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cahnSo lately I have discovered and become somewhat addicted to eShakti. It's a mail-order company specializing in customized women's clothing (ETA: though they also have standard sizes!). They will customize sleeve length, length, and often neckline, AND make it to your measurements. And -- and this is the reason I found out about them in the first place, and a big reason I've gotten addicted to them -- most of their stuff has POCKETS. Deep and generous pockets!
The customization of sleeve length and length is super awesome for me; LDS clothing norms are that everything you wear has to have sleeves and go down to the knee. There's a bit of fudge factor there: cap/dolman sleeves are usually okay, as is something that's just above the kneecaps, but sleeveless dresses and mid-thigh skirts are Right Out to wear to church, no matter how conservatively it is cut otherwise. (And in general I prefer longer hemlines, because they are more likely to be swishy, and okay, I am a sucker for swishy skirts.)
And have you tried to find a knee-length dress with sleeves recently? Even laying aside the pockets, it's... pretty much entirely impossible. I mean, what everyone actually does is layer, but why shouldn't I be able to actually get a dress the way I want to wear it?
I also have a figure that does not, uh, always play well with standard sizes. After pregnancies, and irrespective of my weight, my waist size has become about three sizes larger than what my hip and bust size would indicate. My legs are short, and the top of my torso (between shoulders and bust) is long, and my natural waist is really high up and looks weird when I wear stuff there. Even with all that, I can often wear standard dresses, but I would definitely not order a standard dress without trying it on first and expect it to fit with any kind of reliability.
I have so far ordered several things from them, and here's my experience:
-I have got a skirt, top, and several dresses from them with my custom measurements:
-The dresses have almost all fit perfectly. The ones with lower necklines have fit me beautifully and looked awesome and flattered me and were basically amazing. (Except for one, which was extremely ugly and which I should have known better than to order; I'd liked an earlier version of the dress and hoped that the later version would look like the earlier version instead of like its picture. It did not.) The ones with higher necklines have not fit because of the long distance between shoulders and bust, although they've added that as a new measurement and I haven't tried it yet.
-The skirt fit my waist, but because my natural waist is so high, I like to wear my skirts below my natural waist, so I returned it. (I have since ordered non-custom skirts with my "wearing waist" measurement and at much shorter lengths than I actually want, and this has worked out way better.)
-The top was made to my custom measurements and was way, way too big. It looks like they saw my waist measurement and ignored everything else, which is weird because it was a flowy sort of top so didn't really need an accurate waist measurement. If I had to do it again I'd buy one of the premade sizes for tops.
-I've seen reviews online that counsel to buy eShakti dresses with a little stretch or elastic to them; they are a little more forgiving. I plan to stick to that for the most part. The one non-stretch dress I did get actually fit me quite well, though.
-It's hard for me to figure out what different sleeve/neckline options will look like. There's at least one dress I had to return that didn't work with the neckline it had but which I would have adored in a different neckline (but didn't realize until I actually saw it on me), and a couple more that I kept but would in retrospect have looked better with slightly different sleeve options, e.g., one dress I have looks strangely unbalanced with 3/4 sleeves but looks fantastic when I fold up the sleeves to elbow length (which is what I usually do). (It's weird to me that such a small change makes a difference, but it does.)
-In any case, it's definitely a plus if you already know the kinds of clothes that look good on you.
-They've definitely got a vintage/retro vibe. Which is not really my style, so I do have to go through a lot of their stuff to find things that I like.
-Their fabric is relatively heavy. "Midweight" is not really suitable for hot weather. ("Lightweight" is lightweight and awesome for summer.) They do feel very sturdy although I haven't had them for long enough to see how they hold up.
-Their knit cotton/spandex dresses are really comfortable. I tried wearing one to bed, it was so comfortable, but D thought I was weird. …Okay, I guess it was weird.
-Some of the zippers stick. The knit dresses pull over the head anyway, so it doesn't matter so much. I got one zip-up dress that I used as a nursing summer coverup, where the zipper (used multiple times every time I used the dress) just failed, ugh. So, uh, don't get the zip-up dresses.
-Don't order stuff at full price, ever (well, I guess, unless it's something you're really afraid of them running out of). They have sales basically every week or so, as far as I can tell.
-On the other hand, if you see something you like and it's at a good price, get it quickly, because things can go out of stock pretty quickly.
-On the third hand, things do go back into stock, especially seasonally, and sometimes after a week or so, especially classic-looking dresses (the really funky ones, not so much).
-ALMOST all their stuff has pockets, but not all of it. Read closely; it will say if it has pockets. If it is not explicitly mentioned, it probably doesn't (as I learned, wah).
-Not useful to most of you, but their surplice-with-button-snap cotton/spandex dresses make fantastic nursing dresses, and with sales/coupons are cheaper than the cheapest nursing dresses with pockets I could find online, and I'll wear mine even after I stop nursing. :)
-In general, if you're thinking of ordering from them for the first time I'd counsel reading several online reviews, both good and bad, to get more of an idea of what to look out for.
-I'm not sure I would look at this as a go-to place to get really nice dresses (though they do sell what look like nice party/formal dresses). But for casual-ish dresses, I really really like them.
-The company is based in India, but the returns are in the US, so that's nice. They're working on prepaid returns, but I haven't seen this yet — which would be a big plus.
I do have one of those deals where I can give you $40 off a purchase of $70 or more (and I then get the same deal), so if you would like that, email/message me and I'll set you up :) But please do not feel AT ALL compelled to do this. It's not why I wrote this post, and eShakti often has First-Time Customer bargains, no third party necessary, that are about as good. (I don't know if they stack. I assume not.)
The customization of sleeve length and length is super awesome for me; LDS clothing norms are that everything you wear has to have sleeves and go down to the knee. There's a bit of fudge factor there: cap/dolman sleeves are usually okay, as is something that's just above the kneecaps, but sleeveless dresses and mid-thigh skirts are Right Out to wear to church, no matter how conservatively it is cut otherwise. (And in general I prefer longer hemlines, because they are more likely to be swishy, and okay, I am a sucker for swishy skirts.)
And have you tried to find a knee-length dress with sleeves recently? Even laying aside the pockets, it's... pretty much entirely impossible. I mean, what everyone actually does is layer, but why shouldn't I be able to actually get a dress the way I want to wear it?
I also have a figure that does not, uh, always play well with standard sizes. After pregnancies, and irrespective of my weight, my waist size has become about three sizes larger than what my hip and bust size would indicate. My legs are short, and the top of my torso (between shoulders and bust) is long, and my natural waist is really high up and looks weird when I wear stuff there. Even with all that, I can often wear standard dresses, but I would definitely not order a standard dress without trying it on first and expect it to fit with any kind of reliability.
I have so far ordered several things from them, and here's my experience:
-I have got a skirt, top, and several dresses from them with my custom measurements:
-The dresses have almost all fit perfectly. The ones with lower necklines have fit me beautifully and looked awesome and flattered me and were basically amazing. (Except for one, which was extremely ugly and which I should have known better than to order; I'd liked an earlier version of the dress and hoped that the later version would look like the earlier version instead of like its picture. It did not.) The ones with higher necklines have not fit because of the long distance between shoulders and bust, although they've added that as a new measurement and I haven't tried it yet.
-The skirt fit my waist, but because my natural waist is so high, I like to wear my skirts below my natural waist, so I returned it. (I have since ordered non-custom skirts with my "wearing waist" measurement and at much shorter lengths than I actually want, and this has worked out way better.)
-The top was made to my custom measurements and was way, way too big. It looks like they saw my waist measurement and ignored everything else, which is weird because it was a flowy sort of top so didn't really need an accurate waist measurement. If I had to do it again I'd buy one of the premade sizes for tops.
-I've seen reviews online that counsel to buy eShakti dresses with a little stretch or elastic to them; they are a little more forgiving. I plan to stick to that for the most part. The one non-stretch dress I did get actually fit me quite well, though.
-It's hard for me to figure out what different sleeve/neckline options will look like. There's at least one dress I had to return that didn't work with the neckline it had but which I would have adored in a different neckline (but didn't realize until I actually saw it on me), and a couple more that I kept but would in retrospect have looked better with slightly different sleeve options, e.g., one dress I have looks strangely unbalanced with 3/4 sleeves but looks fantastic when I fold up the sleeves to elbow length (which is what I usually do). (It's weird to me that such a small change makes a difference, but it does.)
-In any case, it's definitely a plus if you already know the kinds of clothes that look good on you.
-They've definitely got a vintage/retro vibe. Which is not really my style, so I do have to go through a lot of their stuff to find things that I like.
-Their fabric is relatively heavy. "Midweight" is not really suitable for hot weather. ("Lightweight" is lightweight and awesome for summer.) They do feel very sturdy although I haven't had them for long enough to see how they hold up.
-Their knit cotton/spandex dresses are really comfortable. I tried wearing one to bed, it was so comfortable, but D thought I was weird. …Okay, I guess it was weird.
-Some of the zippers stick. The knit dresses pull over the head anyway, so it doesn't matter so much. I got one zip-up dress that I used as a nursing summer coverup, where the zipper (used multiple times every time I used the dress) just failed, ugh. So, uh, don't get the zip-up dresses.
-Don't order stuff at full price, ever (well, I guess, unless it's something you're really afraid of them running out of). They have sales basically every week or so, as far as I can tell.
-On the other hand, if you see something you like and it's at a good price, get it quickly, because things can go out of stock pretty quickly.
-On the third hand, things do go back into stock, especially seasonally, and sometimes after a week or so, especially classic-looking dresses (the really funky ones, not so much).
-ALMOST all their stuff has pockets, but not all of it. Read closely; it will say if it has pockets. If it is not explicitly mentioned, it probably doesn't (as I learned, wah).
-Not useful to most of you, but their surplice-with-button-snap cotton/spandex dresses make fantastic nursing dresses, and with sales/coupons are cheaper than the cheapest nursing dresses with pockets I could find online, and I'll wear mine even after I stop nursing. :)
-In general, if you're thinking of ordering from them for the first time I'd counsel reading several online reviews, both good and bad, to get more of an idea of what to look out for.
-I'm not sure I would look at this as a go-to place to get really nice dresses (though they do sell what look like nice party/formal dresses). But for casual-ish dresses, I really really like them.
-The company is based in India, but the returns are in the US, so that's nice. They're working on prepaid returns, but I haven't seen this yet — which would be a big plus.
I do have one of those deals where I can give you $40 off a purchase of $70 or more (and I then get the same deal), so if you would like that, email/message me and I'll set you up :) But please do not feel AT ALL compelled to do this. It's not why I wrote this post, and eShakti often has First-Time Customer bargains, no third party necessary, that are about as good. (I don't know if they stack. I assume not.)
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Date: 2016-01-27 04:26 am (UTC)Yeah, I wonder if it's because their core business isn't tops, so they aren't as good at figuring out measurement discrepancies for tops? I dunno, I don't know anything about how tailoring works. But yeah, the dresses were much better at incorporating the rest of my measurements, for whatever reason.