Taking A Hard Look At Those Facebook Clothing Deals
(CBS) -- The deals for clothes look so good, they're hard to pass up.
However, is what you see, what you get, when you order fashions on Facebook?
Scroll through your Facebook feed and you see the ads.
Nice-looking clothes at affordable prices.
"I'm all about finding a great bargain," says Abby Misegades.
She bought a cream and black sweater from Rosegal.
"When I opened it, this really rank smell came out of the bag," she said.
We wanted to see what we would get.
We bought several from Rosegal and other retailers that advertise on Facebook.
We went to experts in fashion studies at Columbia College Chicago to take a closer look at the clothes we ordered to see if they are worth the price.
Beth Shorrock, an assistant professor in fashion studies, thought a $39 faux leather jacket from Rosegal was pretty well made.
Not so good from Rosegal, a $10 polka dot dress.
"See all that puckering?" she pointed out.
From Fashion Mia, we bought a $17 white blouse.
"All these seams will eventually pop through," Shorrock said.
A $20 black skirt.
"This is pretty good," noted Shorrock.
And a yellow blazer for $17.
"The fabric is pretty gross and the buttons are so cheap," said Shorrock.
From Venus we bought a $34 pair of pants.
"The waistband, the whole yoke is lined. Blind hem. I mean that's good. It's supposed to evoke quality," noted Shorrock.
And, from Rose Wholesale we bought a black and white jumpsuit for $12.
"It's well made for what it is," said Shorrock.
So, how do they fit?
The two dresses, black skirt and grey pants were tight or didn't fit at all.
The yellow jacket had some issues with the sleeves.
The white blouse, the jumpsuit and faux leather jacket all fit OK.
Melissa Gamble, a lecturer in Columbia College Chicago's Fashion Studies program, says if you buy from these kinds of sites.. do some research first.. and keep this in mind:
"You're probably going to get what you pay for," Gamble said.
Facebook, in a statement, said: "One of our most important goals with Facebook ads is to present experiences that are relevant and high-quality. We're looking at ways to incorporate new signals that will help us identify which of the over 50 million active businesses on our platform are delivering products and services that are overwhelmingly unsatisfactory to people. The challenge isn't just with ads or posts on Facebook, but also the experiences people have with businesses off of Facebook. It's a complex problem, but we are working on it and will do everything we can to make sure people trust and enjoy the content they see on Facebook."
Venus, in a statement, said: "Venus has been in business for 34 years as a manufacturer of swimwear Made in the USA. In the past 10 years we have developed a robust Fashion Clothing Offering. We still manufacture a half million swimwear pieces here in Jacksonville, Florida. Because our heritage is rooted in Swimwear, Fit is Key. For the entire team, Fit = Quality. Function is also critical to the success of our garments. We monitor all our styles to understand the "Why" something may/may not sell based upon customer feedback. After swimwear and intimate apparel, pants are the most compelling garment to communicate fit. The success of the "Slimming" Pant is due to customer feedback that we are meeting their expectations that the pant should perform functionally.
While we manufacture in many regions, our technical design teams are home grown, based in Florida; with an attention to detail on Fit = Quality. We take time to insure our customers are getting the correct fit by communicating our fit chart in catalogs, mailed every 2 weeks and also on our website www.Venus.com. We have seen, however, an influx of inferior quality clothing from Chinese Websites operating under nefarious corporate entities and when we order from these sites the quality is poor. We at Venus Fashion, Inc. stand behind our product and believe behind every item purchased there is an expectation that it will be a Quality Product with Excellent Fit. This again is part of our heritage and something we feel there is no compromise."
