Samm Stripe Knit Shirt Maxi - Heavyweight Knit Maxi for OEM

A maxi dress listed as 60% polyester with 40% viscose, unlined, pull-on with no zip, short sleeved, in a heavyweight knit, machine wash cold, made in China, ranked twelfth in the retailer's shirt dress list, at 298 dollars. There are no reviews and no fit votes, so there is no score to quote. This is the first garment in this series to carry an unconditional machine wash instruction, and that is worth more attention than it sounds, because it is the one care instruction that places an obligation on the factory rather than on the customer. There is also a small tension in what this garment is, because a shirt dress and a knit want different things from a cloth, and how that tension is resolved tells you what the garment is actually good at. The reference is the Samm Maxi Dress by SEROYA in Bosun Brown Stripe. Dongguan Bafinasa Garments Co., Ltd. develops comparable knit dresses on OEM and ODM terms, from yarn 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

• 60% polyester, 40% viscose as stated
• Heavyweight knit as stated
• Pull-on with no zip as stated
• Short sleeve, published 8.5 in for size S
• Unlined as stated
• Machine wash cold as stated
• Four sizes from XS to L
• Ranked twelfth in the retailer's shirt dress list

Customisable Options

• Fabric: polyester viscose heavyweight knit as the reference, with the weight set from a tested sample
• Shrinkage: we would pre-shrink before cutting, for the reason set out below
• Finish: we would consider an anti-pilling treatment, since a knit that is machine washed will pill
• Hand: we would decide how much body the knit needs, for the reason set out below
• Length from midi to maxi, stripe scale, size set, colour development, private label and care labelling

Specifications

Size Chart

The published size S gives a 32 inch bust, a 30 inch waist, a 34 inch hip, a 54.5 inch length and an 8.5 inch sleeve, against a model at roughly 33, 24 and 35. These sit close to her own measurements, which a knit accommodates well and which is comfortable rather than tight.

Occasions and Styling

Suits daytime, work, travel and weekends. A striped knit maxi in a shirt dress shape is an everyday piece, and it is worth photographing it after washing as well as new, since how a knit looks after a few washes is what the customer will live with.

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 care instruction here that we have not met before in this series, and it has a consequence that runs backwards into how the garment has to be made.

Machine wash cold is the only instruction in this series that puts the obligation on the factory, and that is the first thing, and it is worth spelling out because it is easy to miss. Every other care instruction we have covered tells the customer what she must do: do not wash this, wash this by hand, do not wring it, dry it flat. The burden lands on her. Machine wash cold is different. It tells her she can put it in a machine, which means the garment had better survive a machine, and whether it survives one was decided months earlier in the factory. The specific consequence is shrinkage, and it is the reason the composition matters so much here. Forty per cent of this cloth is viscose, and viscose is a fibre that moves: it takes up water readily and it shrinks, and it also loses a large part of its strength when it is wet, which is why we have repeatedly said that viscose garments should be hand washed or dry cleaned rather than machine washed. Sixty per cent is polyester, which does not shrink and which is strong when wet, and that majority is what makes a machine wash instruction defensible here, along with the cold water, since heat makes everything worse. But defensible is not the same as free. A cloth with 40% viscose in it will still move in its first wash, and if that movement happens after the garment is made, the garment comes out smaller than the size chart says and the customer has a fit complaint that is not her fault and not really anyone's, it is simply unmanaged shrinkage. So the obligation is clear: the cloth has to be shrunk before it is cut. That is a step in the factory, it costs a little time and a little cloth, and it is the difference between a machine washable garment that keeps its size and one that does not. We would specify pre-shrinking and we would test the washed dimensions rather than the as-cut dimensions.

A knit shirt dress is a contradiction and resolving it tells you what the garment is for, and that is the second thing. A shirt dress is a shape borrowed from mens shirting, and what makes it read as a shirt dress is that the cloth is crisp: it holds a collar, it holds a placket, and it stands away from the body rather than clinging. The standard cloth for that is poplin, and we looked at a poplin dress recently and noted that the property doing the work was stiffness, that poplin holds a crease and holds a shape, and that a bow made in it would stand up where a bow in a soft cloth would collapse. A knit is the opposite of all of that. It has no crispness at all, it follows the body, and it will not hold a collar or a placket in the way a woven cloth will. So a knit shirt dress cannot do the thing a shirt dress is named for. What it gets in exchange is worth having, though, and it is the reason this garment exists. A knit does not crease. A cotton poplin shirt dress creases the moment the wearer sits down and needs pressing before it can be worn again, which is the single biggest objection to shirt dresses in general. A knit one comes out of a suitcase ready to wear. That is a real and substantial benefit, and it is why knit versions of woven shapes are so common. So this is not a mistake, it is a trade, and the sensible thing is to know which side of it you are on. If you want the garment to read as a shirt dress, you need to give the knit enough body, which a heavyweight knit does, and you may need to interface the collar and the placket so they hold. If you would rather have the comfort and the packability, accept that it will read as a soft dress with shirt details rather than as a shirt dress. We would not try to have both.

There is one further point about machine washing a knit that belongs on the label rather than in the factory, and that is pilling. A knit is made of loops, and abrasion raises the surface of those loops into small balls, and a machine is an abrasive environment. This is not a defect and it is not avoidable, it is what happens to knits that are washed in machines, and a customer who is told she can machine wash this will hold the garment to that standard. So it is worth saying what to expect, and worth specifying a yarn and a finish that resist pilling, because the garment will be judged after five washes rather than on the day it arrives. One last small note: the stripe. A striped cloth has to be matched at the seams if it is not to look careless, which is a real cost in cutting, and it is worth knowing that the stripe is doing the same job here that a print might do elsewhere while costing more in marker efficiency. Every bulk shipment gets a measurement report against your approved chart.

Optional upgrades include pre-shrinking specified before cutting and washed dimensions tested, an anti-pilling yarn or finish, enough body in the knit or an interfaced collar and placket if the shirt dress reading matters, a note on the label about pilling, stripe matching at the seams, alternative stripe scales, 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.