, decorative items, kids' items. I don't have the budget for brands like The Row. I can spend $100-150 dollars on a shirt and $200-300 on a sweater, not $800. Are there good mid brands people suggest? I still use GAP and J Crew sparingly for basics, LL Bean for cotton sweaters, and I actually buy children's XL underwear because I trust that it's actually organic cotton.

I've been browsing Boden, Tuckernut, Vineyard Vines, because I'm sort of preppy and a little eclectic, but a lot of their items are also made of cheap or cheap looking materials.

I searched for brands I wear on garmentory. I don't wear shein or temu.

Have you ordered from them before? I have literally never had SHEIN or Temu suggested for me.

Anonymous wrote:I only shop a few brands. My favourite are The Row, Jenni Kayne, Toteme, Khaite and COS for basics.

This is a great suggestion for someone with large budget.

I shop entirely online and like to buy the same brand year to year in hopes the aesthetic stays the same and pieces mix and match, the sizing is consistent.. It is more and more difficult to find quality fabrics and you have to pay. I don't wear synthetics.

I spent way to much time googling looks I liked, picking brands, finding US boutiques that carry those brands, being sure they actually exist, and picking a coup!e of stores to order from.That has worked or me but I'm spending at a different level than Amazon, Walmart or Target.

I sincerely believe you can be very well dressed from walmart, if you're able to go frequently as merchandise changes, check fabric tags, try on multiple sizes .. because sizing is inconsistent. The other option is thrifting, also time consuming.

I've ordered a few things from a site called Garmentory. They sell for boutiques. You search a brand. They are legitimate. you can find a piece you like and probably trace it to the seller. Then maybe you have a store to deal with in the future. Of course returns can be difficult. You have to check policy.

Good luck

I do Google shopping and filter by price. That helps a bit (but not a lot).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've used Amazon for years and am fine sorting through stuff. Most of it is from China, but it doesn't mean it's poor quality. The one thing I've done since day 1 on Amazon is to read reviews and judge for myself. Some reviews may be problematic, but mostly they're pretty sincere.

I don't shop at Target or other stores much, except Poshmark for clothes, where I easily figure out the quality of an item.

Yeah, all of that high quality Chinese product on Amazon...lol.

PP you replied to. It's true. I shop for toys and treats for my pet rabbits, for example. In that sphere, there are no American or European made goods. Zero. I've been happy with the (probably Chinese) products on Amazon, which are much better than the ones at PetCo or PetSmart (probably also made in China).

I have also bought a few weirdly-branded clothing items on Amazon (I always assume from Chinese companies), which turned out to be great. But I only buy something that's marketed as cotton, and that reviewers confirm as cotton (because sometimes what arrives at your doorstep isn't actually cotton!). Wearing a 100% cotton skirt from Amazon as I type, actually. It was a very worthwhile buy. I do have to ignore the tons of polyester stuff, but then again, if I were to shop anywhere else, I'd have the same issue as well. Finding something that's not synthetic is really hard these days.

Bottom line: shopping has changed. Consumers need to hone their searching and sorting skills! If they do that, then they have access to a lot of choice at reasonable prices. It's the sorting that irritates people... but honestly, that's how it is these days, whether you're shopping on Amazon or in person in a brick and mortar.

I only shop a few brands. My favourite are The Row, Jenni Kayne, Toteme, Khaite and COS for basics.

Anonymous wrote:I've used Amazon for years and am fine sorting through stuff. Most of it is from China, but it doesn't mean it's poor quality. The one thing I've done since day 1 on Amazon is to read reviews and judge for myself. Some reviews may be problematic, but mostly they're pretty sincere.

I don't shop at Target or other stores much, except Poshmark for clothes, where I easily figure out the quality of an item.

Yeah, all of that high quality Chinese product on Amazon...lol.

I've used Amazon for years and am fine sorting through stuff. Most of it is from China, but it doesn't mean it's poor quality. The one thing I've done since day 1 on Amazon is to read reviews and judge for myself. Some reviews may be problematic, but mostly they're pretty sincere.

I don't shop at Target or other stores much, except Poshmark for clothes, where I easily figure out the quality of an item.

I agree with you and it's gotten so much worse over the last couple of years. It's almost as if Amazon is hiding the name brand items and pushing the "letter salad" knockoff brands instead.
If you check carefully, you can see what company is shipping the product. Sometimes, it's "Amazon fulfillment" which should mean it's in their warehouse. The same goes for Walmart and Target where you can see the name of the company who is doing the actual shipping.

I'll look for this like:
store with t-shirts like everlane

I feel like every shopping experience at Target, Walmart, Etsy, Amazon, and online are all overrun with drop shippers and cheap Chinese items. Even when I google things to find items I’m immediately suggested Shein and Temu.

Is there trick to filtering all this crap out? Sometimes I try to limit items shipped from North America, but drop shippers abound.