A mainland women’s clothing brand has recently been exposed for selling knitted tops designed as “half pieces” to be purchased separately: the sleeveless half piece is priced at 123 yuan, while the long-sleeved half piece is priced at 153 yuan. Consumers need to purchase at least two pieces to assemble a complete garment, totaling between 246 yuan and 306 yuan.
According to a report by “Blue Whale News” on August 21, the women’s clothing brand “MOF Girl’s Department Store” once released a “multiple color free combination knitted cardigan.” The product page did not offer the option to purchase a complete garment, but instead priced different colored sleeveless and long-sleeved half pieces separately.
The images on the page show that each piece of clothing only covers half of the body, and consumers need to purchase two pieces to combine into a complete top. The total cost for two sleeveless half pieces is 246 yuan; one sleeveless piece paired with one long-sleeved piece is 276 yuan; while two long-sleeved half pieces require 306 yuan.
Store customer service stated that consumers need to buy two pieces and can freely combine colors themselves. The report mentioned that the price of each piece is close to that of many ordinary ready-to-wear garments on the market.
The related news sparked a heated discussion among netizens. Some netizens mocked that women’s clothing has entered the “patchwork clothes” stage; others said, “Why not also split the sleeves to sell separately, to increase sales.” Some netizens expressed that in the past, innerwear and outerwear were sold separately, but now even a single garment needs to be purchased in separate pieces.
An industry insider previously told “Blue Whale News” that a few years ago, the online return rate for women’s clothing was about 50%, and currently, some stores have reached 70% to 80%.
According to a previous report by the “Henan Daily,” clothing of the same brand in size M has shrunk by 5 to 8 centimeters in bust size over three years; different brands labeled as size S can have a size difference of up to 15 centimeters. Consumers also reported issues with online women’s clothing, such as excessively long pre-sale periods, confusion in sizing, and reselling returned items.
A Taobao women’s clothing store owner told “Economic Observer” that after the return rate at their store exceeded 60%, even if a product received 100 pre-orders, they only prepared 40 in stock. After the initial batch of products is sent out, some returned items are inspected, ironed, and then sent to subsequent consumers to reduce inventory backlog.