A follow -up rant

I have more to say about my frustration with the wedding/bridal gown industry.  Don't even get me started about how much I've found out.  I've been planning my wedding since I was 16 (when I was convinced I was going to meet Jonathan Taylor Thomas at a Starbucks and we would fall madly in love), so I have learned a lot just by digging and research.  I also have a mother who sews and so I know a bit about construction.  I've also watched enough Project Runway to pick up a few things.

Most designer gowns are not made by hand by the designer in the United States in beautiful work rooms with a BlueFly accessory wall:

Granted, most designer anything is probably not made this way, but we're going to focus on bridal gowns.  The gowns are usually made overseas in China and produced in massive batches.  Manufacturers wait for awhile until they get a certain number of orders.  This is why it takes so long for a gown to get made.  They wait for 10 women to buy a size 8 gown.  Then they stack layers of fabric onto a gigantic die cut machine and cut everything at once.  Then a machine will sew everything together.  Some even add lace and beads and such by machine.  This is probably the reason why so many dresses have quality problems such as exposed seams, no lining, etc.  Thus, most gowns are not made to your measurements (unless you pay a ton ton ton of money for it)* and are instead a rough approximation of your size.  You'll have to get alterations done = more money.**

Oh, and you should read the label.  "Italian satin" doesn't really mean that it's a luxury fabric.  It's probably a synthetic fabric more likely to be made in Asia than Italy. "Italy" just sounds a lot more glamorous than "Indonesia."  In order for affordable gowns to be affordable, manufacturers substitute synthetic fabrics but call it something different.  "Polyester" and "acetate" just doesn't sound so bridal, does it?  It's like calling Target, Tar-jay.  Silky Satin isn't silk.  If the tag doesn't say 100% silk, it probably isn't.

What if you decide you're going to shop around?  This seems like a fab idea.  You don't buy a house without looking at other ones, and when you buy a refrigerator (or any other big purchase for that matter), you probably look at ads and decide which one is better.  Some even price match for you.  I have a game theory point on why you actually pay more when stores guarantee price matching, but I'll save that for later.  You probably correctly assume that a dress in NYC will probably cost more than the same dress in Vidalia, Georgia.  The overhead costs of owning a shop in NYC is higher than in Vidalia, which are passed on to you.  You also probably have more options in a NYC salon (although perhaps not), and the cost of carrying the stock may be higher.  We'll see.

Did you know that stores actually prevent you from shopping around?  Seriously!  You can't take a picture of the dress to shop around.  Stores are worried (and should be worried about me) that you'll take it to a seamstress to have it copied or look for it elsewhere.  Many shops also rip the tags out of their sample dresses so you don't know who designed and manufactured the dress.  They're worried that you'll go to a competitor to get the dress at a discount.  On some level, this bothers me.  Designers spend a bazillion dollars trying to get you to recognize their brand and design only to have retailers tear out the tag just to stop "price competition."
 
Getting steamed?  You ain't heard nothing yet:

So say you decided that you want a simpler gown anyway and don't need a massive confectionery concoction.  Some designers will try to stop you from doing this.  How?  Some designers charge a penalty fee (like $75) for any bridesmaid gown ordered in white.  The fabric isn't more expensive and the design isn't any different, they just want to protect the wedding gown business.  Other designers (like Vera Wang and Amsale) will not allow you to buy a single bridesmaid dress in white or ivory.  You must make a minimum order of at least 3.  This minimum, however, doesn't apply to colored dresses.

What's a girl to do?  There are a few online retailers, but the dress I want probably won't be sold online.  We'll see.  Plus, there's always eBay.  For real.  There's this one company on eBay that makes dresses.  They've been doing it for 7 years and have an extremely high approval rating.  Sometimes I have ethical qualms about copying a designer dress.  Fakes are never in fashion.  On the other hand, there's a limit.  I simply can't afford to be a higher moral power.  I don't know if I could ever be.

I can always attend Filene's Basement Running of the Brides event which happens 1-2 times a year in Atlanta.  You can get $10K dresses for $650.  For real. It's happened before.  Plus, it'll settle my ethical concerns.

Thirdly, there's always the seamstress option.  In one of my bridal magazines, a bride from Athens, GA had a beautiful gown handmade here in Athens.  I almost like this option the best.  It'll probably be a bit more than that eBay option, but I can better control the quality of the fabric particularly if I buy it myself, and I won't have to pay extra for alterations.  Maybe I can even get her to make me a veil!  I'll have to try on a few more dresses and get a better idea of what I like and look good in before I go with any of these options, but they seem better to me!

Just to be clear, I don't want to look a hot mess on my wedding day.  I want to look nice and I want to love my dress.  I just think there are non-designer options that have great construction and quality for a fraction of the price.  Plus, I'd rather spend that $2000 on other things -- like better photography or alcohol for you lovely folks.  Am I missing something? Is there something else I should be considering?

*To be fair, the cost of a wedding gown (maybe) should be more than the cost of an average gown. You hopefully only buy a gown once and the market is potentially much smaller.  The economies of scale are smaller.  On the other hand, maybe the economies of scale are larger in the gown business.  While I would never need or buy a large ballgown, many women do get married and wear a white dress, so perhaps the customer base is larger.  Maybe it's about the same?  In non-wedding gowns, there are fewer designs, because the market is smaller.  In wedding gowns, there are many more designs to serve a larger market.  So per dress, you probably have the same number of people buying a particular dress.  I'm actually more inclined to say that the number of people buying a particular bridal gown (on average) is probably larger than for non-bridal gowns.  Although, maybe I'm not considering the prom dress market.  I have no idea.  This is just the economist in me coming out.


*As a sidenote, this always bothered me in the women's fashion industry.  When men buy a suit or a shirt, they can buy in a dizzying array of sizes from neck size, to leg and waist length.  On the other hand, women have the option to buy in 8-10 sizes (potentially more if there is a petite or tall option).  Men can buy something to their measurements and women have to find "good enough."  I always have to get things tailored and taken in to fit me better to compensate for that.  It's just so bizarre considering that the fashion industry is largely driven by women's and not men's fashion.  Wouldn't you think that the reverse would be the case?