Focus On Clothing Safety Series: Clothing Quality Price Geometry "Two"

Behind the international brand aphasia

Since April 10th, ZARA and other international famous brand casual pants samples have been exposed to the "quality gate". Until the deadline for press release, no one has come forward to break the silence and give the public a statement.

In the eyes of many Chinese consumers nowadays, foreign brands seem to be synonymous with good products.

In particular, buying some famous brands abroad can not only show their status and status, but also guarantee their quality.

However, many consumers are foolish when the incident comes out. In terms of fiber quality, color fastness, pH value, formaldehyde content and so on, the problem of "foreign brand" is no less than that of domestic brands.

Taking an unqualified ZARA casual pants as an example, the label in its fabric label is called "cotton content is 75%, wool 20%, polyester 5%", and the actual test result is that the cotton content is 68.2%, less than 6.8% of the label, wool is only 10.6%, less than half of the label, and polyester fiber content is 15.7%, more than two times the label.

In the comparative test of color fastness, the color fastness of ZARA products was the worst, and 3 items of acid resistance, sweat resistance and moisture resistance were not qualified.

In fact, ZARA is not the first time that the quality of products has been detected in China.

According to incomplete statistics, ZARA has been at least 7 times "quality gate" since August 2009.

In recent years, ZARA has become the "familiar face" in the list of non conforming products of industrial and commercial departments and quality inspection departments.

In August 2009, the Shanghai city commerce and Industry Bureau inspected sandals sold in Shanghai, and detected ZARA sandals in the substandard products. In December 2009, the Beijing Consumers Association detected that a coat of ZARA coat was unqualified, with a nominal down of 50% down, and the amount of measured cashmere was only 40.5%. In January 2010, the Shanghai industrial and commercial bureau announced some unqualified cashmere wool products and children's clothing, and ZARA was still on the list, and the color fastness of a baby jacket sold was not up to standard.

Also in January 2010, Harbin industry and Commerce Bureau sampled quality samples of clothing and knitted goods distributed by shopping malls and clothing stores in the city, and detected ZARA's unqualified clothing.

In addition, during the interview with Meng Lingxiu, deputy director of the national clothing quality supervision and Inspection Center (Tianjin), the reporter also learned that foreign brands often had problems on the product tag, causing incomplete product information and causing obstacles or misleading to consumers' understanding of product performance and other useful information.

"There have been problems with foreign brands such as shrinkage, pilling, and down filling of down garments."

As the saying goes, do in Rome as the Romans do.

The export of Chinese products to foreign countries must conform to the corresponding quality and safety standards of the exporting countries.

However, foreign brands have not entered the "fair treatment" in China, and many foreign brands entering China are in line with China's quality standards.

This is why the quality problems of foreign brands are frequent, but few foreign brands take the initiative to send products to relevant inspection departments in China for testing.

Take the national clothing quality supervision and Inspection Center (Tianjin), one of the two international clothing quality supervision and inspection centers at present, for example, "the majority of entrustment tests currently accepted are domestic clothing brands or enterprises, and foreign brands such as ZARA are rarely actively sent to the market for sale in China."

Meng Lingxiu, deputy director, introduced.

Most of the foreign brands are priced higher than the domestic brands of the same kind, but high prices do not bring high quality, and their high brand reputation is not proportional to the quality of their products.

The ancient law of "one penny per cent" is being shaken by the "quality crisis" of foreign brands.

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After the "quality gate" took place, the reporter visited several foreign brand stores involved in several large shopping malls in Beijing. It seems that this incident did not affect the daily sales of these brands.

Some people think that nowadays consumers are more concerned about the design and style of clothing when they buy clothes, and their attention to product quality is gradually weakened. Clothing quality is a guarantee factor for consumers rather than an incentive buying factor.

There are also analysts in the industry who say that ZARA has not yet encountered rival competitors in its domestic brands, and that its brand awareness has long been "well known", making it less concerned about these "negative news".

However, under the surface calm, the undercurrent has actually surged - the complaints and suspicions of agents and consumers, and even the shaking of brand confidence has emerged.

For agents, if the brand of the agent has a quality problem or a "blacklist" of the Consumer Association, it will suffer losses not only in profits but also in other brands that he is acting for, thereby bearing even greater reputation and loss of interests.

A well-known brand agent who has had such experience complained that it is difficult for an agent to set up an image in the consumer's mind without giving protection to agents. This is not a permanent solution.

As an agent with conscience and "long term", it can not pretend to sell the problem products, because consumers will no longer trust themselves even if they are to act as agents in other brands.

Finally, the agent can only withdraw the unqualified products, though the manufacturer will return the goods, but his distrust of the brand has already been formed.

As the most direct perception of the product, it is also a consumer who has always been a God. If they have doubts about the brand, the danger is even more serious.

When some consumers know that ZARA and other brands have always been identified as quality problems, their first reaction is mostly consternation, and then they may be reconsidered.

"A brand that I like very much. I have a question mark in my mind."

A netizen named Sara-yu2011 said.

Some consumers did experiments in order to distinguish the true from the false. They rubbed the pants that had just been bought, and found that there were cracks in the color of the rubbed places, which was inevitable.

Other consumers worry that the formaldehyde content is too high and the pH value is unqualified, which will have an impact on their health.

Although some people choose the "indifferent" attitude, they think that as long as the style is good, the quality can be accommodated, but the consumer's patience with the quality of products is ultimately the bottom line. If consumers wait for a collective outbreak, I'm afraid the brand is regretful.

Related links

Mandatory new version of GB implementation in August

Remind enterprises to pay attention to

The General Administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine and the State Administration of Standardization (GB) issued the "18401 - 2010 national basic safety technical specification for textile products" at the beginning of this year, and will be implemented in August 1, 2011. After August 1st, the market circulation products will be determined according to the new standards.

It is understood that all the technical content of the standard is mandatory.

Compared with the replacement standard GB 18401 - 2003, the main technical content changes are: the age of infants is changed from 24 months to 36 months; the applicable height of infant textiles is changed from "80cm" to "100cm" and "below"; the pH value of B is changed from 4 to 7.5 to 4 to 8.5; the limit value of carcinogenic aromatic amines is increased to less than 20mg/kg; the "4- azobenzene" is added to the list of carcinogenic aromatic amines, and the "sampling instructions" are added.

To this end, the China clothing association also asked all garment enterprises to keep abreast of the detailed contents of the new standards, and earnestly prepare for the implementation of the new standards, so as to avoid unnecessary economic losses.