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How skilled are Chinese workers?

stevejobs

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Do you think the stigma of "Made in China" has diminshed for clothes yet? I have bought some nice designer pieces lately and though they are labelled as Chinese origin, the quality is not bad.

Apparel makers have been doing business in China for over two decades now, so I think that except for obviously cheap brands, the craftmanship has substantially improved.

I believe that is why designers like Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, and Marc Jacobs have few qualms with have their brands associated with Chinese-made apparel.
 

Xiaogou

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The issue has more to do with what the manufacturer is willing to pay for quality. Cheap, reliable, looks good; pick 2.
 

TheFoo

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Originally Posted by Xiaogou
The issue has more to do with what the manufacturer is willing to pay for quality. Cheap, reliable, looks good; pick 2.

This seems to be the case. From what I can tell, the 'Made in China' designer stuff my wife looks at is at least as good as it used to be when it was made in Italy.
 

academe

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^^^
My experience has been similar to yours; I think there are good craftsmen and artisans in China. I think it's more a matter of how much attention companies pay to training and quality control.
 

gnatty8

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Originally Posted by academe
^^^
My experience has been similar to yours; I think there are good craftsmen and artisans in China. I think it's more a matter of how much attention companies pay to training and quality control.


Bingo. And this is a discipline forced on them by the market through price.. Show me a fantastic pair of shoes made in China, and I may not pay the same as I would pay for an English/Italian right off the bat, but if the quality is consistent and the finishing attractive, then over time, I will pay close. Note that psychologically, I will always discount goods made in India/China/Insert Other Developing Country here so that I will never pay par to the Italian/English/US goods, but I am old and set in my ways..
laugh.gif
 

mkarim

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Originally Posted by academe
^^^
My experience has been similar to yours; I think there are good craftsmen and artisans in China. I think it's more a matter of how much attention companies pay to training and quality control.


But how does one know whether the quaility of a particular Chinese-made item is good?
 

academe

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Originally Posted by mkarim
But how does one know whether the quaility of a particular Chinese-made item is good?

There's the rub! I suppose one would have to inspect the clothes quite carefully before buying; look at the construction, the fabric/material, etc.
 

GBR

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China has some very good craftsmen who produce garments comparable with anywhere. It also has some whose work is dire. The skill is finding out which is which.
 

sartort

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Originally Posted by chrome_dout
RLBL = made in China and people seem to love it.
Black Label is not made in China. If you are referring to Polo, then yes, some of it is indeed made in China. My favorite shirts are RL Regent Custom Fits which are made in Hong Kong. They seem to be well made, or at least meet my lax standards, but I really like them due to the high collar and great spread. For that reason I prefer them to my black label and purple label shirts, despite their being made in China. But back to my point, the vast majority of Polo stuff mentioned on here is the tailored clothing which is made in Italy, almost always by Corneliani.
 

Eccentric

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There is nothing physically prohibiting the Chinese from turning out nice things, just as there is nothing to assure that everything made in Italy is of the highest quality.
 

SoCal2NYC

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Read Deluxe: How Luxury Lost It's Luster.
 

babygreenspots

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This is a complicated question for a number of reasons, several of which other posters have already mentioned. Let me add two. First, much of what is "made in italy" whether fabric or actual clothes is actually "Made in China". I'm not sure if this applies at all to the types of traditional brands that are beloved on this forum like Corneliani etc, but I would like to see evidence that they don't have some components made in China. Second, much that is made in Italy is actually made by legal and illegal Chinese laborers, generally from Wenzhou or other parts of Zhejiang. Many of the factories in Prato and other key textile areas are already owned by Wenzhouese and the direction is for the manufacturing to continue shifting to Wenzhou.

This doesn't really answer the question about how skilled Chinese workers are. There certainly are skilled workers in China, but it is not that easy to find them or their products. Obviously, all of the good stuff is for export and high-end design is still mainly in the hands of the Italians. They are trying to come up with ways to keep that advantage while the Chinese are working hard to wrest it from their hands. The overall trend is clearly toward higher skill and better products though.
 

dragon8

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China is the motherland of counterfeit goods. some of those goods are very very good depnding on teh price you are willing to pay. Everything comes down to price
 

bkk

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With nearly all of the issues I've run into with manufacturers in Asia, it almost always came down to quality. It may have been the managers didn't understand how to run a line to reduce fallout, or the manu wasn't willing to spend a bit more money to ensure a much better product, but in the end, it was always quality. I don't think I ever ran across a problem where the line worker wasn't skilled enough. If you perform the same task 8 hours a day hundreds or thousands of times, you get pretty good at it.
 

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