Sad Trend

Written by Shae on August 28th, 2013

Those of you who know me personally know that I take extreme pride in the quality of everything I make, whether it’s a dress or one of my welded mosaic tables.  I have very high standards for myself. Because of this, I am saddened by a new trend I have seen pop on Facebook and Etsy, and the other craft and sewing sites I follow.  Basically, people are buying a bunch of merchandise from sites like Alibaba and Dhgate.  These sites have direct access to the “factories” in China so you can by a dress for $6.  The sad part is that I’m seeing a ton of children’s boutiques pop up that have bought from these sites, then put their own tags on, and call them handmade and sell them 1/3 of the price that the rest of us who actually make good quality are selling stuff for.  I hate that people are being sold poor quality items that have been made in sweat shops over seas and they think they are getting a dress that was handmade in the seller’s living room.  Sad how dishonest people are.

Oh, and to add to it, these Chinese site have been stealing patterns and photos from handmade designers and covering up the watermarks.  There is a popular maxi dress pattern made by one of the designers I like and she had hers stolen.  The knock off dresses are now all over Etsy and being sold as substandard products.

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