Wednesday, November 25, 2015

~Online Shop Review: Cloud 97 (Long post)~

Hello all! Today I have another shop review and it's not a Storenvy one this time ^.^ I've been following this shop (via e-mail notification) for a while now and I noticed they had some things that I wanted that I had previously seen in other Storenvy stores but were overpriced. So I decided that I should try buying from them since I also came upon a 10% off coupon and free shipping! You can't beat that!! xD



Like with all online shops, especially ones that have "One size" items and ship from overseas, I was skeptical about whether some of these things were going to fit me haha~ If you've read through any of my past review posts (especially my popular Dog Dog review) you'll see my size range is L-XL for average US clothing sizes. Sometimes even 2XL if it's a particularly fitted garment/runs small/I want it to be looser etc. With that being said, one should wonder why I even bother to buy "One size" items from Asian brand websites, as their XL sizes are notorious for being a US medium at best. And despite my third order from Store Dog Dog, which was bad in terms of size, I was foolish enough to order from Cloud 97 anyways! YAY...

Here's what I ordered (partial screen shots from the Cloud 97 website):

I ordered a L with Length: 69cm, Bust:108 cm, Shoulder: 50 cm.

Length: 65 cm, Bust: 118 cm, Shoulder: 63 cm.

Length: 60 cm, Bust: 106 cm, Collar opening: 16 cm, Shoulder+sleeve: 36 cm.



If you haven't read any of my past store reviews, my measurements are (approximately) as follows:
(Over) Bust: 104-106 cm
(Under) Bust: 96 cm (give or take a cm)
Waist (smallest): ~106 cm
Waist (largest): ~116 cm
Hips: ~119 cm
Preferred length (shirts): From shoulder to bottom of shirt, about 55 cm-70 cm(sweatshirts) and 40ish cm for crop tops
Preferred lenth (skirts): 45-50 cm
Height: about 5"-5"1'

I mainly look at the bust measurements (especially when there isn't a waist measurement provided) and length (especially with skirts).

The shirts I ordered!

I had a feeling the skateboard tee and sunflower sweatshirt were going to be too tight like my Back to the Future sweater from Dog Dog T^T:

Is it just me or does the embroidery look off center? I think it's supposed to be that way though ahha~


Let's play a game: can you tell what bra I'm wearing?? LOL


OH NOOO! Online order sadness repeat 3: Now let's take a looksie at the measurements of these garments:


Just for reference, this is the same measuring tape I use to measure my body measurements. I don't know how my measuring tape compares to the one used to originally measure these garments for the website but I compared my tape to a standard 12 in. US ruler and they are accurate. 


The bust measurement for the Skateboarding tee was about 44 cm across the front and 45cm across the back for a total of 89 cm around the shirt for bust. This is 17 cm off from what the website measurements were! The length of the shirt was approximately the same though! I measured about 59 cm and theirs is 60 cm.

This was the thinnest shirt and the one with the most defects in the stitching and whatnot:

Maybe it's just the sewer in me but this neckline really bothered me lol. Either line up the neckline with one of the other seams or line it up with the middle back so it doesn't look awkward. I'm so picky OML T__T. 
LOOK.HOW.THIN.

Oh look my hand! And lot's of loose threads. 
Now on to the Sunflower sweatshirt!
62 cm I measured for the length vs. 69 cm on the website. Also note how I measure length from the highest point on the garment.

45 cm across the front bust and 47 cm across the back= 92 cm bust vs. 108 for "L" on the website means a difference of 16 cm!
Once again the bust measurement is wrong for this sweatshirt as well. Sigh.
Also quite a bit thinner than I expected.
Both the Sunflower and Skateboard tops were a disappointment to say the least. But what about the third sweatshirt?

A concern I had about the Earth sweater was that in some pictures it looked like the sweatshirt said "Barth" and was printed instead of embroidered on. I contacted a different shop that also sold this item and she said the sweater was embroidered and it does actually say "Earth" on it. SO without asking the shop I'm actually buying the sweatshirt from, I just bought it anyways and assumed it would be fine:

OH GLOB. (or should I say "OH GLOBE"? LOL)
I'd like to note that this was the "loosest" of all the tops I bought, as it should be according to the given measurements on the website, but it was still very fitted on me.

I REALLY had high hopes for this sweatshirt because the bust size listed on the website is wayy over my measurement! If you read my other store review I did recently for MEI NU you would see that the Hot Dog Sweatshirt had a measurement of 120 cm on the website and I could actually fit into that sweatshirt nicely! So I should've been able to fit this one as well...but alas~ At least it didn't say "Barth" lol.

64 cm. compared to 63 cm on the website= OK!

About 49 cm across the front+ 52 cm= 101 cm bust measurement compared to 118 cm on the website. 17 cm off again, so at least they're consistent? Hahaha~
 The bust measurements were off for this garment as well. At this point I'm not even surprised.


Aaand this one is pretty thin as well.


Ratings:
Customer Service 7/10: The seller responded in a somewhat timely manner:

A screenshot from my e-mail haha >.<
Three days ain't too bad I suppose! And they responded that their sweatshirt shipments were a bit later than usual but they would ship out my order pronto! I actually sent this e-mail originally because I didn't receive any notice of my order being shipped or an approximate date or anything. I wish they had sent me an e-mail at least that the sweatshirts were going to be a bit late because that affects the time my order might be received. (read shipping down below)

Accuracy of measurements (Fit?) 3/10: I measured Bust and Length because those are the two I'm usually most concerned about (and waist measurements if they are given, but they usually aren't) and the only measurement that was accurate were the lengths of the Earth sweatshirt and Skateboard tee. The bust measurements were especially wayyy off! I don't know how these sweatshirts were measured because when I measured around them and simply front and back I didn't get very close to the given measurement on the website.

Quality 3/10: I was expecting a much different quality of garment than what I received. Ideally I thought it was going to be like those Gildan or Hanes type sweatshirts with embroidery on the front. At the very least it could have been as thick as my Hot Dog sweatshirt from MEI NU. But no, I received neither of those. Think of those thin layering long sleeve tee shirts that are semi-sheer, that's what this is. I really was not expecting them to be this sheer or thin at all! I will say that the embroidery looked nice at least.

Price 8/10: The prices are what I liked best about this web shop compared to some other ones. This one sells them for slightly lower prices than some other places (and now with the quality of the garments I see why they were so much cheaper lol).

Get what you paid for? (Worth it?) 5/10: Two of the items on this site were much cheaper compared to other shops that sold the same sweater (Sunflower sweatshirt and Skateboard tee) and the Earth sweatshirt was only a bit cheaper. The cheapness really shows through (literally--get it? because they're so sheer! Did I mention how sheer they are? lol) especially with the Skateboard tee. I really expected the Earth one to turn out nice because it was the most expensive and other web shops sold it for about the same D-: In total I paid about $47 with a code I found via Tumblr (pro tip! always check Tumblr for codes before paying full price for web shops!)



Buy again? Maybe: I don't think I will buy anymore shirts or clothing in general from this shop. I might take a look at the adidas dupes and a few accessories to see the quality of those though! I hope it won't disappoint!

Shipping 5/10: When I first discovered this shop quite a while back they didn't ship to WA and I was sad, but now they do! And shipping is free! So I was stoked about that. My real shipping concern happened when I sent the e-mail above. I suppose it's partially my fault that I didn't remember details of when I placed my order. I see free shipping and just jump right on it. But I hadn't noticed there was a free option shipping and then right below it a shipping option where you can also get "tracking info" for your order (which you do have to pay for). I checked the about page:

There wasn't an info about having to pay for tracking information as an option besides free shipping. I think that's an important thing to add in the about section so people can take that into consideration when they place their order or forget that was an option like I did. So not only did I not know the day my order was shipped (which is the least they should include so I can know approximately when my order should be here since I didn't order tracking info! I mean the about page says contact them if you don't get your order 40 days after your package is shipped, but how will I know when to start counting if I don't get an e-mail about when my packaged is shipped?) So did I get it on time? I think so? I'm not exactly sure when it shipped but I got my order receipt on Oct. 8 and I got the package on approximately Nov. 19 (it was delivered to the office of my apartment complex and that's what the manager told me at least). Between the 55 days it supposedly should have taken from ordering it did come on time.

It is mentioned when you are checking out though (albeit, somewhat discreetly) in the tick box right under the "Free Shipping" option under Shipping Options:



Basically, yes there is free shipping but if you want to be safe just buy tracking info to avoid complications and hassle.

Overall 5/10: I understand online buying is risky, especially with overseas brands, you don't always get what you think you're going to get. And when you buy from websites that don't use pictures personally taken by them you don't really know if you're getting what you want. Buying online is a gamble and a struggle! Unfortunately with this store I struck out and lost, with these tops at least. I do acknowledge that these stores are best for XS-M sized people in general though, mostly because of the limited range of sizes overseas brands come in.

**Learn from my review! If you are larger or equal to my measurements these shirts will be tight! If you have smaller measurements than mine it could fit loose to tight depending on how much smaller than me you are!**

I was really excited for my package to get here and I've been waiting for months but now I'm just sad is basically my experience.

<3 Tips for people running these stores (Please!): Have the quality and/or material in the description of your garment, or at least describe something your customers can compare the quality to if you don't know exactly the kind of fabric it's made out of. And say things like "stretch" or "no stretch" and "sheer". ---Having actual photos taken by you on your site would also be nice!
-If you have anything like paying extra for tracking info as an option on your site, add that to your about page please!
(p.s. just for Cloud97: the sponsorship e-mail wasn't working for me? I don't know if that is still going on or not but if not maybe you should take it down from the about page for now?)

This was my complete and honest review for this store! I wasn't paid to do this review and this isn't a sponsorship or anything. I just thought these clothes would actually fit and you all might want to see a range of people trying to buy these clothes because the target buyers for these tend to be thinner people. Now ya know!

Thanks for reading lovelies! If you have any questions please comment down below!

xoxo Abby


8 comments:

  1. I'd say I'm a similar size to you and I just got my plant sweatshirt today and it was just as big of a disappointment. Definitely more like a tight long sleeve t shirt than a sweatshirt. Super upset that they don't list material or proper size dimensions or even have pictures of their own product. Now I'm sad I wasted $18 lol

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    1. Hey Zainab! Thanks for your input on this subject :D! Sorry you had the same experience as I did 3: I totally agree with what you're saying though! Hopefully if enough people (politely) ask web-shops like these for more detailed information about their products they will supply it! It's a struggle and a gamble for many of us who don't fit the "one-size fits all" market but still love the designs of the clothing! Hopefully manufacturers and companies will improve in this area and others in the future ^__^ xo Abby

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  2. This is truly a great read for me. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work!.
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    1. Thank you so very much for liking this article Fazal!! I appreciate it a ton!! <3 =^___^=

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  3. How did the the adidas turn out? I'm concerned because I reaaaally want one and they are selling it for waaay cheap.

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    1. Hi Janielle! I actually didn't end up buying the adidas dupes because I bought the real Sakura adidas ones instead hahaha~ I recommend that you contact the shop if you're thinking about buying them! I myself have not tried making contact with them recently but I'm sure they'll be able to help you out with any questions you might have! Sorry I couldn't really help! >.<

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  4. Awesome blog. I enjoyed reading your articles. This is truly a great read for me. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work!
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  5. Do they have another store? I used to shop here but realized their shop hasn't been around for years now :/ I really miss their stuff

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