Why is "Made in China" bad?

[lee_44106]

Most discussions about poor quality apparel/shoe products eventually bring up the fact, real or not, that the products were produced in China.

I'll admit that probably 95% of apparels coming out of China are either fake or exceedingly inferior in quality.

That said, it it more of a syndrome where the apparel is NOT "made in Italy/England/France?", or does the cheaper labor force and thus cheaper price automatically cast the final products in poor light?

Are there no artisans in China? Given the same starting material, is a hand-made Chinese jacket inferior to one from Italy?

 

[Tarmac]

"made in china" implies that the task was contracted out on a very short term agreement and clothes assembled in a factory which was not built to spec for that particular garment. Something to the effect of "Dear Chinese factory, we need 10,000 of these shirts in 6 weeks, we will pay you 60c a shirt."

Post a "made in china" garment which is made better than that and i am sure people here will like it. Do you know of any?

 

[jett]

Like you said, 95% of the stuff made in China is fake or crap. Combine that with the increased possibility that it was made in a sweatshop or by children or forced labor and a lot of people shy away from it. I actually think 95% may be a bit too high of a number but I don't know a lot about high-end apparel, I would be suprised if there wasn't a lot of quality hand-made clothes being produced in China even if it's only a small percentage of total output.

 

[lee_44106]

So far,
-child labor
-forced labor
-outsourced labor to some foreigners, so I don't like because I/my fellow Americans/Italians/French lost jobs to these foreigners

All greast examples of "poor" quality

 

[Bill Brasky]

Originally Posted by jett

Like you said, 95% of the stuff made in China is fake or crap. Combine that with the increased possibility that it was made in a sweatshop or by children or forced labor and a lot of people shy away from it. I actually think 95% may be a bit too high of a number but I don't know a lot about high-end apparel, I would be suprised if there wasn't a lot of quality hand-made clothes being produced in China even if it's only a small percentage of total output.

That's a very dated opinion. While this was probably true in years past, the quality that is now coming out of China is competitive with Italy, etc... I've heard instances where China chosen over Italy on quality alone. Their factories are getting very modern and in conjunction prices are going up. You'd be surprised how many companies that tout "made in Italy" products are actually sourcing in China.

 

[zjpj83]

Originally Posted by Bill Brasky

That's a very dated opinion. While this was probably true in years past, the quality that is now coming out of China is competitive with Italy, etc... I've heard instances where China chosen over Italy on quality alone. Their factories are getting very modern and in conjunction prices are going up. You'd be surprised how many companies that tout "made in Italy" products are actually sourcing in China.

surprise me

 

[billiebob]

I thought quality was an industrial process that can be specified like anything else the customer requires. For example Apple computer hardware is of good quality. The Polo zip sweater I'm wearing now is of good quality. Someone at Polo must have said "These sweaters have to be of this quality."

Does anyone with experience care to share how quality is specified to a contract factory?

Is there any reason a 100% machine made garment can't be excellent quality from China if you specify fabric, stitching, cut, and buttons?

 

[skalogre]

Originally Posted by billiebob

I thought quality was an industrial process that can be specified like anything else the customer requires. For example Apple computer hardware is of good quality. The Polo zip sweater I'm wearing now is of good quality. Someone at Polo must have said "These sweaters have to be of this quality."

Does anyone with experience care to share how quality is specified to a contract factory?

Is there any reason a 100% machine made garment can't be excellent quality from China if you specify fabric, stitching, cut, and buttons?

It all depends on the contractor, the willingness of the customer company and how much they want to spend IMO. If you want serviceable (or cheap) quality with low costs, then that is what you will get. I would think that even in China, if you want better quality you will need to cough up a lot more, just like anywhere else....

 

[mizanation]

made in china doesn't mean inferior quality anymore. ask anyone in the garment industry, not just some guy who posts on fashion forums.

 

[kolecho]

Once upon a time, made-in-Japan had the stigma that made-in-China now has. Just wait and see.

 

[mizanation]

^^^ made in japan never had a stigma of poor quality. it was the superior quality for lower price that brought japan to the top of manufacturing.

 

[kolecho]

Hmm.... you must be a young fella to not remember that.

 

[JBZ]

I'm more concerned with the possibilities of poor treatment of factory workers than with quality. As such, I always try (but sometimes fail) to purchase clothing that has been made in the US or some other first world country where I know there are laws in place that provide factory workers with some basic rights. Of course, unless you visit the factory, you never really know for sure.

 

[zarathustra]

There are several ways to ensure quality apparel.

First, I have seen many fake RL, Nautica, so on and so forth that are better quality than some of the real stuff. Quite funny actually. The only reason anyone can tell it is fake is that the brands never actually produced the design.

Before a factory is hired to make X, samples and counter samples are made to ensure that the factory can produce a quality garment. After that, many companies have a quality control agent that inspects shipments before leaving China, UAE, Pakastan, Egypt et al. If a random sampling of the goods do no pass muster, the goods are rejected as non-conforming.

China is capable of producing nice garments.

 

[mizanation]

i remember american auto workers destroying japanese cars, i remember a chinese man getting beat to death at a denny's for being a "***", but i don't remember horribly poor quality...