Shirt.Woot

ba2pt wrote:In my overall Woot career I only bought sixteen shirts, a small amount compared to the hundred-plus crowd, but I haven't bought a single Anvil, and no longer bother to recommend the website to friends or acquaintances, for all the reasons already stated, so I'll put this comment here as a record of my dissatisfaction.

Yea, everyone asks me where i get my shirts and i happily tell them about woot, but will never recommend as the quality of the new shirts has gone to hell.

I've bought 3 shirts since the change. I didn't know about the official change till just now but, I knew something was different as soon as I tried on the first of those three. Fabric felt the same but, the cut was hugely different. Wide barrel and short cut. The stated difference was 3/8" in length. I'd believe it if it said 2 and 3/8". Regardless of what any officials say, the new one's also shrink more. Significantly more. I'm tall but, not that tall (6'3" and my legs contribute to the extra height more than my torso) and after one wash these shirts are dancing on the side of not being wearable. It's practically wasted money for anyone above average height to buy these now. American Apparel was noticeably longer and shrank far less length-wise. The modern slim cut was far more appealing also.

Simply put, I'd rather pay an additional $5 above the old price for an American Apparel shirt than even buy one of these Anvil ones. Essentially, everything about them was better. I doubt I'll buy anymore unless another switch is made. It's just not worth it for me.

Well, we're almost a year into the Anvil disaster and still no response from Woot.com It's really shameful that this previously ultra cool, personal company has handled this shirt blank fiasco with so little grace. The people, YOUR people, have told you time and time again that THEY WOULD PAY MORE for the shirts they loved. And yet, you persist. You have 40 pages of proof that you have lost and continue to lose both individual sales and complete customers with your failure to even bother with a response to the multitudinous, very legitimate complaints. Too busy counting your dollars to respond or consider changing back to the shirts all your customers WANT. Goodbye Woot.com.

doggonewyo wrote:Well, we're almost a year into the Anvil disaster and still no response from Woot.com ...

As I said in this post, "I don't believe that ANY of the shirt staffers are in a position to say anything beyond what has been said already; the change was not of their choosing."

i have also noticed that when i post something about AA in other threads, the mods typically delete it... i guess they don't want the other wooter's that are still blindly purchasing these shirts to figure it out.

It probably took me about 4 months after the change to figure out why i hated the new shirts...

Since the change, I have tried to accept the new shirts, even buying the Men's instead of women's to avoid the horrible tenting problem. But the art prints too big on a men's small or medium and the quality of the shirt is so poor that I don't get to wear it too many times before it's changed shape and has little fuzz balls on it. So I'm done buying from Shirt.Woot. I'm sad because I would really liked to have purchased yesterday's and today's shirt, but the poor quality and the way Woot has ignored this entire issue has kept me from pushing the gold button. I will keep checking and hoping that they go back to the quality AA shirts....but I lose a little more hope every day.

How do AlStyle shirts compare to American Apparel and Anvil?

gsedlak wrote:How do AlStyle shirts compare to American Apparel and Anvil?

It depends; if you're pondering TeeFury, they use 1701. Standard weight, somewhat "boxier" cut, and not ring spun cotton. The Anvil 980 is softer.

Their comparable shirt to an AA 2001/Anvil 980 would be a 5301; I don't have any personal experience with those.

Narfcake wrote:It depends; if you're pondering TeeFury, they use 1701. Standard weight, somewhat "boxier" cut, and not ring spun cotton. The Anvil 980 is softer.

Their comparable shirt to an AA 2001/Anvil 980 would be a 5301; I don't have any personal experience with those.

Do any of the daily shirt sites still use AA or have all of them started to switch to cheaper brands like anvil or AlStyle blanks?

gsedlak wrote:Do any of the daily shirt sites still use AA or have all of them started to switch to cheaper brands like anvil or AlStyle blanks?

Though not exactly daily, GoodJoe does.

So, after a long break from purchasing any Woot! shirts for myself, I finally broke down and ordered my first non-AA shirt from Woot. I just couldn't resist the Team Tesla design.

Originally, my hiatus was mainly due to being upset about Woot raising the price and switching blanks in a relatively brief one month period. It frustrated me, but I decided it was time to end my half-hearted boycott.

However, after receiving this shirt on the new Anvil blanks, I'm done with Woot shirts. This shirt isn't even close to the fit or quality of the AA shirts I have (which are all at least a year old and have been through many washes). For what it is worth, Woot Gods, I would gladly pay $15 for the quality AA shirts, but I will not touch an Anvil-print again.

Still open to buying non-T-shirt clothing here, but the Anvil blanks disappoint.

I think the last one I bought was the Donner Party shirt. Unless they change it will be the last one. Bought a Large, as a fit but too big guy at 6ft 220lbs it is not wearable. I hate that it sits in the same stack as my other AA shirts that fit and wear so well and I can't even wear that one around the house. Common sense does not apply here. This is one of those situations where there is an individual or three in charge of the decision making process that don't understand that they would make more with better blanks through more sales. Just because people have high paying jobs or positions of authority it does not mean they are competent. As long as the ship does not sink they will continue to stay where they are at and we will continue to be frustrated. Sad... this was such a nice venue for the small individual designer which has now lost it's oldest and most ardent customer base.

Edit: The Donner Party shirt is too large for me. The neck is so large it is like a v-neck. It is almost as if the anvil model is a below average height and almost obese.

Though many people have already expressed their disappointment in this change I must add mine as well. I wear an AA Womens M or S - tried the Anvil S and it was way too big and does not match my body shape. Finally broke down and bought the Procrastination University shirt in a K12, this also does not fit me (too wide). Though I'm on the smaller side, I am by no means the tiniest woman out there. I, like so many others, can no longer buy shirts from woot, and this makes me sad

It's such a shame to see such great shirt designs and not being able to buy them because the shirt quality sucks. Such a shame. I probably would have spent $100 in the last month alone.

The only shirts I still buy from Woot are the long sleeve ones, because well, they're still American Apparel it seems.

I lost some weight and need to stock up on mediums. My large AA shirts are great, but they're not as snug on me now as I'd like them to be, so I'm looking to downsize.

Anvil's quality is horrendous by comparison, so I guess I'll be sticking with buying American Apparel directly from American Apparel. This is an unfortunate loss, to be honest. I rather enjoyed the designs, but the cost-cutting has gone a bit too far to keep it valuable for me.

are there any other Shirt sites out side of goodjoe that print on AA? was not a fan of the kind of prints they have...

ProfHotpants wrote:I have some blanks I have personally been testing for three years. They have been worn and washed weekly. They still look great and feel soft, and they are my preferred tees. Hands down.

We also sent a bunch of shirts to a lab to have fancy tests done on them by folks in lab coats. Scientists, even! They tested durability, longevity, and all kinds of cool things. I'm going to talk to our writers about getting a blog post up with those test results.

I'm so sad your not producing what you used to. My boyfriend is an avid woot purchaser. He has over 65 shirts that are all AA. He had purchased a few for me on the AA blanks and I absolutely loved them. I couldn't have asked for a more comfortable and more flattering t shirt. I recently purchased 2 shirts on the new blanks, and speaking as a woman, even though they were women's shirts, they are not a flattering shape or cut at all. They just aren't the same quality that you used to produce. There is nothing worse than an awesome design on a shirt that you won't wear because its not flattering or comfortable. That's what you've done for me.

I noticed last year, after buying a couple shirts, that the 3XLs do not fit me well at all anymore. I took a look at the shirt manufacturer and noticed that they were a different brand.

I am a big guy, 6'1" 300 lbs, and the old style of shirts that Woot used fit perfectly. Even after washing them they would still fit. I tried a couple more of the new brand, when it was Random Shirt day, and they did not fit well either (I did find that the black shirts of the new brand tend to fit but the other colors do not.)

I have at least 4 Woot shirts that I can only wear around the house now because they do not cover my belly at all. I have noticed that the older brand tend to start coming apart at the sleeves as I have had to sew at least 3 of them. But one of the new brand has also done this.

I would love to see the old brand brought back, as I would gladly pay more for a shirt that fits me properly. I just can't waste anymore money on your shirts and will have to stop buying them.

I would also like to throw my hat in the ring for the return of AA blanks! I started at woot after the switch and didnt notice the poor quality at first..until I washed my shirts. I tried going down a size and that worked .. again until i washed them. I used to order from threadless a lot and they had AA shirts at that point and I loved them! I ordered a bear naked shirt just to get a woot shirt on AA so I can actually wear it! Please bring back the AA blanks so I can order all the shirts I have wanted to as well as the ones I have!

I just got burned. The Tesla Tech and the One Shirt on Anvil W tee's turned out ok, and I thought heck, try again. I purchased "Transitions" in the all designs catalog, washed it (cause it reeked) and it was a stretched out neck mess. I hadn't even finished putting it on when I realized how awful it fit. There is NO consistency in the quality of the Anvil blanks. Guess I'll have to stick to the side sales in long sleeve or hoodie, cause I'm out 25 bucks with tax and shipping for a shirt with no more use than a dust rag. 8(

This is all a real bummer too, as now that the "all designs" was back open I was looking to grab new copies of old favorites and finally pull the trigger on ones that "got away".

Today's shirt (I Understood That Reference) is on AA! Bought it. Only shirt I've bought since the switch. Hoping the "temporary" AA for royal blue becomes less temporary.

I'm curious if anyone from woot has made Anvil aware of this thread.

It's one thing for the size/shape to be different, but so many of the comments are about the overall quality of the shirts.

I would have thought that woot's contact at Anvil would monitoring the customer feedback as a quality measure for a new (and I imagine somewhat high volume) account.

If Anvil's business is a little old school and/or not social media savvy enough to take the initiative to read the 40+ pages of customer feedback (in this thread alone) - woot might want to point them in this direction.

If Anvil is already doing this, but hasn't bothered responding to or addressing the quality issues either directly or through a woot moderator, then it doesn't seem like the type of company I want to be (indirectly) giving my money to.

(Also - so grateful for everyone who posted comparisons. I didn't realize there'd been a change. I thought the reason the shirts didn't seem as long as they used to be was that my butt must have gotten so big, shirts couldn't hang past it any more.

On the bright side, it helped motivate me to find a personal trainer & start eating better! :-) )

faryl wrote:I'm curious if anyone from woot has made Anvil aware of this thread.

We are not Anvil's customer, Woot is.
If Woot has a problem with Anvil, I'm sure they will negotiate something, otherwise status quo.

After waiting for YEARS, I was finally able to order the Bats! design from the back catalog. I knew the shirt would be different, but imagine my surprise when I opened the bag and found it printed on a shirt that feels for all the world like a $5 WalMart tee. Granted, it hasn't yet been washed, but it does not feel like ringspun combed cotton in the least, it feels thick and stiff. I compared the shirt with an AA woot shirt (Shakespeare ABC) in the same size (MXL) and the sleeves were nearly a full inch longer on the new blank. Is this the new normal or did I get a bad shirt as a fluke?

itsbeth wrote:... Granted, it hasn't yet been washed, but it does not feel like ringspun combed cotton in the least, it feels thick and stiff.

Though the shirts are different, an explanation is that the shirts go through a pre-treatment process prior to the DTG printing. That remains on the shirt, which may partially explain the difference in feel too.

I compared the shirt with an AA woot shirt (Shakespeare ABC) in the same size (MXL) and the sleeves were nearly a full inch longer on the new blank. Is this the new normal or did I get a bad shirt as a fluke?

It's the new norm, and after a wash, it probably will not be as long.

Thanks Narfcake! I wondered if maybe the digital printing process made them stiffer. I had seen some complaints, but had also seen posters claiming they couldn't tell much of a difference and this one was SO STIFF I knew no one could ever mistake it for an AA tee. I will give it a wash with softener and see how it goes.

I (correctly) blamed my poor fitness when I couldn't get the 2XL AA shirts to fit right. I've gotten in significantly better shape and now all my AA shirts fit great. My Anvil shirts are too short and inconsistent between colors to trust ordering any more.

When I'm really peeved about something woot related, I can usually toss around my (rapidly aging and increasingly irrelevant) very large purchase history. I don't have quite the same clout in shirts. But Woot, if you still know me, know this: I'm done with the Anvil tees.

wow, the "new" women's shirts are AWFUL for fit. my wallet feels fatter knowing i won't spend my bucks here anymore, but...well...sadness....

fgarriel wrote:But Woot, if you still know me, know this: I'm done with the Anvil tees.

Ok... just one more (Always Picked Last). But that's it!

A few washes in and the texture and fit of my Bats! shirt is still pretty disappointing. I may also be done with woot.

I'm glad to see that this thread exists and that it has attracted so much attention. Although I was a casual shirt.woot purchaser, the site had become my go-to place for buying casual tees.

I bought a shirt a few months ago after not having purchased one for several months prior to that. Upon receiving the shirt, I could immediately tell that the shirt had changed for the worse. After 1 wash, it had shrunk to the point where it no longer fit me. I still wear every other woot shirt that I have ever purchased, except for the newest one, because it is short and doesn't fit well.

This all happened without my having any knowledge that woot had announced a shirt change. I won't be buying any more shirts sadly.

longboarder543 wrote:... This all happened without my having any knowledge that woot had announced a shirt change. I won't be buying any more shirts sadly.

The change happened just over a year ago now (see the first post in this thread) and for several months, disclaimers on the type of shirts were called out on the page, in the discussion threads, and summaries were posted in the weekly reckoning threads.

As much as I lament the change (how many posts do I have in this thread?!), it's also their new norm and the discontinuing the warnings was understandable.

Give us AA shirts!

Would've bought two or three of yesterday's lovely bird design on American Apparel. At first I did't mind the change, but the neck of the new shirts is just a constant distraction.

$15 for AA would put me back to buying them. Just saying.

doggonewyo wrote:Well, we're almost a year into the Anvil disaster and still no response from Woot.com It's really shameful that this previously ultra cool, personal company has handled this shirt blank fiasco with so little grace. The people, YOUR people, have told you time and time again that THEY WOULD PAY MORE for the shirts they loved. And yet, you persist. You have 40 pages of proof that you have lost and continue to lose both individual sales and complete customers with your failure to even bother with a response to the multitudinous, very legitimate complaints. Too busy counting your dollars to respond or consider changing back to the shirts all your customers WANT. Goodbye Woot.com.

I completely agree. It's so very frustrating, as I love the woot designs. But the shirts do not last, do not feel good, are not long enough...

I wish that the wonderful artists who do such beautiful work in the derbies would stop designing for woot for awhile in hopes that the powers that be at woot would pay some attenion. I know that they need to make a living (supplement their incomes), but the product has turned to such crap.

I almost bought "fresh cake" and then I remembered this change. The ladies shirts used to be so flattering. I received "Hungry Hungry Games" last year before I realized the change and was so disappointed. The cut, weight, everything was so much different and just not my style. I wish I could have fresh cake on the old style! Sadsies. No purchase for me.

the neck collar is so large it seems stretched out, 5 yr old tees w/100 washes have a tighter heftier neck than the new ones lost a customer sorry

grep57 wrote:the neck collar is so large it seems stretched out ...

There's a fix for that.