This is the weekly "Looking to VENT with J.Crew" post, a place to share our not-so-stellar experiences with J.Crew.If you have recently experienced a frustrating situation with J.Crew, maybe you might be willing to share that information with us in this post.
Please feel free to share your story on almost any topic— including poor experiences with purchases & orders, promotions/ offers, in-store visits, transactions with store associates, etc.
ok I will go first. I just don't understand why JCREW continue to push out overpriced featherweight cashmere sweater. Sure, the colors and patterns are pretty, I admit I got suckered into purchasing one during super sale, but after literally wearing it less then 5 times, there were about 4 small holes on the sweater, and I did not snag them because I know how delicate these "featherweight" cashmere felt so I was being extra careful when I wear it.
ReplyDeleteIt's just not worth the money even at $30, let alone pricing them at full retail of $300.
Couture and Ivanka - I'm with you. I will never buy JC cashmere after reading all these reviews and doing research online. I do think it's not just a JC thing though and that retailers across the board have been skimping on quality. I have a 100% merino wool sweater from Ann Taylor from over 10 years ago that's thick, warm, and to this day still without holes or pilling. I can't find any sweater that's close to that one nowadays, not even at higher priced brands like Theory or Vince. In the end, these companies are businesses and more profit will be had when you cheapen the quality and raise the premium.
DeleteI've only purchased two cashmere sweaters from JC and both developed mystery holes after a few wears. I have since stopped looking for cashmere knits at JC.
ReplyDeleteI've had this problem with everything with "featherweight" in its name, but esp. cashmere. I have literally never gotten more than one wear wo holes. But, I have yet to have holes in my of my very many jc non-featherweight cashmere sweaters purchased in the last three or so years...
DeleteCouture & Ivanka. It could be bad quality cashmere but there could also be another problem. As far as cashmere and other garment holes: I had a problem with holes that turned out to be due to either a rough place on a belt or a button on a pair of jeans. My sweaters and tees all developed holes in the same place. Once I had lost a little weight and no longer could wear my problem jeans and belt the holes went away. The other problem could be moths or silverfish especially if there are no snags near the holes. Those pesky buggers love jcrew cashmere and merino!
ReplyDeleteHi Shopping Celle! The holes on my JC cashmere sweaters appeared literally after a few wears and were in odd places, such as the middle of my back. There were no snags; rather, the thread around the hole was very thin. It could be a coincidence that both garments had a defective thread, but it was enough to stop me from trying to buy another one again. I will say that cashmere sweaters from other retailers have held up pretty well for me, but since I own only a handful of cashmere sweaters I'm hesitant to make any definitive comparisons or dismiss JC cashmere altogether. (Thank you for the silverfish information -- I had no idea they could be the culprit! :)
Deleteif you look in the sale section of any J Crew and see the cashmere on sale ( shop wear ) you can tell what it will look like later....pilled, thin and looking like the poor quality its is compared to other brands that charge high prices like the Crew.... I personally would never buy J Crew cashmere again...even on deep discount...just my opinon,
DeleteI agree with Shopping Celle that holes in cashmere and merino shouldn't be attributed to cashmere bad quality, unless the hole is at the seam. Holes that develop misteriously far from the seams are 99% due to bugs or something in your clothes that punch. I just ruined a cashmere scarf with the closure of my coat (a thick hook). The thimner the cashmere/merino, the better for bugs. The fact that your older cashmeres hold up better is probably due to the thickness factor (bugs and larvae cannot chew through thick layers).
DeletePilling on the other end is to be accounted on cashmere itself. In my experience with JCrew heathered colors hold up much better than non heathered colors and light colors than dark colors. Navy seems to be a very bad color for JCrew cashmere, all my navy sweaters have pills and look quite ratty no matter what I do.
B-reak it down, Ema! That explains why my heather acorn cashmere sweatshirt is fantastic and I feel like the featherweight navy cardi is a relic to be handled gently. I've been using the cashmere spray religiously after getting holes in a variety of J Crew sweaters, mostly merino. Thanks for the info!
DeleteOh, Ema, I don't know if I told you. I couldn't #stayjuicy. The relaxed fit on the sweatshirts didn't work around my shoulders and upper arms. I ordered another cashmere sweatshirt, instead. Same look. I wanted that velour fabric. Oh well.
Gigi, I had a bug (moths) infestation year ago and at least it teached me something about moth behiavior. One day I washed a cashmere turtleneck, lay flat to dry and overnight it got a big hole in the middle I found the culpit nearby (a big fat larva).
DeleteI have accumulated many JCrew cashmere sweaters and while it isn't a science I have now enough evidence to say: stay away from navy, especially featherweight navy! The best color is heather dusk but any heathered color should be good enough. The cashmere wash really helps with the fluffiess and softness.
No, you didn't tell me about Juicy. Hope the next one works. O
I wore the slim pants and they were awesome, thinking of getting the matching jacket if the prices go down again (regretted not getting it with the 50% off instead of the off-th-shoulder one that I ended up rrturning.
I just realized you meant that you ordered another JCrew cashmere sweatshirt, not a Juicy one.
DeleteAbout a decade ago when I first started buying tons of cashmere I had the same thing happen. Holes appearing in sweaters randomly or sweaters coming back from the cleaners completely destroyed. Turns out it wasn't the cashmere itself or the cleaners as I'd initially thought but moth larvae and silverfish.
DeleteI've been a religious sprayer ever since. I store my cashmere and wool knits folded with white tissue paper and lavender scented cedar balls in transparent boxes that I got from The Container Store (they also have the best transparent shoe boxes). And to complete my slightly OCD cashmere care ritual, I still take them out of their boxes and spray them with the cashmere spray every three months and when they come back from the cleaners.
All that said, when my cashmere knits, J.Crew or otherwise, start developing random holes, I know that it's nothing to do with our fine diners. Jewelry (and other sharp objects) or quality is usually the culprit. I'm going to have to agree with Gigi and others who say that dark colored featherweight from J.Crew is complete nonsense. My cat now uses two of those as blankets. She loves them despite the holes. It's also true that the light 'heathers' hold up better. I buy multiples when I find a sweater that I love and despite equal use those colors always end up look better. And yes, it's also true that JC's cashmere quality has declined but so too with most every other retailer. My recent Ralph Lauren sweaters aren't as great as the older ones.
I know that there is also the argument that dry cleaning solvents aren't that great for the integrity of the fibers. I believe that they do weaken the fibers but I still prefer the way my sweaters look after dry cleaning than hand-washing. If they knit is of good quality to begin with it should hold up to sparing trips to the cleaners.
My rambling thoughts on the matter.
My favorite J. Crew sweater is the cashmere Boyfriend style sweater...I wear them year round. I too have had problems with the cashmere...holes are not uncommon. I have also found the quality to vary from sweater to sweater when it comes to washing...I wash according to directions using J.Crew Cashmere Wash and spray between wearings with J.Crew Cashmere Spray--still I find small holes and some sweaters that stretch out and become shapeless. I really love the J. Crew Cashmere Boyfriend sweater, so I'm hoping J.Crew will get it together when it comes to cashmere...still hopeful. :)
ReplyDeleteReceiving worn merchandise & incorrect items is getting old. 4 botched orders in the past couple of weeks. No thanks to a milk stain, pilling on a sweater and someone else's perfume. Usually I don't have such bad luck. There must be turnover in the warehouse. I hope they figure it out. Tip for the staff: merchandise should be going out with a tag on it. If there's no tag, that's your first clue there could be a problem.
ReplyDeleteSorry this happened to you. Gross and inconvenient.
Deletecousy - I know, nasty. Thankfully I have a vps to help me and one cs sa was very accommodating.
DeleteI once got a chewed up wad of trident wrapped in its wrapper in a coat pocket. The SA who did the the return was appalled.
DeleteI once got a pair of shoes with someone's arch supports and bandaids. Oh joy.
DeleteAudreyS & wellfedfred -- OMG.
DeletePerhaps another insult was that none of us recvd any money in the pockets w/wadded tissue like other JCAs. Harumph.
I definitely think there is a difference in the old wool/cashmere sweaters and the new in terms of piling and holes. My cashmere sweaters from 6 and 7 years ago look very nice with little piling and no holes but I have more piling on some of my merino sweaters from 2013 than I do from several packed away from 2003. My wool rollneck sweaters are even in great shape. Different wool suppliers I guess?
ReplyDeleteYesterday I saw a merino tunic side/slit top....you know the newish one with the bracelet sleeves comes in lovely colors...well instore it looked a mess . pilled and very shop worn....It is now off my wishlist.
DeleteI just wore my side- split tunic for the first time. It looks like it's been worn for years! There is pilling on the entire sweater. This was such a disappointment, I'd had such high hopes for this sweater. The other colors I've ordered will be going back.
DeleteIt's only been a week since the last rollout. Probably another month 'til we get more items? I feel like there's nothing compelling at JC right now, even with a 25% promo.
ReplyDeleteThere was a new rollout yesterday at the Garden State Plaza (flagship) store. Lots of new things, but meh. I tried...I really tried, but I only came away with one floral printed sweatshirt and a necklace.
DeleteStill no fix to the "improved" web site. I don't even look at the J. Crew web site in the morning any more, even if I'm up really early. I sometimes go to page one, then click Next one time, then I quit. It's just not worth the bother to click through 36 pages. It's nice there is that much in Sale, but there isn't any point if they're going to make it cumbersome to visit. I don't even bother checking my Wishlist any more, and I'm not ordering much lately. Their web site change was definitely the tipping point. It's such an easy thing to fix it, to make the number of items per page configurable. I still don't like the pop-up Search bar, either. I still like J. Crew and I'll stop by the store sometimes but I'm not bothering to order online much and not from Sale. I got a 'Crewlade intervention, from J. Crew itself, no less!
ReplyDeletewhy do I still get the old way to view the sale site ? I had it book marked. If I go through the J Crew main page and click to sale I get the new improved ( I hate it ) site for viewing ??? So I still look every morning because of the old one available to me...if It was just the new one ....I would not bother....
DeleteThat's great it still works!
DeleteBut....why ? Does anyone else still have it ? I am in Canada if that makes any difference...
DeleteCate, I am with you. I used to check the sale section every morning, now it's too much trouble. My last statement from J Crew was $19, from an in store purchase, enough said.
DeleteJcrew ballet flats! They used to have adorable patterned fabric ballet flats, but they ones they have now feel really cheap.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really liked the old regular ballet flat, but now they have the emma because people were upset that the old one showed toe cleavage (according to the guy in the store). The emma cover the foot way too much and aren't as comfortable.
Three words … Floral. Pastel. Cuff. So beautiful, but why J.Crew, why such a terribly executed, beautiful piece. I could barely get it over my wrist sideways (and I have super tiny wrists). By the time I did, my arm was so red that I was embarrassed that you could see it through the bracelet. Also, every time I moved I either felt constricted or the bracelet turned oddly and cut into my arm. I am going to try to figure out something to do with it, but just an awful concept for such a beautiful piece.
ReplyDeleteoh no -- I am wearing a j crew cashmere turtleneck today with the bubble necklace and I just realized the necklace has ruined my sweater. It must have rubbed against it hard because it has pulled fibers all where the necklace lay on my chest. I am so sad/ mad!! :(
ReplyDeleteOh no!!! This had happened to me once, and now I never wear any necklaces, just scarves with cashmere. In fact, I avoid most bracelets and rings too. Hope it wasn't one of your favorites!!
Deleteit was the first time I wore that sweater! but like you, I learned my lesson! scarves-- good idea--have a great day!
ReplyDelete