Boyfriend Shirt Shirred Skirt Dress - Drop Waist Shirred Dress for OEM

A shirt dress listed as 95% polyester with 5% elastane, unlined, pull-on with no zip, with a deep V neckline, a drop waist and split cuffs, hand wash, made in China, ranked fifth in the retailer's long sleeve list, at 250 dollars. There are no reviews and no fit votes, so there is no score to quote. This garment publishes a set of measurements that look like an error at first glance, and working out why they are not is the most useful thing on this page, because the answer is a mechanism that behaves in the opposite way to every other measurement we have dealt with. It also carries the same size advice as two other garments in this series that have the same recommendation for an entirely different reason, and the contrast between the two is a good illustration of why the reason matters more than the advice. There is one further point about the neckline that falls straight out of a rule we established recently, and we would flag it before sampling rather than after. The reference is the Boyfriend NK Shirt Shirred Skirt Dress by Norma Kamali in Black. Dongguan Bafinasa Garments Co., Ltd. develops comparable shirt and shirred dresses on OEM and ODM terms, from fabric sourcing to retail or FBA ready packing. We publish this as a development reference and build your own version of it, and we do not supply the branded original or reproduce anyone else's label.

Key Features

• 95% polyester, 5% elastane as stated
• Pull-on with no zip as stated
• Deep V neckline as stated
• Drop waist as stated
• Shirred skirt as stated
• Split cuffs as stated
• Unlined as stated
• Runs large, sizing down recommended, as stated on the listing

Customisable Options

• Fabric: polyester elastane as the reference, with the weight set from a tested sample
• Neckline: we would add a closure at the V, for the reason set out below
• Shirring: we would specify how far the shirring extends and publish both measurements, for the reason set out below
• Size advice: we would replace the general advice with the actual measurements
• Length from mini to knee, size set, colour development, private label and care labelling

Specifications

Size Chart

The published size S gives a 42 inch bust, a 24 inch waist, a 27 inch hip and a 36 inch length, against a model at roughly 34, 24 and 34. The hip is published smaller than the bust, which looks wrong until you account for the shirring: a shirred skirt is measured gathered, and gathering is its smallest state. We would publish both the gathered and the extended hip measurement rather than only one.

Occasions and Styling

Suits daytime, work, travel and layering. A black shirt dress with a shirred skirt works across a working day and into an evening, and it is worth photographing the shirring stretched as well as gathered, since that is the part a customer will be unsure about.

Production and Quality Control

There are no reviews and no fit votes on this listing, so there is no score to quote. There is a measurement that looks wrong and is not, a size recommendation that shares its conclusion with other garments for a completely different reason, and a neckline that will need attention.

The hip is smaller than the bust and that is not a mistake, but it is the clearest example yet of a mechanism that runs backwards, and that is the first thing. The published bust is 42 inches and the published hip is 27. On almost any garment the hip is the larger of the two, and on this one it is fifteen inches smaller, which is not possible for a skirt that has to go over a 34 inch hip. What resolves it is one word on the page: the skirt is shirred. Shirring is a panel of cloth gathered up with elastic thread so that it sits in tight rows of puckers, and the critical thing about it is that the dimension you measure is the gathered dimension, which is the smallest the panel can be. Pull on it and it opens, and a shirred panel will typically open by a third to a half again. So 27 inches gathered will accommodate a 34 inch hip comfortably, and probably a rather larger one. This matters because it inverts the usual logic of a size chart, and it is worth stating because we have spent this whole series reading measurements the other way round. Everywhere else, a small number is a warning: it means the garment may not fit, and we ask what mechanism on the garment produces it. Here the small number is not a warning at all, because shirring is a mechanism that is at its smallest when nothing is pulling on it. The right way to publish it is to give both numbers, the 27 relaxed and whatever it extends to, because a customer shown only 27 will assume the dress will not fit her, and a customer shown only the extended figure has no idea what the skirt looks like at rest. It is also worth noting that shirring does not last forever: the elastic thread in it ages and loses its power, faster if it is machine washed or dried hot, which is one plausible reason a garment with 95% polyester is nonetheless specified as hand wash.

It runs large for a different reason than the other garments that run large, and that is the second thing, and the contrast is worth drawing because it shows that the same advice can be right for opposite reasons. We covered two lace garments recently, both at 81% nylon with 19% elastane, both described as running large with sizing down recommended, and there we explained the mechanism precisely: at 19% elastane the cloth has real power and opens well beyond its flat measurement once it is on a body, so a garment cut to the body measures larger in wear than on the page. This is 95% polyester with 5% elastane. Five per cent is not a stretch cloth and will not produce that effect; as we said elsewhere, a small elastane content improves recovery rather than providing stretch. So why does this run large? The answer is on the same line of the page: it is pull-on, with no zip. A garment with no opening has to pass over the widest part of the body to get on at all, which means it has to be cut larger than the body at every point along the way, whether or not the design wants ease there. A pull-on dress is therefore generous by necessity rather than by choice, and the size advice follows from the construction rather than from the fabric. Two garments, the same recommendation, two unrelated causes. The practical point is that if you are writing your own size advice, deriving it from the actual measurements is what makes it reliable, and the most reliable version of all is to publish the measurements and let the customer decide.

A deep V in a loose bodice will gape, and that is the third thing, and it falls straight out of a rule we set out recently. We compared two deep V garments: one in a cloth with 4% elastane, where we judged there was not enough power in the cloth to hold the V closed, and one at 19%, where we said the gape simply does not arise because the cloth holds the neckline against the chest by itself. This garment has a deep V, has 5% elastane, which puts it next to the one that gapes rather than the one that does not, and has a bodice with eight inches of ease at the bust. That last part is what decides it. A neckline gapes when there is more cloth than body across the chest, and 42 inches of bust on a 34 inch chest is spare cloth that has to sit somewhere, and the place it will sit is open. So this is not a borderline case: a deep V cut into a bodice with that much ease will open when she leans forward. The fix is cheap and standard: a small hook or a covered snap at the point of the V, or a stitch closing it a little higher, either of which takes seconds to sew and removes the problem entirely. We would put one in and test it leaning forward rather than standing straight, because that is when it opens. One more small point on the cuffs: split cuffs are open at the wrist by design, and an open cuff on a long sleeve has a habit of catching on things and of flipping outward, so we would check how the split is finished on the inside. Every bulk shipment gets a measurement report against your approved chart.

Optional upgrades include a hook or covered snap at the V, the shirring published both relaxed and extended and its elastic specified for wash durability, the size advice replaced with the actual measurements, the split cuff finished so it lies flat, alternative shirring depths and placements, a zip if a closer fit is wanted, alternative necklines, alternative lengths, extended sizing, colour development and private label, hangtag and care labelling.

Pre-production sample approval, in-line inspection during cutting and sewing, and a final AQL inspection before packing, with measurement reports and photos shared before shipment.

Send us your tech pack, a photo or a reference garment and we will quote within 24 hours. Contact bafinasa@bafinasa.com or WhatsApp +86 13827222469.