Low Back Halter Silk Maxi - Open Back Tie Maxi for OEM

A floor length halter maxi listed as 100% silk, unlined, pull-on with no zip, with a halter neck closed by a tie and an open back, in a midweight silk chiffon, dry clean only, made in China, ranked twenty first in the retailer's floral list, at 650 dollars. There are no reviews and no fit votes, so there is no score to quote. This garment publishes a bust measurement that is ten inches under the model wearing it, in a cloth with no elastane and with no zip anywhere on the garment, and the interesting part is not that the number looks wrong but that working out what it actually measures tells you something worth knowing about reading any size chart. It is also the fourth garment in three groups to close with a tie in a slippery cloth, and this one is the most exposed of the four, because here the tie is not one closure among several, it is the only one. The reference is the Low Back Halter Dress by Matteau in Marrakesh. Dongguan Bafinasa Garments Co., Ltd. develops comparable silk maxis 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

• 100% silk as stated
• Midweight silk chiffon as stated
• Halter neck with a tie closure as stated
• Open back as stated
• Pull-on with no zip as stated
• Unlined as stated
• Dry clean only as stated
• Four sizes from 1 to 4

Customisable Options

• Fabric: silk chiffon as the reference, with the weight set from a tested sample
• Closure: we would keep the tie but add a concealed fastening behind it, for the reason set out below
• Opacity: tested and stated, since this is unlined with an open back
• Back: as the reference, and we would state on the page what it rules out
• Length from midi to floor, back shape, size set, print development, private label and care labelling

Specifications

Size Chart

The published size 2 gives a 24 inch bust, a 26 inch waist, a 42 inch hip and a 61 inch length against a model at roughly 34, 23 and 36. The waist and hip have ease. The bust is ten inches under, and since the back of this dress is open and the neck is a tie, the bust figure is unlikely to be a closed circumference at all. We would measure this on a body rather than treat the published figure as one.

Occasions and Styling

Suits evenings, holidays, warm weather events and weddings. A printed silk maxi with an open back is a warm weather event piece, and it should be photographed from behind as well as the front, because the back is half of what is being bought.

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 teaches something useful about how to read size charts, and a fastening arrangement that is the most exposed version of a caution we have now raised four times.

The bust is ten inches under the model, and the reason is what the figure measures rather than how big the dress is, and that is the first thing. This garment is pull-on with no zip, it is 100% silk with no elastane, and its bust is published at 24 against a model at 34. On the face of it that is impossible, and on the last garment where we met a number like this we concluded the figure was probably a flat half measurement and said we did not believe it. Here we think the answer is different and more interesting, and it comes from the other two features on the same page. The back is open, and the neck is a halter with a tie. Now think about what a bust measurement is. On a closed garment it is a circumference, the distance all the way around the body at the fullest point, and that is what a customer assumes she is reading. But this garment does not go all the way around at the bust: the back is open, so there is no cloth there to measure, and the neck is a tie, so the front is held closed by a knot whose tightness sets how far the fronts overlap. A figure taken across the front of a garment like that is not a circumference and cannot be compared with a person's bust measurement. It is a width across the front, which is a different thing entirely. So the useful lesson is not about this dress. It is that when a published measurement looks impossible, the first question is not what mechanism makes it fit, but what was actually measured. We have now met that situation twice in two groups and the answers were different: once a half measurement, once a front width on an open garment. Neither is a mistake by the customer, and both are avoidable by publishing what the number means. We would measure this on a body and publish the result.

This is the fourth slippery tie and the only one with nothing behind it, and that is the second thing. We have now looked at four garments closed with a tie. On a silk wrap dress we said the knot would work loose because silk is too smooth to hold one, and the fronts would separate. On a silk halter mini we said the same and added that the consequence is worse on a halter, because there the tie suspends the whole garment. On a viscose chiffon halter we noted that chiffon holds a knot better than satin does, because its twisted yarns give it a drier hand, but that the geometry still put a lot of load on the knot. This is the fourth, and it is 100% silk chiffon, and it is the most exposed of the four for one reason: it is the only one with no other fastening at all. The other three each had a zip. This one does not. The listing says pull-on, and the tie at the neck is the only thing closing it. So put those two things together. A knot in a very smooth cloth, carrying the entire weight of a floor length silk dress, with no zip or hook to catch anything if it lets go. That is not a fastening with a known failure mode, it is a single point of failure, the same criticism we made of a hook and eye at the back of a gown recently, except that there the hook was backed up by a zip and here there is nothing. We have recommended the same fix each time and we would apply it here more firmly than anywhere: put a small concealed hook or snap behind the tie. It does not change how the dress looks, it costs almost nothing, and it converts a garment that depends on a knot staying tight into one that stays closed whether the knot holds or not. We would also specify that the tie be tied double, and we would test it by movement rather than standing still.

An open back with an unlined cloth is the last thing, and there are two separate points. The first is the one we have made repeatedly: an open back rules out a normal bra, and that is a decision the customer needs to make before she buys. We said it again on a silk gown recently where the retailer's badge said backless and the page never mentioned it, and we then saw a gown that ships with a detachable bodysuit, which is the best answer we have found to the problem and which also sidesteps the practical objection to bodysuits by being removable. This garment does neither, and on a page that says nothing about it the customer discovers the problem at home. One sentence would do it. The second point is opacity, and it is worth being precise. This is unlined and made of silk chiffon. Chiffon is a sheer cloth by construction, and midweight chiffon is less transparent than a lightweight one but is still not opaque, particularly in a light colour and particularly against the light. So the skirt will show a silhouette and, depending on the colourway and the light, rather more than that. We would test it and say what the result is. Every bulk shipment gets a measurement report against your approved chart.

Optional upgrades include a concealed hook or snap behind the tie, the tie specified to be tied double, the opacity tested and stated, a sentence on the page about what the open back rules out, an optional detachable bodysuit as seen on another garment in this series, a partial lining considered, the worn bust measured and published, alternative back shapes, alternative lengths, extended sizing, print and colour development, 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.