Prom dresses from China?

[danygirl]

DD has found some she likes online at a decent price but I am concerned about quality and sizing. Anyone with experience?

 

[DianeV]

I saw a news show that did a story on these. They showed what the dress looked like online and what they actually got and they were not nice.

 

[kiramay]

I don't know which site she used, but my cousin bought her wedding dress from overseas, and it was gorgeous.

 

[supergoofy]

I personally would not buy such an important and expensive item with out trying it on first.

 

[1Princess1Prince2006]

A friend of mine is getting married this weekend and bought a dress from China to change into at her reception. She said it was cheap, had fast shipping and it fits her like a glove. I haven't actually seen her in it yet, or even an actual picture of it because she sent me a stock photo from online. I guess we'll see how it is this weekend.

 

[tina.tina]

I have seen prom and other less formal dresses on sale at TJ Maxx and Ross for $15.

I would rather try on a dress first.

I thought I was a size 7 and my prom dress was actually a size 3. Oh to be that size now....

 

[SplashMo]

DD fell in love with a PROM dress from China. We were skeptical but ordered anyways. It came and fit great. It would of course depend on which place in china...

 

[gibsontrio]

My husband and I are stationed in Germany and there are not many formal dress options here for balls. A lot of us order from a website call "light in the box" I believe it may be one of those china sites . They often have coupon codes and sales and the quality is super!! The thickness of the material and stitching was impressive for such a low price. My only advice would be to do the custom measurements, otherwise the length of the dress will be ridiculously long.

 

[danygirl]

TJ max is out - the one near us has the absolutely worst customer service and I will NEVER shop there again.

Thanks for the light in the box - their stuff is amazing. She is very tiny - under 100 pounds/ so we figure what ever we buy will need some alterations.

 

[bjscheel]

I got DD15's homecoming dress from China on eBay and it worked great for us. It was around $20 with shipping so I wasn't too worried. It wasn't one of the big fancy ones. It also had a smocked, stretchy back and adjustable straps, so I knew it could fit a range of sizes. Otherwise I wouldn't have taken the chance, if it had cost more and would be more of a set size.

It was great because it came up higher on the chest, had spaghetti straps (so much strapless out there), and was a bit longer than what we were seeing here. She has a long torso so what is a short dress on most is a long top on her.

Good luck finding the perfect dress! I will say since she is tiny, the China dresses *might* be a good option because they probably make them in some really small sizes. Also, jjshouse.com will make a dress according to your measurements. They have some neat styles but I have no experience buying from them, just browsing. I just looked at one dress and to make it in custom size was only $20 more and it was still under $200.

 

[eliza61]

Never again.

I had the opportunity to go to the Inaugeral ball last year and since I don't have the opportunity to really go formal, I did not want to drop a big chunk of change on an expensive dress I would only wear once.

Big mistake, Ordered a dress from a local formal wear/bridesmaid shop. the thing of it was I did see a sample in the store. Ordered it in my size, from china and wanted to ram it down the shop owners throat. Didn't fit, poor quality construction (you could actually see the stitching on the outside of the zipper), zipper stuck every time you tried to move it and lining was "off".

The shop apologized profusely and their customer service was excellent. said they had been having issues with that vendor for a while. I totally believed them but after that I went for a higher quality dress put together in Italy.

Now I just have a standard policy, for coats or suits, any thing I want to last and look good for a number of years, I stay away from chinese made items. Tee shirts, shorts, cheap stuff that I don't mind if it shrinks in the wash, I'll go for cheapest price.

 

[robinb]

For those who have been happy with dresses from China, could you share the companies that you worked with?

 

[wiigirl]

I personally would not buy such an important and expensive item with out trying it on first.

ditto

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I ordered one off Ebay last year for my Halloween costume (Honey Boo-Boo). The only down side was I didn't give it enough time to ship. It came 4 weeks AFTER the shipment time and 2 weeks after Halloween!

The dress wasn't 100% the same as the picture (the picture looked more blinged out) but it was 100% perfect for what I wanted. I ended up having to get another dress at Macy's (thank god, Homecoming clearance time). This year I re-worked the dress into a different costume and it worked great!

 

[DisneyMom21]

Just like local stores, quality can vary from one place to the next, but worth a shot, especially if you can find good reviews.

When I got married, 2 of my good friends were also getting married at the time. One spent $2800 on her dress, the other $3500..keep in mind this was around 1999-2000...anyway, I went to the Bridal Building in New York City, and spent $650 on my dress, and it included the shoes, veil, tiara, etc. My dress was really nice, excellent quality. It was from a Chinese company that manufactured the dresses for many of the big names and I am so glad my husband suggested going there. I saved a ton, and my dress was just as nice as their's was, but I spent so much less.

As long as your careful about your purchase, I think you can get a great quality dress at substantial savings! Hope you find a great steal

 

[lylymoon]

I got my DD her prom dress from TBDRESS and it WAS GEORGEOUS.. and really well done.

 

[gibsontrio]

There's also rent the runway ! You don't get to keep the dress, but will she ever really wear it again ?

 

[jessiebug]

TJ max is out - the one near us has the absolutely worst customer service and I will NEVER shop there again. Thanks for the light in the box - their stuff is amazing. She is very tiny - under 100 pounds/ so we figure what ever we buy will need some alterations.

I would try Ross or even Marshalls, i got my prom dress for $20 at ross and it was beautiful! shop around different ross'... it always works for me! I was 98lbs my senior year so i know how hard it is to find a dress that will fit just right!

 

[pandamom]

I have purchased many formal wear items from overseas on EBay for dds. All have fit perfect (sent measurements), were great quality and were very inexpensive.

 

[okeydokey]

I just ordered two prom dresses today from JC Penny clearance, an additional 25% off clearance price and free ship to store. If they don't work out, we will return them.