Shirt.Woot

endangeredomega wrote:The implication that so many Americans these days are losing their jobs due to performance issues is ... well, pretty burlap chafes me soy, imho.

Wow, touchy much? I don't think anything even close to that was implied by the statement.

elezar wrote:This lie that everyone keeps mentioning is rather concerning. I never saw their comments about the price increase being so that they could stay with AA/an American company. Do you have a link to that?

There was no lie.

Several of the comments said something about the price being ok since the blanks were from a US company, but I can't see that woot said anything like that.

Today's shirt is the last for me. Anvil iT shirts are crap.

Magic Cave wrote:I should have worded my question more clearly. The 3X shirt woot carries now is the weirdest 3X I've ever seen or worn. I should have asked about a *standard size* 3X.

Many thanks for your response, however; the clarity problem was all mine.

Ahh, okay! I thought maybe you were someone who had been more active on shirt.woot long ago (as I believe there was a time when woot did not offer 3X) and came back after hearing about the new blanks. Yeah, I make stuff up in my head a lot.

taternuggets wrote:There was no lie.

Several of the comments said something about the price being ok since the blanks were from a US company, but I can't see that woot said anything like that.

Yeah, I saw that post of course, but I'm assuming there's something else that I must have missed. A lot of people that are referencing the lie seem to be more questioning "Didn't they say this" than statements that they DID say it. That was actually why I responded to Kim's post about it, as she seems quite sure that they made the statement.

Ouch. Shirt.What is closed in protest of the new branded blanks. :X Not sure I can deal with that... Haaaalllppp?

bassanimation wrote:Ouch. Shirt.What is closed in protest of the new branded blanks. :X Not sure I can deal with that... Haaaalllppp?

I noticed that yesterday and bluchez commented that it's not really in protest, he just wanted to let his feelings be known.

http://shirt.woot.com/Forums/viewpost.aspx?PostID=4855246&PageIndex=4&ReplyCount=200#post4856498

This is a terrible idea. I hate you for slowly ruining woot. Please stop. You have now increased the price, decreased the quality, and added a week to the shipping time since you took over 2 years ago. What is wrong with you? Just stop!

To everyone spouting off all this DEY TOOK OUR JOBS nonsense, do just a teeny tiny microsecond of research:

All those nifty "American" jobs you're worried about? They were illegal immigrants up until the Fed finally cracked down in 2009. AA hid behind "made in America" but used tax-free immigrant labor. Not to mention the numerous sexual harassment suits brought against the company and the fact that their financial situation is tenuous at best.

Support American companies, sure. But support them because they're GOOD, not because of the flag they put on the pole.

jbackert wrote:This is a terrible idea. I hate you for slowly ruining woot. Please stop. You have now increased the price, decreased the quality, and added a week to the shipping time since you took over 2 years ago. What is wrong with you? Just stop!

Can you point me to the FACTS where they have decreased quality?

True Story

tsero4 wrote:

True Story

WIN. I just cracked up.

ThunderThighs wrote:
FWIW, this wasn't a sudden decision. I was sent some test shirts over 2 years ago. I was sent a womens Anvil and I really liked it. I never order AA womens shirts.

Oh, and my adult son was also a test candidate. He's very sensitive to itchy material. He loved the Anvil shirt and wore it constantly. He said it was better than the AA.

Well it seems the people making sure that shirt.woot stays profitable thought a little too much on the profit side and less on the messaging side. Something that has been in the works for a year, 2 years, and the amazingly bad job of message management makes me think it wasn't thought out nearly well enough.

Raise prices, then follow with a supplier change in less than a month. No communication of a possible supplier change, just Blam! on a Tuesday. It doesn't even matter if the product is of the same quality or even slightly lesser, anyone would tell you the "perception" was gonna be bad. And that's what your dealing with right now, people's perceptions of what they thought shirt.woot was about and what it will be going forward.

The whole roll-out of this feels like something out of a high school econ/marketing class, one that would get a see me after class.

tbd.

FullTangHalo wrote: And that's what your dealing with right now, people's perceptions of what they thought shirt.woot was about and what it will be going forward.

I thought it was a place to occasionally buy a funny/interesting/culturally relevant shirt for reasonably cheap. Which is what I presume it will be going forward.

Google "American Apparel" and you'll find they weren't so much a clothing company as they were a social agenda. Whether I agree with it or not, I'd prefer to pay someone to make me a shirt (and nothing else) and then support my favorite charity/political cause/whatever directly.

Posting in epic thread of epicness.

I'll be reserving judgement until I see the type of Anvil tee Woot is using for myself, but given ProfHotpants and odysseyroc are familiar with them and dig the quality, and given all of the shirt testing that has gone down before this decision, I'm expecting them to be just fine.

There's a ton of import and export trade between the US and Honduras (citation). It's a relationship that's overall very good for both countries. I don't know... food for thought.

elezar wrote:This lie that everyone keeps mentioning is rather concerning. I never saw their comments about the price increase being so that they could stay with AA/an American company. Do you have a link to that?

The only thing I found says the opposite.

Shmuel510 wrote:As near as I can tell, this is mythical.

There were numerous statements made by Woot customers to the effect that they didn't mind the price change as long as the shirts were still made in the USA, and another user (not a Woot staffer) posted a survey on Deals.Woot asking if people would have preferred that Shirt.Woot keep the $10 price and import cheaper shirts, but I haven't found any post in which a Woot staffer drew a connection between the two.

Is shirt.woot just going to simply ignore all this built up anger? It would be good to actually listen your your customers.

Spiritgreen wrote:I'll be reserving judgement . . .

HERETIC! STONE THE BLASPHEMER!

jbhswim wrote:Is shirt.woot just going to simply ignore all this built up anger? It would be good to actually listen your your customers.

most customers don't post in the forums. i imagine they'll wait and see how sales do before responding.

tsfisch wrote:I thought it was a place to occasionally buy a funny/interesting/culturally relevant shirt for reasonably cheap. Which is what I presume it will be going forward.

Google "American Apparel" and you'll find they weren't so much a clothing company as they were a social agenda. Whether I agree with it or not, I'd prefer to pay someone to make me a shirt (and nothing else) and then support my favorite charity/political cause/whatever directly.

You've misunderstood the intent of my comment. I was speaking from only a marketing/messaging POV.

Discount all the AA vs Anvil, American vs import, etc...

What I saw at it's most basic level shirt.woot was a place to buy "quality" funny shirts for $10. We vote for designs and the top 3 are sold Fri-Sun. It's a community, and as this thread has show was "perceived" as such.

It seems as though many may now "perceive" it as all about the $$$ and if we have to be less than forthcoming with changes to protect that $$$ it's ok.

Everything I've said is about the "perception" and failure to maintain what it "was" to "is going forward"

Underneath it all, it's business, cold and cruel, it's how it's perceived and that perception is managed that marketing is all about, and the job done here has been less than top marks.

Some of us were never that concerned with the "Made In America" deal, since we're not americans. Whatever lets us keep getting cool shirts for cheap is good with me.

jbhswim wrote:Is shirt.woot just going to simply ignore all this built up anger? It would be good to actually listen your your customers.

Yes. We created this post and encouraged you guys to comment so we could ignore it.

jbhswim wrote:Is shirt.woot just going to simply ignore all this built up anger? It would be good to actually listen your your customers.

What do you expect them to do? Reverse the decision the day it came out?

Amazon’s Woot takes it in the shorts over change in its shirts

1.

bluejester wrote:when I ordered "Shhhhh" right after the price increase. When I got it, it didn't feel the same to me. I thought it might be a different blank.

I noticed the same thing. I looked when I got home, and while it is still an AA, it's got a different tag than the normal Woot tag. Maybe it's a different AA blank.

2. In all this, the fit/quality of the blanks are of lesser importance to me. However, I looked in my closet and I do have 1 Anvil T. It's a Pixies T from a concert in 2004. It's my favorite shirt...it's soft, it doesn't shrink, it still looks good enough to wear out, and it's still soft enough to use as a sleep shirt. If that's the blank they're using then my only problems are outsourcing and raising prices while simultaneously lowering their own costs and not being upfront about it.

chennai8 wrote:One of you is lying ... Which one is it ?

I don't think either of us is lying, but it may just be the staffer has the particular body type that works with Anvil shirts. To each their own.

All I can say is that through my own anecdotal and my family's professional experience, Anvil are not looked upon as a quality brand. Even their relatively-new organic selection.

My comparison:

AA = possibly overblown, but still decent quality name-brand organic strawberry jam in a pretty jar

Anvil = low-frills grape jelly chock full of high fructose corn syrup and mysterious "natural flavors"

There has been a lot of talk about the specific mens shirt to be used, but I haven't seen anything about the specific womens shirts. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough?

I am a female. I am short. I wear a 32C so the AAs weren't a problem. They're actually quite comfy. But the thing I like best about them is that they cover my pants waistline, even when I sit down. And I want to be comfortable in my clothes whether I'm standing or sitting, not fiddling with them trying to stay decent when I move around.

***I DO NOT LIKE SHORT SHIRTS!!!***

I looked up the Anvil blank tees, and NONE of them have a decent length - even for a short girl like me.

I am not happy about the change for that reason alone. The other stuff doesn't bother me. But the shorter shirts absolutely bother me. A lot. >

llandar wrote:Yes. We created this post and encouraged you guys to comment so we could ignore it.

mrsstudrobinson wrote:

***I DO NOT LIKE SHORT SHIRTS!!!***

The new blanks are less than a half inch shorter and do not shrink as much. You should survive with minimal discomfort.

Thanks woot for yet another disappointing change. First you increase your price and now this. I won't say I'll never buy another shirt, but it will certainly have to just be a design I can't live without. In the past I've bought several shirts just for fun... But I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. Oh, and you are darn right the "Honduras thing" gives me pause.

llandar wrote:The new blanks are less than a half inch shorter and do not shrink as much. You should survive with minimal discomfort.

She was asking about the female shirts.
However, a woot staffer already noted that the female shirt sizes will be shown tonight.

lutherann wrote:I hate anvil shirts. In response to one post, ProfHotpants said, "It's possible you've worn a different style Anvil shirt. They're not all the same." How very true! Even when you've ordered the same style and size shirt, they're not all the same. Their sizes are inconsistent at best and the quality is terrible. When I ordered a Woot! shirt printed on an AA blank, I knew what I was getting; now I would not feel confident ordering a shirt from Woot!.

Yeah, because nobody has *ever* complained about inconsistent sizing with their AA woot shirts.

okac wrote:She was asking about the female shirts.
However, a woot staffer already noted that the female shirt sizes will be shown tonight.

I was talking about the female shirts. The length difference is the same as the men's. The big difference is in the chest.

I'm incredibly disappointed! First Threadless sold out over greed, and now you are doing it too.
I switched to collecting your shirts when Threadless raised their prices, and stopped making them domestically. Now I'm going to stop buying yours too.
Anvil is a far inferior product that shrinks in to a square midriff after only a few washes.
You have gotten at least $10/wk from me for the past 2-3 years, and now you will be losing that in addition to the money you made from the dozens of friends, and their friends of friends that were turned on to your shirts.
I could deal with the $2 increase, but switching to a foreign manufacturer like Anvil is beyond unacceptable.
Enjoy going out of business because you were too greedy.

llandar wrote:I was talking about the female shirts. The length difference is the same as the men's. The big difference is in the chest.

ah okies. I have read almost all of this and thought it was basically all about the mens shirts (being shorter) so thanks for clarifying.
I'm def. interested in seeing the sizing tonight as I always have to order ML.

I came to woot for the bunny shirts, so I havent decided how I feel about them not being American made yet...

llandar wrote:The new blanks are less than a half inch shorter and do not shrink as much. You should survive with minimal discomfort.

And yet, it is.
I already don't dry my shirts to avoid shrinkage.
6'4" with a 30 in inseam, I need my shirt length. Post up your measurements before you tell us our concern is groundless.