Shirt.Woot

I'm giving woot the benefit of the doubt on this snafu... if for no other reason that they know what kind of outrage this would cause.

Mistakes happen.

Narfcake wrote:edited

Careful.

j5 wrote:Careful.

Duly noted and edited.

killerorca wrote:To me it just looks like a shirt that is wrinkled, could you describe what is disappointing to you?

right click>open picture in a new frame or tab or window

So woot is still trying to push Anvil down peoples throat. Woot I recommend a survey of your customers. I love Amazon but they have ruined shirt.woot for me

joelterrific wrote:Thanks for the post. In many months of conversation with Anvil, this is the first I've heard or seen that Bangladesh is in the mix. An Anvil labeled (not Woot) shirt is used only when we have shortage of our custom shirts which will come from Honduras or occasionally Nicaragua. For their own branded Shirts, it appears they source from other locales. I'll be contacting Anvil to get some additional info.

Apologies for the confusion, but this is the result of mixing supply chains and not indicative of the majority of our shirts.

I realize that getting a straight answer out of Woot! staff is becoming more difficult as this thing goes on, but reading the above I just have to ask: How in God's name did this happen?

I'm not super versed in the world of wholesale t-shirts, but I assume that someone from your company and someone from their company had a couple (dozen) conversations, where everything from shirt material and quality control to worker conditions and place of manufacture were decided upon. I also assume, and yeah I know that's a nasty word, that these agreements were contractually declared after all decisions were made and made binding.

Woot! up and told us one day that they're changing from AA to Anvil, but "don't worry, they'll all be made in Honduras, we promise! They have great working conditions!" The Honduras thing was stated so many times I assumed it must have been in the contract that Anvil would supply only Honduran blanks.

I was a bit outraged to find that the shirts that I bought (both of them!) were Bangladeshi shirts and not Honduran. I found this thread, and saw that I was not the only one. I expected that Woot! would be similarly outraged to find that their supplier is not supplying the goods as promised, but I really don't see any "outrage" here from Joel, just a kind of "Oh, that happened? Gee, I'll make sure to ask them about that."

This indicated to me that either:

A) There is no contractual obligation that Anvil supply Honduran blanks, and Woot! is simply going off what was said and not what was put on paper.

B) There is no contractual obligation that Anvil supply Honduran blanks, and Woot! intended it to be that way so they could switch to even cheaper blanks easily in the future.

C) There is outrage at Anvil over this, and we're just not seeing it.

I'd kind of like to know which one it is.

These were not shirts that were made for woot. So, no woot tag.

We all know Anvil used to make these shirts in other countries. So, that means suppliers might still have some in a warehouse, and they usually ship on FIFO. Older shirts will ship to meet orders now, not the newer ones.

The shirts made for woot, with a woot tag, will be new. Others won't. No conspiracy, just a gaffe.

dcroe05 wrote:Well if that was the first you've heard of it, then here's the second.

FYI I got the same. XL curiosity made in Bangladesh.

Please consider looking and signing the petition to have woot switch back.

joelterrific wrote:I've confirmed with Anvil that the 980 hasn't been made in Bangladesh since 2009 and that no 980s are currently being made outside Nicaragua or Honduras. My guess is that the distributor we used to source the shirts to fill in during our transition had shirts on the shelves and they unknowingly made it into our order.

As for the confusion around the manufacturer, it looks like the complications of this transition (we're having to review raw inventory by the day and in some cases hourly) resulted in a failure to update the detail page for Schrodinger's Equation. For most of the life-cycle of that shirt, it was printed on AA, but toward the end, we transitioned to Anvil.

No excuse there. We're continuing to tighten our processes to make sure every sale on the site documents the correct manufacturer. We're updating by line (men's , women's and kids) so there are a few moving parts. No doubt by the time we get 100%, we'll be fully transitioned to the new blank and won't need to monitor as closely.

You won't have it "100% right" until your company reverses it's betrayal of American workers. Thanks for abandoning Americans woot.

spacegirlag wrote:that's exactly the discussion i've been watching in the ladies size thread. the only people who actually seem to "like" the new women's shirts are the staffers. they've really screwed over a lot of the female wooters. i'm lucky in that i actually prefer the men's shirts already, so i don't have to deal with the change. and the inconsistencies are ridiculous.

BUYER BEWARE: FORGET THE SIZING CHART. THE NEW MEN'S BLANKS DO NOT FIT LIKE THE OLD BLANKS EITHER. I have wide shoulders for a woman and am about a size 12 with an average build. The old women's XLs were too tiny for me (boo!) so I used to buy men's mediums. They were soft, fit really well, and weren't excessively long. The quality was consistent and so I've ended up buying 20+ shirts over a few years. However, I just bought another shirt on one of the new men's medium blanks. I checked the sizing chart carefully to make sure I was buying the right size, especially after hearing about all the issues with the switch to the new blanks. The men's medium SAYS it's the same size, whether it be an old or new blank. Believe me, it's NOT. I was really disappointed at the new blank's fit, even after washing it. It's baggy everywhere in a most unflattering way and the shirt is so long I can belt it and wear it as a mini dress. The material isn't as soft, either. The sizing issue aside, it's also bothersome that the supply issues cannot be worked out. I don't want to buy any products that were produced in a sweatshop if I can knowingly avoid it.

This is an utter shame. I was a loyal customer but I won't be buying any more Woot shirts until this entire debacle is resolved in a positive manner. Woot would be well advised to switch back to their old blanks. I'm all for progress if it's for the better but this is a huge step backwards.

(P.S. - Dear Woot: do you remember what happened when the Coca Cola company tried to switch the American buying public on to "New Coke" and shot themselves in the foot? Coca Cola realized they'd made a mistake of epic proportions and went back to the original formula. I would highly recommend you do the same. Your public has spoken loudly and repeatedly, and is still continuing to raise a big ruckus for good reason. I do hope you're listening.)

Did you wash the shirt? It will shrink, and in the mxl and mxxl, ends up really close to the same.

Admittedly, I'm a little late to the party. I purchased "Avegers" as a gift for a friend several weeks ago, as it was my understanding the Men's sizes were still comparable.

Tucked it away and forgot about it, until I just pulled it out to wrap it.

Lo and behold, the tag says "Made in Bangladesh."

Thoroughly disappointed. I have purchased my last shirt from Woot.

tl;dr: Woot staff, you should look into A.S. Tees 7001 for new blanks.

http://astees.com/catalog/mens-fine-jersey-tee

I'd like to add my 2 cents to this old thread. The country a shirt is manufactured in does not guarantee a certain set of working conditions. A sweatshop could (and does) just as easily exist in Honduras as Bangladesh. I'm a screen printer and have done a lot of research into shirt manufacturers. Anvil is ahead of the curve in terms of corporate responsibility. They are quite frank that it is profitable for them. They understand that the marketplace is changing, and people want a clear conscience. Here is a link to their CSR page. Take it with a grain of salt.

http://www.anvilknitwearcsr.com/progress/

I agree though that the fit of the 980 is looser than AA 2001. I've been known to wear a size smaller than usual in 980 to get the skinny fit we all need to show of the goods. Although it seems that they've tweaked the fit a bit closer recently. I'm back to my regular size in 980 lately.

Conversely, you can dig up plenty of dirt on American Apparel if you look. Most egregious is Dov's union busting policy. Say what you will about the sleazy sex. It is nice however to support domestic jobs, and of course, we all love the fit and feel.

My point is that it's really hard to know exactly what's going on with these companies and their factories unless you work in one.

I would like to mention some (mostly) domestic alternative manufacturers that I use in my shop.

One is Platinum Sportswear in Norcross, GA. Their shirts are union made in GA, and they come in a wide range of colors. They are quite reasonably priced as well, about the same as Anvil 980. However, the fabric is not ringspun (soft and fluffy like AA), and the fit is standard & boxy. I like 'em, and use 'em in my shop.

Also Royal Apparel, which is the east coast American Apparel. They're kind of a "me too" to AA. Their shirts are almost identical, but a little cheaper. Probably not cheap enough though.

And finally, A.S. Tees in North Carolina. I love them. Most of their stuff is made in NC. Their organic cotton shirts are outstanding, and quite inexpensive. The basic women's shirt is great, but it does run small. They don't have a great basic men's shirt made in NC though. But their import line, made in Haiti under the label Pacific, is the holy grail for me. The fabric is slinkier than AA, and the fit is very similar. And they're about the same price as Anvil 980. They do a lot of custom labeling too. Woot staff, if you're reading this, give Lindsay at A.S. Tees a call!

-end blathering-

Narfcake wrote:And just so everyone knows, it's never been my intention to create this much ruckus out of this debacle, but between issues like this, the MAJOR fitment issues that gals have now, essentially EXCLUDING an entire market that used to buy WS and WM, along with many more print issues from the expanding lineup ... ask yourself, Woot - Was this really worth it?

Just wanted to say, THANK YOU for putting this into words. I hate being one of those people persistently pitching a fit over something like this--especially because I love Woot so gosh-durn much. But this whole ordeal seems like a disaster that has left me (size L in women's AA shirts) and MANY other Wooters unable to purchase from Shirt.Woot in the future... And I keep hoping that by continuing to respectfully speak up, staff will make a change. It's just so disappointing.

orabbit wrote:.

Conversely, you can dig up plenty of dirt on American Apparel if you look. Most egregious is Dov's union busting policy. Say what you will about the sleazy sex. It is nice however to support domestic jobs, and of course, we all love the fit and feel.

My point is that it's really hard to know exactly what's going on with these companies and their factories unless you work in one.

Exactly.

American Apparel has recieced a lot of criticism for hiring practices and the way they treat staff, as well. It is a company that has courted controversy, and the shirts could be made of fluffy clouds and angel tears and I would still feel just a little skeeved about the company.

Hey, I bought a t-shirt from this place, and it arrived here without any tags at all, other than the "woot" tag. o.0 I thoroughly perused the t-shirt, and it truly doesn't have any company markings on it.

What does this mean?

im not going to write a long rant.. all im going to say is i loved shirt.woot and wore your shirts almost exclusively. staff, feel free to check my purchase history.

until you guys switch to something that REMOTELY resembles the quality and fit of the AA blanks im not buying another shirt from you and it pains me. seriously..

matter of fact, i love the designs so much that the first and ONLY anvil i will ever get from you guys wound up framed and mounted on my wall.

pic for proof:


you guys spit directly into the customers face by raising the price AND switching from the best shirts on the market to absolute inferior garbage.

i'll continue to check back for some kind of acceptable resolution but until then you've lost a dedicated customer and center of influence in my community. get it together.

ferretferret wrote:Hey, I bought a t-shirt from this place, and it arrived here without any tags at all, other than the "woot" tag. o.0 I thoroughly perused the t-shirt, and it truly doesn't have any company markings on it.

What does this mean?

Narrow tag and says "Made in the USA" on the undertag = AA
Wider tag with the blue ! logo and "Made in Honduras" (or Nicaragua) at the very top = Anvil.

With all the these "Made In.." snafu, I would actually not mind that much if only the shirts were great.

But the BIG problem that I have (and mostly everyone) is that they are of inferior quality, fit and expensive than the old one.

I tried and bought a black Anvil and while I can force myself to like the the fat torso, I can't take the wider neck opening.

I'm one of those always checking if sizing Chart on the yellow back to see a Made in the USA label. If not, I just ignore and close my shirt.woot tab.

Figure I'd add these pics to the thread for easy comparison of the necklines ...


Unwashed/unworn Anvil ML vs. 2 year old washed/worn AA MXL.


Unwashed/unworn Anvil ML vs. unwashed/unworn AA 3XL.

~~~
ETA: Stretched necklines to their maximum size without breaking any threads, used Anvil 980 ML vs. used AA 2001 MXL. No Woot shirts were harmed in this test.

Anvil 980 ML: (2) 13-3/4" + (2) 1-1/4" for the pads = 30"
AA 2001 MXL: (2) 12-1/2" + (2) 1-1/4" for the pads = 27-1/2"

Narfcake wrote:Figure I'd add these pics to the thread for easy comparison of the necklines ...


Unwashed/unworn Anvil ML vs. 2 year old washed/worn AA MXL.


Unwashed/unworn Anvil ML vs. unwashed/unworn AA 3XL.

Sweet. I know I'm in the minority, but I've got a 46" Chest (Male) and a 18.5" neck. (The current issues is the 53" waist, but that's not realla shirt issue) When your neck is wider than some people's thighs, you come to appriate a shirt that doesn't strangualte you. Flip side to that of course is that with 80% of my body surface covered in Subhoric Dermatitis scaling, I can't stand the material against my skin. I never realized how painless a shirt could be until I got an AA.