Shirt.Woot

Honestly, I'm not happy with the American Apparel shirts, namely the red one. I've got two shirts now that fit way too snug that were printed on the American Apparel red shirt. I'm wary of buying any design printed on AA for fear that I'll have the same problem. I've got a design printed on an anvil brown and it fits perfectly. I've washed it (on hot) at least 5 times already and it's still soft and has kept it's shape. In fact, I think it is getting softer. In the spirit of full disclosure, I buy the men's 3X size.

bravobetrece wrote:Dear Wooters!
Unite! Come and visit us on facebook to voice your rage over woots inept handling of the shirt switch. Or sign our petition
Signed,
Master Baiter

protip: assuming you get everyone who cares at all to sign your petition, it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the swarm of "Hey cool shirt" impulse buyers that purchase here.
Nice thought, lost cause.
Please move forward to the next window.

j5 wrote:protip: assuming you get everyone who cares at all to sign your petition, it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the swarm of
"Hey cool shirt" impulse buyers that purchase here.
Nice thought, lost cause.
Please move forward to the next window.

Heh. And I thought I was a cynic. ;)

Mavyn wrote:Heh. And I thought I was a cynic. ;)

I prefer the term "realist"

j5 wrote:I prefer the term "realist"

I have a cheer and a jeer for shirt.woot.

I ordered the Leonardo shirt a few weeks ago, and it was the first shirt that I've owned on the new Anvil blanks. While the fit was OK (I wasn't as happy with the quality of the fabric; it's definitely not as soft as the old AA shirts), I noticed that the bottom hem was unraveling after just one wash.

I contacted shirt.woot customer service, and they sent me out a replacement, which was great. Thanks for that!

I'm just disappointed that as soon as I get a shirt on the new blank, it's the first one to unravel. I've had a ton of woot shirts on the AA stock, and they've held up like crazy, including keeping the proper shape and size. After one wash, this shirt is already coming apart!

I realize that Woot made this decision for a bunch of reasons, but most of all fiscal, and that my once-a-month shirt buying habit is just a drop in their bucket. I would urge them, though to reconsider their shirt blank choice, in light of the multitude of complains on here. I love American Apparel stuff for a bunch of reasons, and I understand that everyone may not (due to the fit). My wife dislikes the new sizes (too baggy at the bottom), and if the shirts are of middling quality, I'm not going to spend my cash on them.

Woot, please reconsider switching back to the old blanks or something comparable. I'd pay a few bucks more just to get AA shirts, because I know those are going to hold up no matter what. The negative experiences with the new blanks are piling up, and if this replacement shirt starts to go, I'll have to vote with my dollars and go elsewhere.

letoofdune wrote:... I'll have to vote with my dollars and go elsewhere.

Some of us are going down this route already ... this is where my dollars are going to these days.

If it wasn't for the blanks, I would've bought 18 more shirts already.

I took the next step in my breakup with woot (insert pillow biting)….I removed them from my “favorites” toolbar bar on which I have 7 shirt sites displayed, each of which I check every day. They were, in order woot, teefury, theyetee, shirtpunch, riptapparel, captainkyso, and goodjoe. Now I will admit I have been back here a lot, complaining and making my outrage known, but I have NOT purchased 1 thing from woot or shirt.woot, and I plan on keeping my resolve not to. The fact that so many people are complaining about the quality of the Anvil shirts makes it much, much easier, as otherwise there would have been at 12-20 shirts that I would have WANTED to purchased at woot. You made the breakup easy woot, and to be sure I will have fond memories (many of which hang in my closet) but I will never forget the betrayal, and the magnitude of sheer arrogance of shirt.woot, and by extension of the whole woot universe.

According to the May 4 Women's Wear Daily, Gildan is buying Anvil. Wonder if that will bring any changes.

klynb wrote:According to the May 4 Women's Wear Daily, Gildan is buying Anvil. Wonder if that will bring any changes.

I believe turtlesprague has been investigating and mentioned that there isn't much public information yet about the effect on Anvil and whether it will be a marriage or a demonic possession.

really bummed out by the switch. i bought my first woot shirt on an impulse, i kept buying them because i liked the fit and the material so much

now thats been taken away

i bought 1 anvil shirt.. the dos prompt one.. and ill never buy another woot shirt unless it comes on an AA blank

trackerf16 wrote:really bummed out by the switch. i bought my first woot shirt on an impulse, i kept buying them because i liked the fit and the material so much

now thats been taken away

i bought 1 anvil shirt.. the dos prompt one.. and ill never buy another woot shirt unless it comes on an AA blank

Trackerf16

Anyone who bought at woot in the pre-Anvil days is bummed too, you are not alone. Keep up your resolve, shout about it from the mountains, but don't spend even 1$ with any part of woot until they show the courage to fix this mess. Let them know why you stopped buying. The fact that Anvil was now being bought by Gilden gives them the perfect opportunity to switch back to AA and save face at the same time. We have to make it hit them at the bottom line of course, which means enough of us withholding our dollars until they get it. If you ever told anyone to buy at woot (I know I sent at least 20 real buyers to them alone) then call them and tell them to STOP buying there until you call back with the all clear. The all clear of course is GIVING US BACK HIGH QUALITY SHIRTS that are MADE IN AMERICA and FIT US CORRECTLY.

Until then stand strong ……stand strong.

Interesting article today in the NYTimes' Sunday Magazine looking at the economic strategies of Honduras' president, Porfirio Lobo; it's written by one of the hosts of Planet Money, Adam Davidson. Who Wants to Buy Honduras?

Primordial wrote:Trackerf16

Anyone who bought at woot in the pre-Anvil days is bummed too, you are not alone. Keep up your resolve, shout about it from the mountains, but don't spend even 1$ with any part of woot until they show the courage to fix this mess. Let them know why you stopped buying. The fact that Anvil was now being bought by Gilden gives them the perfect opportunity to switch back to AA and save face at the same time. We have to make it hit them at the bottom line of course, which means enough of us withholding our dollars until they get it. If you ever told anyone to buy at woot (I know I sent at least 20 real buyers to them alone) then call them and tell them to STOP buying there until you call back with the all clear. The all clear of course is GIVING US BACK HIGH QUALITY SHIRTS that are MADE IN AMERICA and FIT US CORRECTLY.

Until then stand strong ……stand strong.

You're, like, the Rosa Parks of t-shirts.

Apparently Woot has taken to removing comments about customers' desire for AA prints. That's not a good way to regain loyal customers Woot. This whole Anvil debacle just leaves a horrible taste in my mouth.

Primordial wrote:Trackerf16

Anyone who bought at woot in the pre-Anvil days is bummed too, you are not alone. Keep up your resolve, shout about it from the mountains, but don't spend even 1$ with any part of woot until they show the courage to fix this mess. Let them know why you stopped buying. The fact that Anvil was now being bought by Gilden gives them the perfect opportunity to switch back to AA and save face at the same time. We have to make it hit them at the bottom line of course, which means enough of us withholding our dollars until they get it. If you ever told anyone to buy at woot (I know I sent at least 20 real buyers to them alone) then call them and tell them to STOP buying there until you call back with the all clear. The all clear of course is GIVING US BACK HIGH QUALITY SHIRTS that are MADE IN AMERICA and FIT US CORRECTLY.

Until then stand strong ……stand strong.

Problem is, even though AA shirts are made in America, they DON'T fit me correctly. I'm wearing S Is For Safari in a men's XXL (AA doesn't think large-breasted women deserve women's shirts), and it's strangling me. Why in the world would I want shirts back that don't fit?

novastarj wrote:Gotta read between the lines. It's all about cost. The "thin margins" tells the whole story.

They might state some ancillary reasons also (such as better fitting women's sizes), but in the end it's all about the money. A damn shame only a month after already raising the price.

I'm personally annoyed that a purported reason is "better fitting" women's sizes. Right. Yeah. Ha. Women totally need extremely wide shirts. I just accidentally ordered TWO (just had a baby and though I subscribe to the shirt woot blog, I missed this news--no time for Google reader) shirts that would have fit me perfectly in the former WXL. These new shirts are pretty much exactly the same as a mans' large. If a woman wanted a larger size that didn't fit in the WXL, she could buy mans' large, which is exactly what I did when I was pregnant.

grotepas wrote:I'm personally annoyed that a purported reason is "better fitting" women's sizes. Right. Yeah. Ha. Women totally need extremely wide shirts. I just accidentally ordered TWO (just had a baby and though I subscribe to the shirt woot blog, I missed this news--no time for Google reader) shirts that would have fit me perfectly in the former WXL. These new shirts are pretty much exactly the same as a mans' large. If a woman wanted a larger size that didn't fit in the WXL, she could buy mans' large, which is exactly what I did when I was pregnant.

The problem is that women don't come in only 4 sizes, so we're seeing some who fit the new cuts better, some who fit the old cuts better, and some who don't fit either. When you factor in 'style' and personal preference, I'm frankly amazed that we manage to get any positive replies to fit at all.

bounty42 wrote:The problem is that women don't come in only 4 sizes, so we're seeing some who fit the new cuts better, some who fit the old cuts better, and some who don't fit either. When you factor in 'style' and personal preference, I'm frankly amazed that we manage to get any positive replies to fit at all.

I believe this is the most parsimonious and insightful response that I've seen on this topic. Thank you, bounty!

neuropsychosocial wrote:I believe this is the most parsimonious and insightful response that I've seen on this topic. Thank you, bounty!

You know, I had to look up that word, something I haven't had to do in 15 years, and I'm still not sure if there's sarcasm there or not... So Thank you! :D

On an unrelated note, I prefer the AA blanks for medical reasons, and won't be buying anything on Anvil unless I absolutely can't live without it: and I've yet to see a woot design that fits that catagory, on any blank.

bounty42 wrote:You know, I had to look up that word, something I haven't had to do in 15 years, and I'm still not sure if there's sarcasm there or not... So Thank you! :D

Oh dear, sorry! "Parsimony" is a really good thing in science and math: you want the simplest model/solution/experiment with the fewest number of variables that still produces an accurate/plausible model; it's related to the idea of Occam's Razor, which I believe is one of two principles that explain just about anything (the other, of course, being Murphy's Law).

I just googled parsimonious; I'd forgotten that it also means "miserly"! Yeah, not that. I simply meant that your summary was both more simple and more insightful than the thousands of other posts I've read on the Anvil/AA debate: women's bodies are so varied, and taste/style so varied, that it's surprisingly that anyone was/is happy with fit. I hadn't thought of that, but oh yeah, hey, that's totally true!

neuropsychosocial wrote:Oh dear, sorry! "Parsimony" is a really good thing in science and math: you want the simplest model/solution/experiment with the fewest number of variables that still produces an accurate/plausible model; it's related to the idea of Occam's Razor, which I believe is one of two principles that explain just about anything (the other, of course, being Murphy's Law).

I just googled parsimonious; I'd forgotten that it also means "miserly"! Yeah, not that. I simply meant that your summary was both more simple and more insightful than the thousands of other posts I've read on the Anvil/AA debate: women's bodies are so varied, and taste/style so varied, that it's surprisingly that anyone was/is happy with fit. I hadn't thought of that, but oh yeah, hey, that's totally true!

"women's bodies are so varied, and taste/style so varied, that it's surprisingly that anyone was/is happy with fit."

This seems self-contradictory.
If womens' bodies are quite variable, then almost any shirt shape is likely to fit some women. The same is true for taste/style. If there is a lot of variability between women in regard to taste for different styles, then any style is likely to have some adherents. Ergo, virtually any misshapen potato sack of a shirt fit is likely to fit someone, and some of those women will like it, even if only that giant translucent blob from the tgentry exercise shirt.

Josephus wrote:"women's bodies are so varied, and taste/style so varied, that it's surprisingly that anyone was/is happy with fit."

This seems self-contradictory.
If womens' bodies are quite variable, then almost any shirt shape is likely to fit some women. The same is true for taste/style. If there is a lot of variability between women in regard to taste for different styles, then any style is likely to have some adherents. Ergo, virtually any misshapen potato sack of a shirt fit is likely to fit someone, and some of those women will like it, even if only that giant translucent blob from the tgentry exercise shirt.

Yes, but Consider the set of all women. Within this set is the set that likes AA cuts, the set the likes Anvil cuts, the set that fits AA cuts, the set that Likes Anvil cuts, the set that likes Woot shirts. We're looking for the intersect of three of those sets while any other intersect is posting negative reviews. I swear at this point I've seen more "I can't wear AA sizes, but I don't like Anvil cuts." Than I have "Whee, a shirt that fits." And every time we do get one of the latter, at least 2 people jump into to talk about how that isn't relevant because THEIR experience is negative, then a flurry on "but I'm not calling the other side mishapen." etc ad nausium.

This topic has actually caused me to devote time to assessing the viability of tailored tshirts delivered by the mail, and how that might work. Maybe a POD "send us your shirt and we'll put this design on it."

bounty42 wrote:Yes, but Consider the set of all women. Within this set is the set that likes AA cuts, the set the likes Anvil cuts, the set that fits AA cuts, the set that Likes Anvil cuts, the set that likes Woot shirts. We're looking for the intersect of three of those sets while any other intersect is posting negative reviews. I swear at this point I've seen more "I can't wear AA sizes, but I don't like Anvil cuts." Than I have "Whee, a shirt that fits." And every time we do get one of the latter, at least 2 people jump into to talk about how that isn't relevant because THEIR experience is negative, then a flurry on "but I'm not calling the other side mishapen." etc ad nausium.

This topic has actually caused me to devote time to assessing the viability of tailored tshirts delivered by the mail, and how that might work. Maybe a POD "send us your shirt and we'll put this design on it."

I guess my perspective is that there are so many woot customers that there may well be a fairly large population who fit the new shirts. OR, a fairly large population who don't care about the fit at all. or both. Aarrgh, you're making me brain 'urt.

Josephus wrote:I guess my perspective is that there are so many woot customers that there may well be a fairly large population who fit the new shirts. OR, a fairly large population who don't care about the fit at all. or both. Aarrgh, you're making me brain 'urt.

That's my specialty ;)

There should be a small population who fit the new shirts, a smaller population who don't care about the fit, and a larger population who will buy one, then never come back nor say anything.

There's going to be a segment for whom the new fit is not good, but who the old one was good, I assume that it's about the same size as the population whom fit the new shirts. what makes this segment unique is it will have the highest instance of vocal individuals.

But all that weird math aside, I still think the total number of sales is decreasing. To measure this though we need to look at Monthly figures, not per design numbers, and we should be paying attention to the first time Wooter numbers as well. Consider the Binge (bestseller ever) with 7% 1st time, and 6% 1st time, against 1971 Floppy Diskette (only shirt about switchover age) 4% / 4%, and any of the shirts from last week (8%/6%, 7%/8%, 13%/7%, 11%/5%, 6%/5%, 5%/4%, 6%/5%)
We're obviously loosing repeat customers, which will eventually make a huge difference.

I have a few shirts now of varying sizes and colors. I’m not exactly sure when the switch happened with a few of them, so I have no idea which are Anvil or AA as all the tags (except one) look the same and don’t have a distinguishing mark or label. That said, I have a light blue MXL that fits great. I have a maroon and a light grey MXL that are kinda big on me but still okay. I have a green ML that fit great… then I washed it, and it now feels more like a MM. I’m hesitant to wash this other dark grey ML, since it will most likely shrink as well.

So I’m curious, are these new MXL shirts I just got through the random pull going to shrink down? The only reason I got XL is because the green Large I got right before that shrank; I anticipated the shirts shrinking down in the wash.

g33kymonkey wrote:... so I have no idea which are Anvil or AA ...

Look where it's made:
Made in the USA = AA
Made in Honduras or Nicaragua = Anvil

Shrinkage has never been an issue here, but that's because I line dry. Zero energy costs FTW.

Hi! Long-time purchaser, first-time reader. Like many of you, my only knowledge of "the change" or this thread came after an email to customer service telling them they must have sent me a men's tee. I've always had excellent service from Woot. I've bought tons of tees and merchandise through the other Woot sites. As I said in my reply email, I'm not angry; I'm just very, very disappointed. I'm also the owner of one tent-sized women's tee. Lesson learned.

I did make a suggestion: put a link to this thread next to the "choose your size" part of the check-out page. It's the information people need, when they need it. The Woot writers are funny, so they could name it "Hey! If you're a chick, read here about new sizing!" Or something like that. Make it prominent. Tell people what they need to know. Don't hide it in a forum.

Most especially, don't presume a yellow box saying "Check the sizes" buried in a shirt description covers it. I don't read shirt descriptions. The description doesn't change the tee; I buy the tee, not the description. If I like what I see, I buy it. Second, "check the size" chart is very different from "our size charts have changed."

Woot: warn people on the checkout page, next to the "choose your size" item, that the sizes have changed. It's not hard to be informative and helpful! Really!

Narfcake wrote:
Made in Honduras or Nicaragua = Anvil

If that's the case, then I have one Anvil ML (dark grey) shirt. I'm happy with how it looks and feels, I'm just worried about the possible shrinkage.

My only real issue is the consistency. Like I said, two MXL shirts fit completely different. The only difference is the color of the shirt.

bounty42 wrote:That's my specialty ;)

There should be a small population who fit the new shirts, a smaller population who don't care about the fit, and a larger population who will buy one, then never come back nor say anything.

There's going to be a segment for whom the new fit is not good, but who the old one was good, I assume that it's about the same size as the population whom fit the new shirts. what makes this segment unique is it will have the highest instance of vocal individuals.

The problem here is that anyone who didn't fit the old sizes never developed the habit of buying shirts. The people who have been Loyal Woot Customers (tm) were people who liked the old AA shirts. And we are PISSED OFF that fully half of us no longer even have a comparable size, even if the cut wasn't an issue. (The new WS is closest in size to the old WL. That's 2 sizes that no longer exist.)

sarahat wrote:The problem here is that anyone who didn't fit the old sizes never developed the habit of buying shirts. The people who have been Loyal Woot Customers (tm) were people who liked the old AA shirts. And we are PISSED OFF that fully half of us no longer even have a comparable size, even if the cut wasn't an issue. (The new WS is closest in size to the old WL. That's 2 sizes that no longer exist.)

Yes, but new people come to Woot all the time, and there was a whole section who wanted to buy but couldn't actually fit into the sizes that AA came in, so in the end it balances. Yes, there will be a dip in funds as they loose people, but the numbers show it's not nearly as significant as we'd need it to be to force a change back.

EDIT:
Put another way: Yesterday woot sold 4085 shirts. If this was a normal day, we can assume that in a week they sell 28500. So loosing 1000 customers who buy 1 shirt a week is only a 3% drop. And since people are still buying AA as they come up (22K on Tuesday alone) they likely aren't experiencing any appriciable decline.

Got my first Anvil (courtesy of Robbie Lee's facebook giveaway, thanks again!), so thought I would just chime in with my later-than-most feedback.

I'm a big woman, with a big chest.
I wear men's 3x in AA. Always washed in cold and line dried. Ordered the same in Anvil (and also have a 2x organic for comparison). Hadn't seen many reviews on women my size so thought I would bite the bullet for anyone else who might be too timid to admit their sizing as a woman who can't wear women's tee sizes.

The 2x in the organic was a little snug in my belly but not hugely so. It was, however, making this really weird puckering between, uh, the East and West Chestical Region. Almost like shirring straight between them. It didn't feel taught, like it was straining the fabric or anything, it just... didn't seem to be sitting right.

The 3x Anvil fits a tiny bit more snugly on me than the 3x AA, mostly in the belly-- but not enough to really make a difference, comfort-wise. I actually prefer the length on the Anvil as AA is a tad bit too long for me-- It might shrink up to the right size but I don't want to lose any width so I've never tried. Fabric is pretty similar to me, honestly-- I had my husband do a blind feel test between a washed AA, brand new AA, and new Anvil, and he couldn't figure out which was which.

The biggest concern I have with both anvils is what the sleeve is doing to the chest. It's hard to describe and I heard some similar things from the women's sizes (the "batwing" kind of thing), but it's causing a problem on my frame. The sleeves/armpits are almost... folding over/creasing right over any design that might hit the, er, outer coasts of the aforementioned Chestical Region. Seriously, though, the fabric gets all wrinkly and caught up on itself and generally looks really unflattering on the sideboob/armpit area. It's really super noticeable on my copy of Shhhhhhh! because there's no design on the front to distract the eyes from it.

I might try one more to see how it fares with a design on the front in my proper size, but so far, no bueno, woot.

bounty42 wrote:Yes, but new people come to Woot all the time, and there was a whole section who wanted to buy but couldn't actually fit into the sizes that AA came in, so in the end it balances. Yes, there will be a dip in funds as they loose people, but the numbers show it's not nearly as significant as we'd need it to be to force a change back.

Except that they could always opt for the "unisex" sizes that were labeled as "Men's"

EDIT:
Put another way: Yesterday woot sold 4085 shirts. If this was a normal day, we can assume that in a week they sell 28500. So loosing 1000 customers who buy 1 shirt a week is only a 3% drop. And since people are still buying AA as they come up (22K on Tuesday alone) they likely aren't experiencing any appriciable decline.

Here's another troubling thought: Woot still has the highest payout of any of the shirt sites. Artists are banging down the doors to get a print here. Woot could easily lose their top 3 designers and still have plenty of product to sell.
Ponder.

As neuropsychosocial has kindly pointed out, all new men's shirts at Woot will now be on Anvil blanks. A moment of silence for the men's AA blank.

Just got, washed, and put on my first Anvil tee (Leonardo), the neck/upper torso fits great, with the old blanks the neck was a bit tight. Length-wise though... I'm hoping after a few wash/wear cycles things stretch out a bit, because compared to a couple of my older woot tees I've lost about 1.5" in length.

While my wife may not mind me flashing some pasty white midriff when I grab things off the top shelf at home, I don't think anybody else will feel the same, my albedo is pretty close to 1...

jfiredrake wrote:Just got, washed, and put on my first Anvil tee (Leonardo), the neck/upper torso fits great, with the old blanks the neck was a bit tight. Length-wise though... I'm hoping after a few wash/wear cycles things stretch out a bit, because compared to a couple of my older woot tees I've lost about 1.5" in length.

On my shirts, the neck was a little tight too... but with a little wear they loosen up some.

I've gotten two of your new ladies shirts. They are potato sacks. Seriously. They are not fitted. At ALL.
I thought the first was a mistake. That I had ordered a kids large or something. Ridiculous. I asked where to mail the second one back to and they just gave me the refund.
For the past 2 years, all of the shirts I have worn have been from you. I love supporting a Texas company and amateur artists!
Unfortunately, now that you paint sacks with holes in them instead of shirts, the only thing I can hope is that you continue to offer the sweatshirts and long sleeved shirts on the weekly sale more often.

I tried so hard to talk myself into buying some Anvil shirts from here, but I just don't think I can do it.

The Anvil are bigger around AND shorter, and that's exactly the opposite of what I need (having a fairly narrow but long torso and wide hips). The Anvils would look terrible on me, so...no dice.

Which is sad because I wanted to buy a couple of shirts from the Reckoning while this sale is going on. I guess this last batch of randoms will be my last shirt woot purchases (which doesn't say much because I'm hardly a rabid buyer, but every little bit adds up eventually).

citizencoyote wrote:As neuropsychosocial has kindly pointed out, all new men's shirts at Woot will now be on Anvil blanks. A moment of silence for the men's AA blank.

*Sigh*

Thus endeth the Silver Age of Woot.

I ordered the Death (Board Games Derby) tshirt only because the sizing chart indicated AA blanks. An Anvil shirt showed up and I can vouch that Anvil shirts look awful compared to AA shirts. The moral of this story: you can't even trust the sizing chart. It's safer to assume all Woot short-sleeved shirts are now on Anvil blanks.

vielleicht wrote:I tried so hard to talk myself into buying some Anvil shirts from here, but I just don't think I can do it.

The Anvil are bigger around AND shorter, and that's exactly the opposite of what I need (having a fairly narrow but long torso and wide hips). The Anvils would look terrible on me, so...no dice.

Which is sad because I wanted to buy a couple of shirts from the Reckoning while this sale is going on. I guess this last batch of randoms will be my last shirt woot purchases (which doesn't say much because I'm hardly a rabid buyer, but every little bit adds up eventually).