VENT: Wedding Dresses from China

When in reality, bridal shops more than likely purchase there stock of wedding dresses from....China, for way less then you are purchasing it from them. This is just a vent. Some won't agree with me, but some will. Do you know exactly what country your dress maker actually makes or purchases their dresses from??

P.S. FH says he loves his Mazda! He works for Harley Davidson building motorcycles from parts all shipped from countries oversees. Most people think that Harley is a USA product...wrong. Dinner was great tonight, we had Chinese!

I have no problem with dresses from China. My problem lies in that I wanted to try my dress on before purchasing it. I originally wanted a halter but ultimately decided on a sweatheart neckline after the halter looked terrible on me. If you were able to get a beautiful dress at a much lower cost than more power to ya!

Pssstttt... Most dresses sold at David's Bridal are foreign made. Heck, most dresses sold anywhere are foreign made.

You can save some money buying them online for sure, but you don't get to try them on and will have a harder time returning them if they don't fit.

It's a great option for some people, but not so much for others.

P.S. I love lightinthebox.com, because you enter your measurements and the dress is custom made based on that...

Oh you should definitly try on dresses to see what looks right on you, i totally agree with you!

I just didn't want other girls out there, who have been seriously looking to buy a dress from oversees to be talked out of it from other brides who really turn their nose down at it!

There is a big difference between buying something FROM China and buying something MADE in China.When you buy something from the US that was made in China,it has to pass inspections before it is sold in a store.When you order something directly from China,it doesn't and they can send you whatever.I bought a bunch of paper lanterns directly from China and they were junk,very poorly made,and I didn't end up using them at all.My cousin bought a wedding dress from Light in the Box and the quality was far less than any bridal shop i've been too.She ended up going to Davids Bridal and getting a different one to wear on her wedding day.I'm sure that there are tons of women out there that have gotten a "China dress" and loved it,but,there are also women out there that have and hated the quality.I guess the point is that it's just a big gamble to trust that what your going to get is going to be made like the quality you are expecting.I almost ordered one myself,but I was just too worried.

Believe me, I'm disgusted that the majority of anything I buy is not made in the US. However, my main issue with lightinthebox and other Chinese "wholesalers" is that the design is stolen. Ridiculous price or not, someone came up with that design. Someone feeds his/her family off of that design. And it bothers me that the particular design is copied and used elsewhere. To me, it's the same thing as buying a book, reading it, and then taking it back to the store.

My wife and I found a wonderful designer from China. She combined two designs for us to create the exact look we wanted and custom-made the dress for about $150. The whole process took maybe a month including shipping. The only downside was, we moved the wedding way up so she got married without the dress! But, it got here, fit perfectly, and she wore it to our reception a month later.

I've always said that it's a risk; not a bad choice.

I've heard both good and bad stories about dresses from China but that's not even my biggest concern.

As a seamstress I am actually offended by some of these China wholesalers because not only are the designs stolen but by removing the middle man it takes away work from my industry and what I do. Yes, these dresses are cheap but the people that are making them are not even making a real wage and I feel bad for them. If I were to make a wedding dress, yes, it would probably be about $2000 but that's because dresses take days to pattern, then there's buying fabric and then making it. When you figure in the hourly wage (which is about $15/hr.) that's 130 hours of work! Call me selfish but I can't support something that takes work from my industry just like I wouldn't buy a pirated movie.

And people wonder why our freaking economy is in shambles right now!

My mom made my dress and after doing some muslin mockups and the final one we easily spent P0 just in materials!!!!! The lace was $100/yard! Which is why i wonder how the "wholesalers" do it so cheaply.

Well, lace is usually imported which is one reason why is costs so much. I'm sure they don't have to pay nearly as much in China but as I've said before, they also don't make real wages which is just sad.

It is truly a personal choice I have gotten mine from aphrobridal.com its beautiful($350.00). I will say that they are able to charge less de to the majority of the fabrics are manufactured there so their cost is WAY less than what we pay. As far as stealing designs i gess that depends on the site becase aphrobridal had a disclaimer that says it WILL not be exactly like the dress they show in the pic & if you want the exact dress you need to order from the designer that makes the dress. If i could afford the original designer then by all means i wold have bought it

I bought one dress from DB and one from an online chinese wholesaler. I think both were beautiful. I found a Maggie dress I loved at an overpriced botique. I loved the way it looked on me but I couldn't afford it. I found a replica gown online and spent $150 instead of $800. Do that make me a bad person for buying from China instead of USA? Does it make me bad for buying a stolen pattern or style? Honestly, I don't care. I think it makes me a thrifty bride.

***sorry my U key is sticking****

I live in China and there's a part of town with huge bridal showrooms that I'm going to go to once we get closer to the date. Everyone keeps asking me how I'm going to get the dress back, but even if I waste it in my luggage, a good dry cleaning will have it back to normal and I'll still have saved hundreds. I'm right there with you!

Please don't put words in my mouth. I never said it made anyone a bad person. I'm just defending my industry.

It also depends on what you want quality-wise. I'm not saying all are bad. If you research a vendor enough, you can find what you want, but you DO need to do the research. Different brides have different wants.

Never said you said it made anyone a bad person. I'm just saying that I don't care if anyone thinks that about me.

I think the quality of my dress was pretty damn good. As good as the expensive dress? No. Was t exactly like the original I couldn't afford? No. But good enough for one day? Absolutely. I got loads of compliments

I haven't seen anyone here bash dreses from china , and I don't want to bash them either if you are happy with the product you're getting then thats great!I personally I would have to try on my dress before I purchased it . I think everyone is looking for a deal and Im pretty sure no one can beat the prices from china but as Cathasach says it does take away from money that is made here I don't think anyone says your dress choice isn't good enough again if your choices make you happy and its what you can afford then more power to you. When it come to bridal some women will only spend $100 and others thousands it just depends on what you want

@nan-sayy well put

Kinda think the whole point of the 'China dress' thing is not so much that it is made in, or from, China, but if the site is reputable and you get a decent dress for the price. Probabl you should not rant about the supposed 'China' bashers, don't really know if I've read a post where someone was bashing CHINA, but let us know if you found a site that is reliable and sells a decent dress!