Has quality control gone out the window?

A reader recently emailed to ask where quality figures into my “saving money” equation. Would I buy something if it was cheap, regardless of quality? She went on to note how many bargain-priced clothing items are cut and sewn off grain, often with the fabric’s design running askew. Another reader pointed out the same thing when discussing trying to find quality bedsheets.

Have I been tempted to buy something just because the price was low? Sure. And I’ve been burned in the process.

Let me re-introduce you to this striped maxi-dress I purchased from Tanga over the summer:

I thought these dresses were so cute at $9.99 (with free shipping!) that I couldn’t resist sharing the deal on my blog too.

Well, the photograph was cute. This is what I actually got:

Would you wear this?! When did this even become remotely acceptable? In the photo, the dress had white straps. This dress has one black strap and one white strap. Not a straight stripe or seam in this mess! I owe an apology to anyone else who bought this dress when they were on sale and ended up with a mess of a dress like I received. (And, Tanga… I’m really disappointed in you too. I emailed to try to return this, and Tanga will only accept returns if the item is “defective…” which apparently, they did not consider this dress to be.)

Anything sewn off the grain drives me crazy, and it’s so prevalent. All too frequently, I see striped or patterned clothing with the design not lined up on the side seams. When did quality control go out the window? And worse, when did we just start accepting it?

Maybe other people aren’t looking at things as closely as I am, but here are a few more examples from around my house.

Here’s a boy’s T-shirt I bought on sale for $3. Look how perfectly the pocket lines up with the stripes in the shirt, and the side seams match perfectly. I was pretty excited about picking up such a well-made shirt for such a good price.

And then, there’s this one…

Yes, I bought this. The shirt pocket drives me crazy every time I see my son wearing it. This was definitely an item where the sale price trumped the quality. Why did I buy this? It was on clearance for $1. I’ve actually considered taking a seam ripper to the pocket to remove it from the shirt, as the side seams are fine and the stripes line up there.

Now, this is a $12 purse I bought at Meijer. It’s a cute purse, especially for that price, but I also liked that care was taken to line up the fabric designs on each side.

My last example for now… Over the summer, I spotted this checkerboard dress on JC Penney’s site. I was terrified of buying it online as I was afraid the design wouldn’t line up in the seams and the darts — this was definitely one item I had to see in person to make sure care was taken in getting everything to line up at the seams.

Here’s my dress. Upon going to the store, I was pleased to see that it was of great quality, and the checkerboard squares lined up. I love this dress,but I definitely wouldn’t have bought it without seeing it first.

Am I alone in feeling this way about garment quality?