"Brand Quality"

[rainedragon.livejournal.com]

I hear the term "Brand Quality" thrown around a lot here, especially when it comes to comparing things the community tends to rank lower (body line, taobao shops, etc). Recently, as I've been expanding my wardrobe, it's rather struck me as somewhat of an odd phrase.

In reality, I think we have a concept of 'this is what a name brand's quality is when it's at it's best' and then we idealize that in a way that makes it hard for something to compare, even if it (sacrilege!) is better quality than some brand items.

I would like to propose a challenge. Go to your closet, and look at your various things. Look closely at seams, lining, material quality. Look at the lace... but look more at the construction. We pay a lot for Brand dresses to have custom prints and good lace... but do we pay a lot for them to have straight seams? good hems? decent zippers? to be lined nicely?

I would be interested to hear the quality level of different things within a single brand, and across multiple brands. Throw your things from taobao, bodyline, anna house, etc in there too... I think in some cases, there might be a few surprises.

I'll review mine more extensively and add it in, but I don't want to influence anyone right off the bat with my findings. :3


::edit::
I just wanted to clarify for a moment. I'm not up on a soapbox preaching the evil of brand, nor am I preaching that brand isn't worth the price.

Price is a complicated things. With name brand items, you pay for custom/quality materials, limited availability and notability. I'm not disputing that at all.

What I am disputing, I suppose, is that all brand clothing is created equal as far as quality of construction goes.

The flip side of that argument then, is when does construction dip below what is acceptable to be expected.

The reason I wanted people to really LOOK and compare, is because if they have any of those border-line brand items, it's highly possible that they may have off brand items with equal or better construction.

My point isn't that off-brand is made better, my point it that it looks like we assume that brand is all made to the same perfect level, and off brand is all made to the same terrible level.

It's rather disappointing then when you pick up a brand item, and it isn't perfect. That's what I want to know, honestly. Are all your pieces the same quality? Does brand A construct things somewhat better than Brand B?

Right now, going by my closet, from best construction to worst, I've got:
IW
Meta
AP
Baby / Infanta
Bodyline / Dear Celine

I have lousy Baby pieces. I'm curious if it's just mine, or does the brand as a whole have a certain quality level. (and I'm NOT knocking Baby, I'm just saying the pieces that I have are that way; it is what it is.) On the other hand I have amazing IW pieces, but I could have been lucky.

I'm wondering which brands people have above and beyond things from, and which they have below things from, because I only have 10 brand JSKs and a handful of skirts and blouses to compare. Not a large sample group.