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Hi everyone! It's Justine. How to recognize
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good and bad quality when you're shopping
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for clothes? There are some elements that
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are easy to check before you purchase
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the garment and you don't have to be a
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fashion designer to be able to spot at
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least the signs of poor quality.
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In today's video I'd like to tackle cut and
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fit. Colors and dyeing. Prints, appliques and
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jacquards. Fabric quality and fiber
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quality. And then the sewing. And we're
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going to look inside garments so you can
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see what's good and what's bad. I will
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show you complete examples so that you
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can see what's good and what's not good
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compared. Fun fact, I own all the
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garment's you're going to see.
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I actually paid money to get them. It was
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before I became a designer, I didn't know
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any better.
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Most of the garments you're going to see
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I would never buy again but now that
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they're here, let's use them for science.
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Good fit and good cut. There are two
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signs of poor quality you should
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literally run away from. The first one is
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poor fit. Look at this nice and colorful
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sweater. One question though:
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where is the space for the breasts?
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It is a boxy cut. It is not body, okay. But
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I'm still missing breathing space at the
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bust level here. And the fabric is woven,
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not knitted so it's not stretching at
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all as I move. This garment would be good
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if it was either even more boxy, or if I
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had at least bust darts, to give the
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fabric the shape of the bust, like on a
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woman's shirt. Right now this
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construction is just not working. And the
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second thing is the cutting. When
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manufacturers don't care in which
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direction they cut the fabric, you get
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side seams that twist. That's something
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really everyone notices. It's super
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annoying and there's nothing you can do
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against it. When you take a roll of
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fabric, it has a direction: vertically. All
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your pattern pieces must be aligned
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vertically with the fabric. But then
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typically fast fashion brands will say:
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"Oh, look! There's still space to get one
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sleeve here!" It's not aligning with the
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fabric, but who cares!
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So they optimize the fabric consumption
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and in the end, you end up with pieces cut in
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all fabric directions,
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that's why your seams twist more and
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move with every wash. Colors and dyeing.
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You want a colorful, vibrant piece to
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remain vibrant over time, right? But when
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you buy a piece too cheap, you will see
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the colors fade out very quickly with
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washes. Always look at these two
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spaghetti strap tops. This one used to be black.
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To give you a benchmark, this is black. Hehehee
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And this other one used to be pink. Now
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it just looks like a white top that has
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been washed with a pink dress, which lost
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its color. Too cheap is just too cheap
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sometimes. Remember my sweater?
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The care instructions say: not washable, so
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they probably tested it and found out
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that the blue or the pink bleeds onto the
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cream color when you wash it. So they
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said, let's just say: don't wash it at all!
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But like how is that supposed to work
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for me as a consumer? Same issue with
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prints and appliques. This one here was
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once a vibrant, acid green print with
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rubber on top. It looked pretty cool actually.
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Now the rubber effect is almost gone. The
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T-shirt just looks stiff and old. And the
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green is low-quality too, so now this is
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fading out as well. This here is a
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knitting mistake in the fabric, which I
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didn't see when I bought it. And the
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hole just kept growing. So if you're
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standing in the shop and you have the
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choice between two T-shirts. Same price. One is a solid plain color, the other one
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has a print on top. Always go for the
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solid color because you can be sure that
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on the printed version, they cut costs
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somewhere else to compensate for the
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margin loss and you'll end up with
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thinner fabric or with twisting seams.
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You just don't know it yet. Go for the
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plain one. One question I often get: Why are jacquards
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more expensive than prints?
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Because in jacquard, the motif is woven or
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knitted into the fabric. The yarns
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themselves are of different colors. While
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for print, you take a finished fabric and
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you just apply a layer of colors on top
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of it. It is by definition less durable than jacquard. Fabrics and fibers.
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If the fabric is too loosely knitted or woven
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together,
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you can notice that with your finger. You
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take the fabric and you try to push, back
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and forth – the little loops or the little
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weaving. If you can do that with your
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fingers,
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not so good! it's too loose! A tight knit
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will be more dense, it will be heavier. It
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will fall nicely, will fall better. When
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you buy clothes online, by the way and
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you can't touch the fabric, look at the
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way the fabric and the weight falls on
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the model on the picture and then you'll
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know. Then quickly about the fibers
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fabric is made of. You have natural
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fibers and synthetic ones. Among the
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natural fibers, the classic four are silk,
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cotton, linen from flax, and wool. Then come
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modal, viscose, tencel – they are also of
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natural origin, but they have better
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characteristics, they're more modern. Like
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they are more breathable. They are lighter
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on the skin. They don't shrink when you
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wash them, etc. I write the name of the
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fibers down below in the description box,
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so you guys can look them up if you want to.
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And then there are the synthetic
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fibers. Stay away from acetates, it's also
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made of petrol, it's as breathable as
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plastic, hehehe, super-sweaty! And then you have
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the other ones, like polyester, acrylic,
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rayon, etc. There are quite a few ones.
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They are chemically made, but chemical fibers are
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much more stable than natural fibres and
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that's something people don't always
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know. A garment that's completely made in
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synthetic fibers, is not always the
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nicest feeling on the skin, let's be
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honest. But the problem is that 100%
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cotton is not a guarantee for high
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quality anymore either. Because the
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cotton production worldwide, just to take
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the example of cotton, has been so fast
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fashion optimized, that now you can find
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really cheap quality cotton and if you
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have a T-shirt in that fabric, it's going
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to shrink by one size the first time you
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wash it! So sometimes, nowadays, a mix of
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natural and synthetic fibers is not a
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bad choice at all. In fact I like to work
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with mixes, especially for thicker
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fabrics. You see that in my collection.
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Because you have the stability and the
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breathability and the nice
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properties of the synthetic evolved fibers,
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and the nice feeling of the natural ones.
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I like fabric mixes. Sewing, stitching,
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threads, etc. Now let's look into garments
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for real. First the hem. Here on this
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piece, the machine wasn't even set up
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correctly. The thread is not lying flat
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on the fabric, you see how bulky and 3D
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it is. That's not good! A good hem looks
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like this. That's correct thread tension.
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It's lying flat. On the inside, the
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stitching also looks clean and tidy. Even
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better, you can cover the seam at the hem
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with an extra fabric detail, like here. Or
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what I did in my collection, is that I
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covered the side seams completely with an
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organza. It will stay in place forever
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and it will not itch on your skin. Then
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let's look inside. On this skirt, they
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opened the side seams. That's great, because
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it's a thick stiff woven fabric. So this way it's
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not too bulky.
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It keeps everything flat,
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it's easy to iron, that's good. But on the
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pocket they didn't do a great job. It's
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messy really. On high quality pants the
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pocket seams are hidden, like here. All
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around, you don't see a seam anymore.
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On this skirt here, there is something fancy.
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They made the hem stitch line invisible,
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but inside, they left the edge completely
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visible, instead of folding it inwards a
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second time. So they basically spared one
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centimetre of fabric. That's cheap! Then
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they attach the hem with the invisible
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5 millimeter stitch, but it's not tight
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enough. 5 millimeter is actually just a
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temporary stitching. So what happens when
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you move in this skirt, this year the hem
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comes undone. And since we were
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talking about fabric, the outside here is
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wool, polyester, 5% others. What the hell
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is others? And the inside lining which
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touches your skin in the end, is hundred
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percent polyester, not so good. Last one.
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This one has a full lining. The darts
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of the outside fabrics are also on the inside
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fabric, so you can actually move in these
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garments, that's excellent! You also have a
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bit of extra fabric at the hem, extra
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lining fabric, that's for comfort. That's
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also good for movement, great! The outside
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fabric is polyester, that's cheap, but the
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inside, next to your skin, is viscose.
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Better this way, than the other way around.
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At least you have a nice fabric touching
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your skin. So next time you go shopping,
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you know what to look at, what to look
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for and if you see those signs of poor
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quality, then definitely the garments
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are not worth your money. They're not
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going to last that long. I hope you found
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this video useful, helpful. I hope in
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answering your question about poor
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versus good quality. If it did, give the
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video a thumb up! Thank you so much!
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Also, thank you for 50,000 subscribers.
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It's already more by now.
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It's growing so fast, it's incredible!
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Let me know in the comments below, if you
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have questions about poor versus good
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quality, or if you have tips to share on
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how you shop clothing. I see you Sunday
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and Monday again and here two videos for
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you to watch until then! Take care!
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Bye-bye!
