Allie Metallic Knit Stripe Maxi - Keyhole Back Knit Maxi for OEM

A maxi dress listed as 65% viscose, 19% polyester and 16% polyamide, unlined, pull-on with a keyhole opening at the back closed with a lobster clasp, short sleeved, in a midweight knit with a metallic thread, hand wash, made in Colombia, ranked fourth in the retailer's dress list, at 1,290 dollars. There are no reviews and no fit votes, so there is no score to quote. There is a fastening on this garment that we have not met before and which is borrowed from somewhere else entirely, and looking at where it comes from explains both its advantage and its problem. There is also a second metallic thread in this series and the same caution applies, though in a different place. And there is a point about stripes that is easy to overlook and which connects to something we said about a completely different way of making a knit. The reference is the Allie Dress by SILVIA TCHERASSI in Multi Color Stripes. 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

• 65% viscose, 19% polyester, 16% polyamide as stated
• Midweight knit with a metallic thread as stated
• Pull-on as stated
• Keyhole opening at the back with a lobster clasp as stated
• Short sleeve, published 7 in for size S
• Unlined as stated
• Hand wash as stated
• Made in Colombia as stated

Customisable Options

• Composition: viscose polyester polyamide with a metallic thread as the reference, set from a tested sample
• Closure: we would reconsider the lobster clasp, for the reason set out below
• Comfort: we would test the metallic thread against skin, as on the other metallic garment in this series
• Stripes: matched at the seams, which costs cloth, 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 31 inch bust, a 26 inch waist, a 36 inch hip, a 59.5 inch length and a 7 inch sleeve, against a model at roughly 34, 24 and 34. These sit close to her own measurements with a little ease, which a knit with three fibres in it accommodates comfortably.

Occasions and Styling

Suits daytime, holidays, events and warm weather. A striped knit maxi with a metallic thread is a holiday piece, and it is worth photographing it in daylight, because that is where the metallic thread does something.

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 fastening borrowed from another trade, a second metallic thread, and a small point about stripes that connects to something larger.

A lobster clasp comes from jewellery, and knowing that explains both its advantage and its problem, and that is the first thing. A lobster clasp is the small spring-loaded hook used on necklaces and bracelets and on handbag straps. It is not a garment fastening, and it is unusual to find one on a dress. Its advantage is real and it is worth stating, because it addresses the exact objection we have raised repeatedly about fastenings at the back. We criticised a hook and eye at the back of a gown on the grounds that a fitting which must be lined up by feel, out of sight, behind the wearer, will defeat people, and we said the same about a button and loop at the back of the neck on a halter. A hook and eye is the worst kind of fitting for that job because it requires two parts to be brought into precise alignment, and there is nothing guiding them together. A lobster clasp is better, because the spring holds the gate open and it closes on its own when it meets the ring: you have to get it roughly there and the mechanism does the rest. So on the question of doing it up by feel, this is a genuine improvement. Two problems remain, and both come from its origin. The first is that it is at the back, and better mechanics do not make the back of the body visible, so this is still a fitting she cannot see. The second is that jewellery clasps are designed to be worn against jewellery, not to be sat on, and a clasp at the back of a dress will press into a chair back and will catch on anything with a loop in it, including hair and knitwear. It also has a lever standing proud of the surface, which on a knit is a snagging risk, and we have said elsewhere that a snag in a fine cloth cannot be repaired. We would look at whether the keyhole could be closed with something flat, or moved to the side where it is visible and clear of the chair.

This is the second metallic thread and the caution is the same, and that is the second thing. We met metallic fibre recently on a strapless mini, where we made the point that metallic fibre is not textile fibre: it does not absorb moisture, it does not soften with washing, and it is considerably less flexible than the yarn it is spun with, so its ends stand proud of the cloth surface. On that garment the caution was acute because it was strapless and unlined and had to grip the body to stay up, so the metallic content was pressed against skin under tension across the whole torso. This garment is different in a way that reduces the problem: it is a maxi with short sleeves, so it hangs rather than grips, and the contact is not under tension. But it is unlined, the metallic thread runs through the whole cloth, and 65% of the composition is viscose, which is a fibre chosen for its softness and drape. Putting a stiff, springy metallic thread through a soft viscose knit is a deliberate contrast and it is what gives the cloth its character, but it does mean the metallic component is everywhere the cloth touches. We would test it against skin rather than on a hanger, because that is the only way the question gets answered. The care instruction here is hand wash, and it is the right one for two separate reasons. Viscose loses a large part of its strength when wet, so it is fragile in water and will distort under its own weight, and a metallic thread is abraded by agitation and can be dulled by detergent and heat. Hand wash addresses both, and we would add that it should be pressed rather than wrung and dried flat rather than hung, since a wet viscose maxi is heavy enough to pull itself out of shape.

Stripes cost cloth, and that is worth knowing because it connects to something we said about a very different way of making a knit, and that is the third thing. A striped cloth has to be matched at the seams, meaning the pattern pieces have to be laid on the cloth so the stripes line up where they meet, and matching consumes more cloth than cutting without regard to the pattern. It also rules out the narrowest markers and it makes smaller pieces uneconomic, so the cutting yield on a striped garment is meaningfully lower than on a plain one. Now put that beside something we covered recently. We looked at a fully fashion knit, which is made by knitting the panels to their finished shape on the machine so that nothing is cut away at all, and we compared it against a leather garment in an earlier group where cutting waste is very high because a hide is an irregular shape with variations that have to be worked around. Those two are the extremes of cutting waste. A striped knit sits somewhere in the middle, and the point of mentioning it is that this particular garment pays a waste penalty for its appearance that a plain version of the same dress would not. That is not an argument against stripes, which are clearly the point of this dress. It is a reminder that design decisions made for appearance have costs that land in the marker, and those costs belong in the costing at the time the design is chosen rather than discovered later. Every bulk shipment gets a measurement report against your approved chart.

Optional upgrades include the keyhole closure reconsidered or moved to the side, the metallic thread tested against skin, a care label covering pressing rather than wringing and flat drying, stripes matched at the seams, an anti-snag finish considered, alternative stripe scales, alternative necklines and sleeve lengths, 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.