Consumerist

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Clothing

security

'Identity Theft-Proof' Wallet Blocks RFID, Goes In Front Pocket

If you're concerned about your RFID-chipped credit cards being skimmed, you might want to consider shielding them. DIFRwear makes a wallet with the shielding already included, and now roguewallet in Maine has introduced its own RFID-shielded version, with a fin-shaped design so it fits better in your front pocket to thwart pickpockets. Unfortunately, it's also $50, compared to $20 for the more conventional looking DIFRwear hip-pocket design. (Both are FIPS 201 compliant, if that means anything to you.) More »

errors

J. Crew's Notoriously Awful Website Charges You $9,208.50 To Ship The Wrong Shirt

J. Crew has a problem with their website. Whatever the problem is, it isn't small. Meet Per, a J. Crew customer who tried to order some polo shirts and not only did he get the wrong shirts, the bill came with a shipping charge of $9,208.50. Per would like to return these shirts and not pay $9,208.50 in shipping, but he can't manage to log on to J. Crew's website. More »

j crew

J.Crew Apologizes For Bad Website, But That's All They Do

A dozen readers (and probably a couple of PR flacks) must have forwarded us J.Crew's email today, in which the CEO and president of the company extend a mutual apology for the non-workingness of their "enhanced" website and call center. Oddly, the email simply asks customers to "bear with us" but doesn't offer any discount or sale. Well, maybe they figured driving more traffic to a broken site would only make things worse. More »

macys

Macy's Confirms It Never Did Business With Queens Sweatshop

Last week, news broke that a sweatshop in Queens, NYC was producing clothing for several large U.S. retailers, while overworking its mainly Chinese immigrant employees and cheating them out of wages. At the time, Macy's announced it was cooperating with New York's Department of Labor and investigating the matter internally. Now the company has confirmed that it never did business with the sweatshop—in fact, it investigated it twice in 2007 while evaluating potential suppliers and rejected it for shoddy record keeping. Use your crazy Macy's coupons all you want, readers. More »

sweatshops

Sweatshop In Queens Produced Clothes For Macy's, the Gap, Banana Republic, Urban Apparel, and Victoria's Secret

New York state labor officials are bringing one of their largest cases ever against Jin Shun, a clothing factory in Queens, New York that employed Chinese immigrants. Inspectors say the company

  • cheated its workers out of more than $5 million in pay;
  • instructed workers to lie to state inspectors;
  • required 6 and 7-day workweeks, sometimes for up to 120 days at a time;
  • didn't pay overtime or minimum wage;
  • kept two sets of timecards to fake-out inspectors.
Macy's says they're "very concerned" about the case and are investigating it, the Gap says they're cooperating with authorities, and Victoria's Secret says they have a "zero tolerance policy" for factories that are unwilling to work with them to achieve compliance—all of which makes us wonder whether any of these companies ever investigated the factory personally. (It's not like it was in some remote part of China.) More »

j crew

J.Crew's New Website Does Everything Except Fulfill Orders Properly

Kimberly, a frequent J.Crew online customer, placed an order on June 30th for five items from their newly revamped website. In the past, writes Kim, "it usually takes 2 days at the latest for me to receive any shipment that is not backordered." This time it's been 2 weeks, and not only has nothing arrived, but the UPS tracking number they've assigned her order is invalid (it doesn't even follow the UPS numbering style). The unhelpful J.Crew customer service rep told Kim that they had her correct address and to wait 10 days before calling back. In the meantime, one of the items has already been returned and refunded to Kim's credit card—although about $200 worth of merchandise has still been shipped to some as yet undiscovered location. More »

Steve & Barry's, the super cheap clothing store that's like H&M with all the Euro-DNA removed, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Analysts say it has to do with declining credit markets throwing it into a liquidity crisis, higher commodities and fuel prices, and oh yeah, razor-thin margins on those $9 sneakers. [Marketwatch]

Someone Think Of The Children

Brooks Brothers Thanks Three-Week Old Infant For Requesting Their Catalogue. What?

Reader Jillian thought she was keeping an eye on her three-week-old son, Benjamin, but apparently, he managed to sneak away and sign up for a Brooks Brothers catalog. As Jillian explains, "either I have a very preppie prodigy on my hands, or his name is already on a mailing list." More »

clothing

CNN Goes Into Apparel Business With Headline T-Shirts

Michael wrote in to point out that CNN has a weird new feature on its site—now you can proudly display your favorite, uh, headlines(?) on your body with their "CNN Shirt" service. It's beta, naturally, and they pick the headlines you can choose from—so no "What drove dad who kept 'house of horror'?" tee to shame your parents during the next family holiday. (That's the current top headline on their home page.) More »

above and beyond

Spreadshirt Inc. Spares Frat From Dressing Like Girly Men

Alvin's sweatshirt order for his fraternity turned out a little too shimmery and girly. Alvin was solely responsible for the decision to order the "silver flex" font, and Spreadshirt could have easily told him that all sales were final. Instead, they reprinted the order for free. More »