Hi! I'm Lindsay Ferrier. You might remember me from a blog called Suburban Turmoil. Well, a lot has changed since I started that blog in 2005. My kids grew up, I got a divorce, and I finally left the suburbs for the heart of Nashville, where I feel like I truly belong. I have no idea what the future will hold and you know what? I'm okay with that. Thrilled, actually. It was time for something totally different.
December 10, 2014
Hey, remember that silly little post I dashed off just before Thanksgiving? The one about a package of clothing that arrived from Singapore and contained a bunch of tops and dresses that were SUPPOSED to fit me, but instead fit my teeny, tiny ten-year-old daughter?
O.
M.
G.
Y’all.
First, it was discovered and written about and apparently read by the entire nation of Singapore. It even ran in the newspapers there. Literally hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans proceeded to visit my site, crash my server, and inform me (mostly very politely, I might add. Love ya, Singapore!) that the clothing was ACTUALLY made in China because the fabulous people of Singapore would NEVER make such ill-fitting, poor-quality duds. And you know, I tend to believe them.
A few days after that, my story ran in the Huffington Post, where it promptly went ape-shit viral. 250,000 Facebook likes, 750-something comments, 2 translations into German and French, and God knows how many pageviews later, I think it’s safe to assume that THIS is the photo that will one day (many, many, MANY years from now) grace the cover of of the program at my funeral:
Which seems appropriate, somehow.
So. Here are my takeaways from all this furor:
1. My daughter, in case you’re wondering, took the Internet frenzy in stride. It didn’t faze her at all. The only thing that got her excited, in fact, was the news that she was in the newspaper in Singapore. “The NEWSPAPER!” she kept repeating excitedly. “I can’t believe I’m in the NEWSPAPER!!” Apparently, she holds the same opinion as my parents, which goes something like this- If it’s not in actual print on an actual piece of paper, IT DOESN’T MATTER.
2. That said, the best moment, for me, was when my dad told me that when he logged onto AOL the other morning, I was on the front page under “Most Popular.” If this doesn’t convince him that I’m not just some Internet-loving weirdo who spends too much time on Facebook, I don’t know what will.
3. It’s just a rule of thumb that any time a post gets 750 comments and millions of views, a sizable amount of them will be negative. Trolls are drawn to this stuff like flies, so honestly, whatever happens in the comments section of Huffington Post doesn’t faze me. HOWEVER, in this case, I was thrilled that the vast majority of commenters were incredibly… nice. It was awesome. What was even more impressive was that not one person said anything rude about my daughter. My faith in humanity on the Internet is now officially restored.
4. There are a LOT of you out there who’ve ordered ridiculously cheap stuff from… we’ll call it ASIA… off the Internet. And some of you even sent me proof. And that’s exactly what this post is about, because I couldn’t NOT share these photos with you guys. They’re too hilarious.
Check it out:
This, uh, boob-mitten sweater-dress thing? This is GOLD. Pure wardrobe-malfunctioning gold. I laugh every time I look at it.
That was followed by Tweet from Joanna, who thought she was ordering a pretty summer dress– and that would have been the case if she had been three feet tall. When I messaged her, Joanna eagerly agreed to provide me with even more photos of her China haul:
As small as the last dress was, you’d think this ‘one size fits all’ red dress she ordered from the same site would also be tiny. Um. No. It fit like a tent.
As for this gray top? I don’t think it was exactly what she was expecting.
Then there was this swimsuit from Deb.
She wrote: “Bought this 2 sizes up cause I was 8 months pregnant at the time and thought it would work… Clearly I’m not wearing a thong to the pool!!! Hah! My husband and I laughed till tears were running down our faces over this!! No where does it say THONG! And there wasn’t even a liner or padded cups!”
Twitter user @atouchofevan ordered what looked like a cozy-yet-fashionable sweatshirt.
Oh, it was cozy, all right. A little too cozy.
Megan sent me another photo of a dress that ended up being more of a shirt. A very sheer shirt. And she wasn’t the only person to fall victim to this particular dress.
I found this photo of this same style dress on another woman who’d ordered it — and it looks like she got an even worse deal than Megan!
In fact, it doesn’t take much searching to find this stuff all over the Internet. You’d think, given the Asian sizing, that everything would be too small. But it’s often just the opposite!
And often, it’s nowhere close to what was pictured! *shudder*
I’m betting this woman cried when she got this ‘princess dress’ in the mail. I know I would have!
There’s a moral here, y’all, if you haven’t figured it out already.
You know those little ads in your Facebook sidebar? The ones that showcase an impossibly stylish dress or coat at an impossibly low price?
IGNORE THEM.
You’ll be glad you did. Trust me on this one.
Did you like this post? Keep up with all of them by following me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Many of these pieces can be found on DressLily.com, NastyDress.com, RoseWholesale.com, and a whole bunch of other websites that seem to be owned by the same company. Any other photo not directly sourced is part of a meme that’s on websites and message boards across the Internet.
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This is making me order just to see what I’d get! lol
Ha! Trust me- It’s not worth it!
I was just now thinking the same thing
This is comedy gold!
I refuse to buy from Chinese sellers anymore. Been burned twice via eBay. eBay also sided with the one seller I reported.
Ugh.
That gray top with the white doily across the shoulders has been advertised HARD the past few days, I’ve noticed. These are classic!!
I’ve noticed that too!
After reading your original report I unfollowed RoseWholesale.com, what a rip-off. If it sounds too good to be true……. Your daughter scored though 🙂
I searched high and low for a particular style dress for my wedding 2 years ago. I wanted ivory lace, long sleeves and the dress to knee length (2nd marriage, totally non-traditional) … Ended up finding a website with exactly what I wanted and they would custom make it for me (awesome, right?!). I sent my measurements in, not so patiently waited forever to get it, and couldn’t wait to try it on when it arrived… It barely covered my butt cheeks. It was supposed to hit right at my knees, but it hit right at my lady parts! I laughed, cried, and frantically searched for a dress all over middle TN (the week of Christmas no less) and no joke found a short sleeve, knee length, ivory lace dress at FOREVER 21! The original dress hangs in the closet, as a reminder to never buy from those horrible sites again.
Wow! We need pictures! ;D
Haha! I know exactly what website this bc I almost ordered from it as well! Crack me up!
I was just about to order something from the mens line and then I saw this.. I think I’ll hold back and order one piece with a paid-up CC to see if this is true for the Men. It appears that some of the women who got burned are not as thin as the models, but then I took a closer look at the material and style and notice its very poorly done, so aside from the skinny models, the material and pattens are way off.
Don’t do it. There are LOTS of complaints from men on the Huffington Post version of my post. Check it out if you’d like.
it’s not that the gals are not as small as the models. these sites have sizing charts, and most of the ladies purchased one or two sizes UP to ensure fit. the charts and quality are both clearly b.s.
if it’s allegedly a dress, and it doesn’t even cover your coochy, well ….
i LOVED the article in huffpo – and the responses are awesome. thanks y’all very much for saving me from the same fate!
I ordered a cold weather dress and a tube top summer dress…. I ordered the first one. A size bigger to be sure it fit. Haha my mom cannot fit it and she is a small. The other dress fits like a med. I am a x large. 64.00 half was shipping other half product. Never again. Oh and month and a half shipping
I order from those sites all the time and have never gotten clothes like theses! I even got the white dress with ribbon around it and I wore it for a date night and everyone loved it! So it does work for some people!
It’s basically a crap shoot. As long as people understand that it probably won’t fit, it might have holes in it, it might be a totally different color from the photo, it will probably be a cheaper copy of what’s in the photo, the size conversion charts aren’t accurate, it may smell funny, returns are impossible, it may get caught in customs and cost more to get it out, and it may take 1-2 months to arrive, they should totally try it!
haha. spam? really???
Hilarious! Love this!
If I were not so embarrassed I would post a photo of myself in my lovely rose gal swimsuit. I am a department store s/m, but to be sure I measure myself and used the sizing chart. That put me at an XL. I wanted that suit and that cheap price so I swallowed my pride and ordered the XL. The leg holes try to sever my legs from my body. I actually had brushing around the leg holes after wearing it for a day at the lake. MISERY! Never again was my motto of that day, never again!
A lot of these complaints are very valid. I have also had trouble with some of these sites. I have never ordered clothing because I like to try everything on first, but there are plenty of other areas to complaint about. I just want to make a couple point:
– The red tent dress: One thing that has not been accounted for is the fact that the sample pic is a photoshoot. I bet that dress was pinned to fit the model perfectly. Notice how you can’t see the back?
– In some cases it’s just a figure thing. The grey lacey top: The girl who sent you a pic has more cleavage than the model. Does this not happen to people when they try stuff on? It surely happens to me.
– I would recommend not ordering custom clothing online at all. Custom suggests it is fitted to your body… custom to you. You can’t do that online.
I agree with most of your points though!
The grey top didn’t just fit poorly, it was also clearly not the shirt pictured.
I was looking online at some finger puppets for my granddaughter. The comments all said that these shipped from China and did not fit American FINGERS! I would not have believed it, but after reading your article, I stayed away. Thanks for the save.
I must say I feel so much better! I secretly shopped, ordered, waited, hoped….. And was bitterly disappointed by the miniature clothes I received. Every single piece was wrong, wrong wrong…. But I was ashamed and I hid my misfortune (in the back of my closet) from all my friends, and even my husband. Thank you for speaking out about this. I don’t feel alone anymore!
Here’s a better reason–don’t exploit third world people to get cheap clothing.
wow-now I don’t feel so bad about the swimsuit I ordered from DressLily in a size that should have fit me-but the boob part was at my waistline. the suit is like, I dunno, 12 in from crotch to straps . .maybe I should have my 8 yr old try it on!
http://consumerist.com/2014/12/19/skip-stores-and-middlemen-shop-directly-from-chinese-wholesalers/
http://www.lightinthebox.com/
Havent tried but looks interesting …………..
I love how your post keeps popping up all over my feed! I’m also glad you took one for the team because I also almost got lured into purchasing cheaply-made, ill-fitting, but seemingly-cute outfits from Singapore…er, China…er, ASIA…after seeing the ubiquitous ads on Facebook!
I ordered a month ago from nastydress.com still haven’t got my shoes…they looked so cute but now I’m scared to see them lol. I wonder if they’ll even arrive.
I have found a website that I believe might be one of these type you are talking of. ericdress.com. They have great looking boots but now I am afraid that they will not fit and may not look the same when I get them. This site has beautiful bedspread sets and I am wondering if anyone has ever ordered a bedspread from these sites?
I looked at things on those websites. Being 5′ 10″ I know better… NOTHING is going to fit me.. even one size fits all! However, I ordered the most adorable wallet with mustaches on it and it was perfect. $9 CAD saw it in a store here for $40 CAD. Costume jewelry, scarves, and things that don’t need to “FIT” are worth the buying from there.
I can not remember the last time I laughed this hard (your original post on Huffington) and these followups. Tears are streaming down my face. This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in so long and thank you for the bittersweet joy! I almost ordered a “woolen coat” from one of these websites and am glad I ran across your post first.
Actually, I want to buy that mitten dress. It would be the perfect ugly Christmas sweater. Do you know where I can get it?
YES! This happened to me! I ordered a few dresses – they would have fit a kindergartener. I went back and forth with the company about a refund and they dug their heels in and refused – finally filed a claim with PayPal (thank GOD I had used them to pay for it) and WON! At first the agreement was that I would have to ship the items back and THEN get the refund, but it was going to cost me over $100 to ship them back. I only paid about $40 for the merchandise. I contacted PayPal and spoke to a very nice man on the phone there and explained the whole thing. He said not only would he go ahead and process the full refund for me, but that he would look into this “company” and investigate them for fraudulent representation of merchandise!!!
Ohhhh my lord. Lol if this wasn’t so sad it would be funny. I myself fell victim to the great ‘deals’. I ordered this adorable lil jacket and after 8 weeks I opened the bag it was sent in and gasped rather loudly and said this us be a mistake. Am I being punked? Where’s the hidden camera? This had to be a joke. The zipper was like 6 inches longer on one side, holes all over it, not to mention one pocket was about 2 inches wide and the other about 8 inches. I finally decided that they must be confused. You use your hands to use a sewing machine, not your feet!!
I saw you and your husband on the Today show this morning, and got very excited! That was a great report.
[…] Here are 16 Great Reasons to Bypass Those Overseas Websites with Crazy Cheap Clothes […]
Absolutely hilarious, Lindsay! Thanks for shining a spotlight on the risks of online shopping! I always read reviews from http://www.ShopVenture.com before buying. Good luck for your future shopping endeavours!
i laughed till i cried
To be fair the red dress/robe/curtain is juts a piece of fabric warped around the body it is obvious in the ad. You can’t actually expect that to be a proper dress.
My guess is that it depends on the seller. I have been purchasing clothes from such sellers on eBay for several years. I have not had a problem with buying clothing from them. My only issues came from the accuracy of the colors. Even then, the problems were minimal. At the very least, the sellers offer either full or partial refunds. Be aware that since the clothing is cheaper, you will definitely sacrifice the quality of the fabric. So far, the only type of clothing I buy from these sellers are jackets and shirts. Since I’m petite, it seems like the smallest sizes in a mall are still big on me. This is the main reason I shop from these sellers.
Thank God that I always look up reviews and I came across your 1st article. Then later, this article. Love the info. Thank you! So my question is, where can we find the real clothes in the pictures? What catches my attention is not so much the prices, but the styles of the pieces. If it doesn’t break my bank, I would spend some money on the “good stuff”. 😉
The problem is, How do you really know where the business is located? On a website this is tough.
Old Post but still I liked it. Many people dont understand that many of the designer stores have overstock that can be purchased at bulk prices. Explore the overstock online, you might be surprised.
Oh man. I wish I had seen this post before spending a bunch of money on nasty dress! I’m so worried to see if my stuff even gets here! ???? As a 6 footer, I’m sure the clothing will be even more ill fitting than these poor ladies. CRAP!!!