Doll clothing - Best & worst, and how is it made?

I haven't bought much in the way of doll clothing except when I got my first doll. I ordered a cute gray top from Soom, as well as some black stretch pants. Both fit exceptionally well on the doll and looked awesome. The quality was well worth the price as all the stitching was well done and solid. The top's fabric is smooth and comfy. It's like the shirt you'd wear out every day for grocery shopping. It drapes wonderfully and generally accentuates what assets Soom dolls have. The pants were a slightly lower quality fabric but stretched well and looked great on her. Overall they are good quality items and are worth the price commanded.

Both were stretchy fabric with no way to open the back/fly.

 

So true! It's difficult to tell from photos whether flies stay closed or gap embarrassingly when sitting!

Most of the major companies sell well-made and designed clothing with good attention to detail.

DollHeart-- is very good, with zipping flies and some shirts with button-holes (some not), but usually lots of detail.
SoulDoll-- also zipped flies and lots of nice fabrics and accessories.
DUCK/Domuya-- zippers.
Iplehouse--yes! They zip! (at least all the ones I have) Seem very well-made with good materials, to me.
Soom--I don't have trousers from them... but their clothes seem good.
Volks-- Just checked on pair of trousers and it had an extra snap instead of a zipper... which is something, at least.

Dollmore-- Is on the more basic, inexpensive side. But I still buy from them. No zippers in the trousers I've had from them.
Dollzone -- Also on the slightly less expensive, slightly less quality side. But some nice styles.

Heisejinyao -- expensive and high style--but no zippers in flies.
Tous Les Garcons -- same

I haven't checked ALL the clothes I've got--so I'm not sure how useful this is, but I've got a lot of stuff (way too much), and I'll put up with some lack of details like zippers if I really like the style... Maybe I'll have to edit this as I go along and check out more things for the quality...

It'll be interesting for me to read what others say...

 

I think Dollmore might be mixed on whether they have zippers. I've bought a few pairs of pants (both SD and MSD) that all have zippers so far.

The clothing I have from Luts has had zippers on their pants, and the quality has been very nice. I have a few older items from when Domuya only sold clothing/items, and they're decently made. Dollmore is definitely less expensive place to find clothes, but I don't think it ranks them super low - some might not have perfect fits, etc, but I've never actually had a poorly constructed (ex. ripping seams unfinished edges) item from them.

While I've only recently tried clothing from Leeke, I can say the items I did get are very well made and nicely finished. Volks has really great craftsmanship - I own a sleeveless blouse from them and it's just gorgeous.

 

I don't own many pants, but the ones I have owned usually had buttons instead of zippers. A lot of dresses will have very in scale zippered backs.

As far as favorite companies, I really only own 3 'companies' clothing. The rest is either random finds or handmade. Also, please note I only own girl dolls ATM, so this is all girl views!~

Volks - So many details and pieces per outfit. Their clothing is made with more detail than mine! Everything is perfectly sewn, embroidered, etc. All lace, ruffles, and bows have been exactly in scale. Probably my favorite clothing company for frilly, sweet girl things.

Dollheart - Very thick materials. Professional, even has lining on some pieces. Worth the price, as they have an eye for detail as well.

LUTS -I love their designs for YoSD best. Their lace work is exceptional. Many of their dresses do have zippers that are flawless. Their clothing lasts forever (I have pre owned pieces that I've owned for at least 3 years and are still fine! Despite tons of wear)

I admit, I do not buy clothing if it's cheap looking, so I cannot vouch much for worse companies. I have learned that these outfits are usually worth their prices, so I do tend to 'splurge' a bit on clothing. I prefer more fullsets than casual wear. The worst clothing I have ever personally owned was B&G's default sets for their MSD. It was a bit oddly fitting and the lace set very annoyingly.

 

My favorites are probably Cheery Doll and Volks. Both have clothing that is sturdy, well made, fits well, etc. The exact nature of the closures depends a bit from garment to garment with Cheery Doll, but in general they have very nice detail -- the jeans look like shrunk down human jeans, which I like. They have pockets, belt loops, realistic stitching etc. I also have a few articles of clothing from ElfDoll -- a pair of jeans, a sweater, and a hoodie, and they too are quite nice -- especially the zip up hoodie. The zipper is nice and heavy duty and the whole thing is cute and feels like it's made to last.

With some places it also depends on what you're getting too -- they'll do better at somethings than others. Dollmore is good for basic wardrobe pieces, which is nothing to sneeze at. I've also bought from some of the less expensive clothing lines that Denver Doll carries, and would say the same things about them. For fancy ultra detailed outfits, places like Doll Heart and Cheery Doll are going to typically do better than say Guess Doll or Dollmore, but sometimes you really just need some cute tops or a standard pair of pants, and some of the lower end clothing companies can do quite a good job with that.

 

I was looking around at clothes from different sites and here in the marketplace and there seems a good amount of both handmade and retail manufactured clothing available. I was wondering if you have a preference when your looking to buy clothes for your dolls, manufactured or handmade?

Another thing I noticed is pricing, it seems to not be affected by detail or quality sometimes. On some doll websites they have heavily detailed (lots of hardware,printed designs, style lines, attachments) clothes for very cheap, sometimes I feel they're too cheap. As a seamstress just venturing into the world of doll clothes it seams like the prices do not match the work put into the clothes. What are you thoughts on this?

 

The most important thing with clothes is the finished quality of the item, the materials used and fit.
Just like RL clothes.
I couldnt really give a stuff about whether its mass produced or handmade.
Although when it comes to BJDs - the term "mass produced" is terribly misleading anyway since the actual volumes are tiny compared to what one would need to get true economies of scale.

Just like pricing of RL clothes there is the same variability in pricing of BJD clothing. It does pay to look at a few sources unless you are looking for a unique item.

 

I generally buy retail, although that may well mean handmade in BJDs as there aren't that many companies that big (Iplehouse once ran into clothing delays because a single employee who sewed for them got sick, suggesting to me there's no big factory involved). However, I'm becoming more likely to commission, just to get exactly what I want.

As for pricing, I think there is a lot of pricing that's on the low side, but some of that is coming out of China or Korea, countries that are less expensive to live in. I also think it ties into the distorted idea many people have of what sewing involves in terms of knowledge, labour, materials, etc., especially in scale. I'm personally prepared to pay more for quality, even on simpler items, but it being handmade isn't going to add value for me if the quality's not there.

 

I have bought one outfit that's from Nine9 Style, and a couple of tops that are handmade from a seller on Etsy. I haven't received them yet, but quality to both from reviews and pictures look quite nice. My friends have all manufactured clothing that are beautiful and very functional. I think it's important mostly that you like how the clothing looks on the doll. My friend made her own dress and I don't think it looks that great on her doll because it's just a hemmed sock, but it was her first so she'll learn.

I think I'd prefer to buy from people who make things handmade if I could find a few shops I like, just because sometimes those handmade garments are more one of a kind. But I also wouldn't mind getting things from well known online BJD shops like Dollmore.
Still, I agree that quality is important. I'm willing to pay a hefty price for something that's cute and quality!

 

Generally I buy clothes from companies, but I'm not against buying stuff from seamstresses here, either. I find that searching the marketplace for clothing can be a little difficult at times either because I can't come up with good keywords to use in the search, or searches bring up threads that do not have what I want. It's easier for me to just go to a company website, find exactly what I need and order it. That said, I have a few dolls that I'm going to have to have some clothing commissioned for at some point, because I can't find quite what I need.

As for prices, in general you pay more for good construction, fabric and detail, but as in all things, this can vary. Seamstresses (and artists in general) can charge higher prices more easily if they also have gained a good reputation, which people don't necessarily have starting out -- this does not mean that they should charge ridiculously low prices on pieces that clearly took a lot of time, effort and skill, but it can help explain some of the discrepancies you might see. Also there are people out there that just can't wrap their heads around the concept that doll clothes can be validly expensive which could put some pressure on people to keep prices down. On top of all that there's also a lot of people selling doll clothes, so there's a lot of competition out there too. Also, country of origin also tends to have an effect on prices on all things doll related.

I'm willing to pay a lot more, if I'm getting a really well made detailed piece -- my sewing skills (and patience for sewing) are limited, so I really can really appreciate the skill that other people have.

 

I was wondering if you have a preference when your looking to buy clothes for your dolls, manufactured or handmade?
I tend to go with manufactured most of the time, but will buy handmade with no problem if its made well and the design is good. I think handmade can be as good or better than more mass-produced items... There are designs and styles that are unique to individual makers. And the quality can be as high as anything.

Another thing I noticed is pricing, it seems to not be affected by detail or quality sometimes. On some doll websites they have heavily detailed (lots of hardware,printed designs, style lines, attachments) clothes for very cheap, sometimes I feel they're too cheap. As a seamstress just venturing into the world of doll clothes it seams like the prices do not match the work put into the clothes.
Pricing is always a crazy thing. Basically--it is whatever they must charge to make some money at the low end and as high as they can go and still sell at the high end. Cost of labor and materials and space add to the low end price. If you can make a number of things from the same pattern quickly and easily and sell enough of them, then the base price can go down. If it is a one-off item or you sell one or two--you will have to charge more just to make time and labor back. So companies that can make more outfits more quickly and can sell them all more easily because they have more people looking at their shop and wanting to buy can spend less time and effort on each item than one seamstress could do per outfit. That is how they can keep prices lower. And if they are in an area where cost of living is lower, that helps even more. But they can also charge more if people want the item so much that they are willing to pay more...

People will pay for/want items for very different reasons. Some just want simple things for a low price. Some want interesting designs for a low price. Some want all the quality and will pay for it. Some want something reasonable, but will pay more for certain designs or good tailoring or certain accessories or details, etc. That's what makes things seem to make little sense when it comes to pricing. Basically, each seller needs to find the price the market will bear (what people are willing to pay) that is as high as possible above the actual cost of producing the item--or they can't keep selling that item and stay in business. That's true of mass-produced or hand-made.

... and most BJD clothes aren't technically MASS-produced... that's another reason things are so expensive... If you're selling something in the millions, the price can go WAY down because it is cheaper to make in comparison to the vast amounts you're selling. All BJDs are still a sort of boutique buisiness, selling in small quantities... that will keep the actual cost per item of dolls and clothes and wigs higher than, say, a Barbie dolls that still makes a profit when sold at $15 and Barbie outfit that still makes a profit at $3.